Stay Focused

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

A train is a mighty moving force. They are powerful, productive, useful, and beneficial to those they serve. But for all their power and unstoppable moving force, they can be rendered totally useless in a moments time. Not by attacking the massive train itself, but by attacking the mechanism that keeps the train going in the direction it is programmed to travel. You can only stop the mighty train by derailing it. When a train is derailed, lives are lost and millions of dollars of inventory and equipment are destroyed.

This is exactly the danger we face as believers, that of being derailed, detracted, or distracted from the path that the Lord has set us upon. The Word says that the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. If you are a righteous man or woman you are not where you are, doing what you doing by chance. If you are living obediently you are exactly where God wants you.

We don’t always see this, or believe this, or even receive this truth especially in times of struggle, but it is the truth none-the-less. You may not be where you want to be, you may not be where you dreamed that you’d be, or where some other well intending person told you that you would be, but if you are an obedient child of God, you’re exactly where He called you to be. Don’t let how you feel about your circumstances derail you from God’s plan.

The devil is very subtle and deceptive, we are warned to be sober and vigilant toward our adversary:

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

And we are told to equip ourselves with the protection that we need against the devil’s attacks:

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Wiles are the cunning strategies employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants. Seldom does our enemy launch full scale frontal attacks against us. An obvious attack would be quickly recognized, causing us to see our own weakness and need, and would send us to our knees in prayer to seek God’s protection by calling on the mighty name of Jesus.

Instead the tactic of Satan is to use subtility, deception, and more often than not, simple distractions to derail us. Things that in themselves are not really wrong, but they are distractions that draw our attention, dull our focus, and weaken our unity with God’s purpose. Like the mighty locomotive, when you become derailed or distracted, you become powerless, you lose your momentum and eventually if it is not corrected you will crash.

Solomon 2:15, “It is the little foxes that spoil the vines.”

It is almost unbelievable, but the truth is in the times when we should be the most settled and the most established and set upon the things of God, is the times that we are the most vulnerable to sneak attacks from the devil. In I Co 10:12 the Apostle Paul warns us, “wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Satan wants to break your stride, destroy your momentum, and side track you.  When your distracted you are divided, and when you become divided, you are disabled. The devil knows he can’t stop God, and he can’t change the purpose and the destiny that God has for your life, so his only hope is to get you distracted.

When our focus becomes divided or blurred, we lose supernatural energy, God can only empower us for what we are focused on. You cannot focus on multiple things, simultaneously. To focus means to draw the attention, to concentrate on. Distract means to draw someone’s attention away from, to draw apart, or to preoccupy. Distractions are things in your peripheral vision that are not in line with your calling and purpose and can detract you from focusing on the path that God has called you to walk.

These distractions are placed strategically by the devil with the knowledge that in order to clearly see them, we must sacrifice the clarity of our God given purpose. No one focuses on two directions at the same time – you can’t look two ways at once.

Aesop's fable of the “Tortoise and the Hare,” is a perfect analogy for what I am trying to convey.  The hare was a lean mean running machine. The tortoise was a short fat legged bulky creature with a heavy shell on his back. The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare bragging all the time so he finally said, even you can be beaten, so the challenge was on.

The whole forest showed up to watch the tortoise be humiliated by the long-legged hare. On your mark, get set, go! They’re off, like lightning the lean hare leaped into the lead. The hare ran ahead a way, then decided since he was so fast and tortoise so slow, he would take 40 winks, so he did. Then waking up he saw tortoise still way behind. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbage he had noticed in a nearby field. A carrot here, some cabbage there, a nap here and 40 winks there – all of the sudden he wakes up to see tortoise nearing the finish line. The hare raced like a bolt of lightning, but it just wasn’t enough as the tortoise stretched out his neck and won the race by a nose.

Some would say that the tortoise won because he just kept plodding away, slow and easy. There is some truth in that theory, but what really gave the victory to the tortoise, was the hares over confidence and inability to disregard distractions. The hare had all the advantages, and he had all the strengths, and that was his downfall, the hare believed himself to be so strong enough and fast enough, that he could entertain distractions and still win the race.

