Focus

Focus was the focus of our Sunday morning yesterday. It was Pumpkin Festival weekend, so this was more of a side note for our fall sermon series. But for us to truly walk as Jesus we need a different Focus.

In Acts 5 after they had been flogged it says, "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."

In Acts 7 as Stephen is being stoned to death it says, "Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep."

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are attacked, stripped, flogged and locked in stocks in prison and their response is, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."

The one thing that all three of those events have in common is that they don't have a normal response. Rejoicing? Forgiveness? Worship? If our focus is on ourselves none of those three responses happen. If our focus has shifted heavenward, all three now make sense. If we really desire to live God's abundant life we need a different focus. If today's church is going to grow and have influence like the early church, our focus must be lifted heavenward.

Where's your focus?

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 29:27 The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.

Scripture of the Day: Hebrews 11:13-16 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Quote of the Day: "If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the Gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the Gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the Gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning." Martin Luther