That is the genius of using the tactic of distraction, the devil uses your strengths against you. The fact that you feel yourself strong enough to entertain distractions and still win the race – but you can’t. Those who focus, finish, but those who become distracted are derailed. The Apostle Paul warns against overconfidence in our own strength:

Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

I Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

This folktale is usually viewed as though you are either the slow, steady, purposeful, and undistracted tortoise, or the fast, overconfident, undisciplined, and easily distracted hare. But I feel today that the Lord would have us understand this story in a different light. Like the Hare, we have all the advantages, we have been redeemed by the blood, we have the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, we have the Word of God, and the name of Jesus. We have the power and the privilege of prayer. Because of these advantages, we should move through life in a very purposeful, disciplined, and focused manner like the tortoise.

Friends, let us realize that we have everything we need to fight the good fight of faith, to run the race marked before us, and win. But a truth just as real as this is, we will never finish the race victoriously if we allow ourselves to become distracted. It is imperative that we maintain our focus and press toward the mark. It is not impossible for us, for many have already accomplished what we strive for and are examples, witnesses for us to see and follow:

Hebrews 12:1, 2

12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight (distraction), and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

Satan’s goal is to distract and derail us from God’s purpose, and to rob you of the crown that God has laid up for you. But the Lord desires that we focus and finish.

Philippians 3:13-19 (emphasis added)

13 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, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Never-the-less, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 For many walk (but they became distracted), of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

The Missing Gift

It’s Christmas Day, 2018, one more Christmas Eve has passed, in our family the gifts that were laid under the tree are already opened, and for many others they are too, or shortly will be. Friends, I want to ask you this morning, did you get what you wanted? Did you get what you needed? Did you get what you asked for? Was there a gift that was missing?

Now that most of the giving and receiving of gifts has passed and we can settle down and enjoy the day. Maybe now we can take a minute to stop and reflect upon a gift that was missing in all the planned chaos?

Often times we see the Fireworks lighting up the night, people celebrating in the spirit of the holidays, people rushing around trying to make time for just one more little get together, and one more little “cup of cheer” before the night was done. We call it the “holiday spirit,” but it certainly isn’t the true “Spirit of Christmas”. Why? Because from my observation, Jesus was nowhere in it.

Finally the kids that were hyped in anticipation begin to wear down, it's time to go home and settle down for a good night’s sleep – unless you were up all night working the assembly line. Exhausted, most finally crashed into bed, closed their eyes, took a deep breath and tried to remember, “What have I left out? Is there something I forgot? Is there someone I failed to think about? I certainly don’t want to offend anyone. They will never forgive me and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

What gift could they have possibly missed? I know how it is, some of you spent more than you had planned to, and more than you could really afford. There always seems to be just one more person that you needed to add to your list. There’s just one more thing that you forgot to pick up. Some of the famous last words at Christmas time are, “just one more little item and I’ll be done.” It’s always those last little items that wind up breaking the bank account and sending the credit card balance to its limits.

But with all of the money that’s been spent trying to show how much we love and care for those around us, and with all the presents that have wrapped and unwrapped, there is no doubt in my mind this morning that most of the world has left out a few very important gifts. First there is a gift that has been given, but was never accepted. Secondly, there is a gift that should have been given, but wasn’t!

What is that gift that was not accepted?

Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

I’m so glad that I am a Christian this morning. I’m so glad that Christmas means more to me than just tinsel, garland, gifts and parties. Christmas exists because in time eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, there was one pinpoint of time upon which God focused all of His love.

Jesus lives in eternity, without time limitations and restrictions. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. He chose to robe himself in flesh, to become a man for one brief moment of eternity, because He loved you and I so much. God could have just let us go. He could have said, “they chose to rebel, I don’t need them, just forget the whole thing.” But because of His great love, His mercy and His grace, Jesus chose not to forget man whom He had created.

Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

The Greatest Gift that mankind could ever receive is the Gift of redemption from sin, purchased by the blood of God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet, that is the one gift that most of the world will not accept.

As far as the gift that most people have failed to give, let me say it this way. In all of their worry and concern about offending someone by not giving them a gift or sending them a Christmas Card, it is amazing that very few people consider that they failed to give the most important gift of all – the gift of their lives to Jesus!

Jesus wants a gift from each of us this morning. He wants us to give him all of our burdens. He wants us to give him all of our doubts and fears. He wants us to give him all of our sin. He wants us to give him praise and glory for what He has done, and because He is God. He wants us to give him our hearts and lives in service. That’s only reasonable because He bought and paid for your life with His own blood.

The simple points of this message are:

First, make sure that you open and accept the most precious gift you can ever receive, given to you by God, who robed in flesh to become that baby in the manger, the one who grew up sinless and died on the cross for you. His name is Jesus! Open your heart and accept Him as your Savior, repent and be baptized in Jesus' name for the remission of your sin, and receive the Holy Ghost! Take hold this morning of eternal life and the blessings that Jesus has in store for you.

Second, make sure that you don’t leave out the most important gift of all that you can give to the One who is the most important person on your list. Give your heart and life to Jesus. That’s what Christmas is really all about.

It’s not just that a baby was born in a manger. Babies have been born in adverse circumstances on countless occasions and not one of them has had the impact of this one baby in Bethlehem. It’s not just that Jesus grew up and found favor with men and with God. There have been a lot of people through history who could be described in that manner. It’s because Jesus gave His life on the cross for us all, dying there for your sins and mine, and then rising again the third day so that we could have eternal life. That’s the true gift of Christmas.

Have you accepted that gift? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Don’t allow this Christmas Day to pass without receiving and giving the greatest gifts of all.

Saved by Grace

Genesis 6:5-8

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

We live in world that grows increasingly darker with each passing day. There is no denying this fact, if you read the Word of God, and hold to godly standards. There is no sense in trying to whitewash it, or convince ourselves that it's just a little bump in the road, a little turbulence, and everything is going to smooth out. We need to be honest and face the facts.

We are in the times the Bible speaks about. In Isaiah the prophet speaks about a people that pull sin like a cart with a rope. And he describes them as a generation that has no shame and don’t even blush when they sin. He says that this generation will call evil good, and good evil. Isaiah says that they put light for darkness and darkness for light – notice how the liberals call themselves 'enlightened.' The truth is that their souls are dark and they no longer even fear God.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

I know this is sounding really bleak, and depressing and that is intentional because it is the plain simple unvarnished truth - these are dark, evil, times, and I feel mandated by God to truthfully and accurately present to your minds the reality of the times we are in.

I feel like there are very few today that are really speaking accurately and truthfully concerning the conditions and the atmosphere of these times. The majority of the voices that we are hearing today are not speaking accurately or truthfully. Jeremiah 6:14, the weeping prophet spoke of these 'marshmallow' men of God;

“They have healed the also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”

Jeremiah said, “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely.”

I wish I could tell you that we are just going through a rough patch, that it’ll be over soon, but if I am going to be a true to God’s Word, to speak truthfully and accurately to you, then I can't tell you that, because I would be lying. The truth is, all the evil we have seen and experienced up until now has been just a trembling, just contractions, just the birth pains of what is coming.

Brother Clayton, why would you say such things? We read your posts to be encouraged. We read you to receive a ‘bless me word.’ We want to read how everything is turning around and how our society is suddenly going to wake up and be good again. We want you to say that Jesus loves everybody, that He is not mad at anyone, He doesn't judge anybody, and that everyone is saved already, but they Just don't know it yet.

We want to hear how Grace is this great big blanket that covers all of our sins, past, present, and future, so it doesn't matter what we do, because it's already covered. We want to hear that the Holy Ghost never convicts us of sin anymore, all he does now is convince us how righteous we are. Well, if that's what you want to hear, you got the wrong preacher and you clicked on the wrong link, because I'm glad the Holy Ghost is still convicting the sinner of their sins.

Grace is not just a giant blanket for sin, grace is the divine gift of God working through my humanity to give me power over sin. Grace is not a life preserver that that I wear to keep me from drowning so I can swim in a sea of sin and still call myself saved. Grace delivers me from the sea of sin. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, drowning from the poor choices I had made, but Jesus the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and lifted me and now I am saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away, behold all things are become new....”

I might make somebody angry with this post today, I might knock over somebody's sacred cow, but I'm going to say it anyway. I am not a sinner saved by grace. There's a beautiful song that says, “I'm Just a sinner saved by Grace.” That’s not biblical! It's may beautiful, it may make me emotional, but it's not biblical! I can't be a sinner, and be saved by Grace. I can't be both. Because salvation is not just about saving me from the sea of sin that I'm floating in – the work of The Holy Ghost has made me a new creature, He took the sin nature out of me and made me His dwelling place.

If it is still natural for you to sin, if you still have an appetite for the lusts of the flesh, then you haven’t been born again. I am sorry if that offends you, but you just haven’t. When you’re born again, you get a new nature, and that new nature has no appetite and no desire for sin. That doesn't mean that we are not tempted by sin, or that we do not stumble from time to time, but sin is not our occupation anymore. If you are born again, it is not sin that controls you, it is the Holy Ghost.

I'm not a sinner, I was a sinner I had the nature of sin in me. But I have a new nature, and for me to call myself a sinner now, is to deny the power of the blood that was shed to set me free from the law of sin and death, and to deny the transforming power of the Holy Ghost who has taken residence in my soul.

We are in the world, but we are not of the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Come out from among them and be ye separate, touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. And will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord.

In our text God said: I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. Now listen to the words of Jesus:

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. [27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.… Luke 17:26-27.

This is what is happening in the world today; it is no surprise, it is Jesus’ words being fulfilled. And I’ll be honest with you, if that was all the word said, I would be completely overwhelmed and cast down without hope. But I want us to go back to Genesis. There is a word here we need to hear.

Genesis 7:19-24

[19] And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. [20] Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. [21] And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: [22] All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land , died. [23] And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive , and they that were with him in the ark. [24] And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

That doesn’t sound very encouraging, but this is the encouraging part...

Genesis 7:17-18

[17] And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. [18] And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

This is the word that we need in this hour; we don’t need someone deceiving us with smooth, sweet, silky, flowery words of how great everything is, we need to know and hear the truth: it is bad, it’s getting worse, Jesus said it would. But Just like Noah and his family inside of that Ark, (they were safe,) they were protected; and those who have their hope in Jesus Christ, are Just like Noah. Just like Noah was hid inside of that ark, and rose above the waters that drowned everyone else, those that are hidden in Christ times will rise above these dark times.

Colossians 3:1-3

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

As the flood waters rose; as destruction came on every living thing upon the earth; the ark rode on top of the waters. The waters increased and bare up the ark, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. The waters increased and bare up the ark. Which means that, that which was destruction to one was salvation to the other. And the worse it got around them, the higher they went.

That’s the word the Holy Spirit gave me for his followers today: ‘The darker it gets, the more our light should shine.’ As the world sinks deeper and deeper in the sea of sin, we must rise above it, we must maintain holiness. We cannot let our standards descend so low that we blend into the sea of sin, or we may drown.

Positioned for Transition

Isaiah 43:18-19

18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Remember: To call to mind, to be thought of, to hold in the mind, or to make a memorial. The latter is the one that I feel God is warning against in these verses. In other words, don’t enshrine something as so important or so big, that you cannot move past it. Why? Because we worship what we have enshrined.

The Lord asks in this passage, “shall ye not know it?”

I feel the Holy Ghost saying to His people today that He wants to do something new, something better, something greater, and more magnificent than we’ve ever seen or experienced before, but if we’re still worshipping at the enshrined memory of the past, we’re going to miss it.

When God says, "Remember not,” He is saying: don’t let enshrined memories of the past keep you from moving forward. Don’t misunderstand me, God doesn’t want us to forget the good things of the past, all the miracles we have seen, or the lessons that we have learned, that’s not what I am saying at all. We are to be thankful for the wonders that God has performed in our lives, but we must not become a prisoner of the past, good or bad.

It’s time for a new thing. God said: Behold I will do a new thing! We are quickly approaching the end of 2018, very soon we will be starting a new year. This morning I am feeling a stirring in my spirit about 2019. Some changes have taken place in my ministry in 2018, and I just feel the Holy Ghost telling me this morning that I am positioned for transition. I don't pretend that I know everything God has in store for me, but I do understand that the word "transition" implies movement. Not movement in a physical sense, I don’t see myself going anywhere geographically speaking. I am going to be in the same city, at the same church, being fed by the same shepherd – of that I am absolutely certain. God wants to do something new in me spiritually, and I feel this message is not just for me, but for the people of God.

Let me be even more specific: "Transition” speaks of movement, progress, of forward motion. Transition is always about leaving one place to go to another. Elisha couldn't get to Bethel without leaving Gilgal, and he Couldn't get to Jericho without leaving Bethel. Transition means, leaving some things behind, it requires participation, and it does not happen by accident. Transition is a choice to co-operate and move with the Holy spirit.

Transition has three main components: First, we must let go of the old. Second, we must trust that God is faithful. Thirdly, we have to take hold of the new.

Why is transition so hard? Because most of the time the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us exactly where we are going. He just speaks into our spirit that our environment is getting ready to change. Then we must decide if we want what God has prepared for us, or are we going to settle for the comfortable and familiar.

That was Elijah's role in Elisha's transition: Elijah was playing the devil's advocate. In other words-Elijah was speaking as the devil would, to try and discourage someone from receiving Gods best (see I Kings 19:19-21; 2 Kings 2). Elijah wanted Elisha to receive his mantle. He had poured into his life for over 10 years. But He knew Elisha had to want it enough to transition. in other words; He had to want it enough to let go of and leave the comfortable and the familiar to go after the unseen, and the unknown.

Transition is a difficult place many times because It is an in between place. It is the squeezing place. It's the place where you have left where you were, where you were adjusted, where you knew what to expect, where you had a pretty good handle on everything, and now you don't have a handle on anything. It is the place where faith is tested. It is the place where you are tempted to grumble and complain and start looking back to the old familiar comfort zone. It's the place where you either breakthrough or you break down.

Transition is a necessary place because it is the proving ground, it is where you prove to God by your actions and your attitude that you are more interested in following him than being comfortable. I think one of the most exciting and inspiring things that I learned from the story of Elijah and Elisha was Elisha went beyond his mentor, he pushed for more, he had developed his own spiritual appetite. Elisha wasn’t satisfied with the same things that Elijah had, he didn’t want a replication of the past, Elisha wanted more, he wanted double.

Elisha not only wanted what he had seen and experienced with Elijah, He wanted more, he wanted what he had never seen and never experienced. I believe that, that’s the way it should be. I want what God has for me through my pastor and mentor, and then I want my own. Because when I get ready to go, and it’s time for me to pass this mantle, it won't be another man of God’s mantle I'm passing, it will be mine.

I'm talking today about being positioned for transition. I've been talking about being positioned for transition because one of the most important ways to position ourselves for transition is to know what to expect: In other words; to know what transition looks like and feels like. The Holy spirit is giving as a sense of what to expect as we transition.

Positioning ourselves for transition begins by deciding that if there is more, I want it. If there is something better, I want it. If there is a better way, I want to learn it. If there is a greater anointing, Lord pour it on me, I want it.

I am positioned for something greater, and even if it means I have to go through the wilderness to get there, I am ready to let go of the past, I am trusting that God is faithful, and I am ready to move forward into a greater anointing.