Wisdom for Living: “Focus” | Mac Hammond

Recap

No other generation in history has the number of things that vie for our attention. The world has so many distractions that it sometimes can be difficult to keep our focus on God. But as Pastor Mac taught us in his sixth installment in his series, “Wisdom for Living,” we must ruthlessly guard our time with the Lord because without it, it will be difficult to hear from the Holy Spirit the wisdom we need to fulfill His will and plan for our lives.

Dive Deeper

Proverbs 4:7 tells us that wisdom is the principal thing. Dake’s Annotated Bible defines wisdom as “the ability to discern the best ends and the best means to attain those ends.”

You need to know what the will of God is for your life. If you don’t know the will of God for your life, then you are unable to move your life in the appropriate direction.

The first definition of wisdom is that you discern what His will for you is. He will begin to orient our lives toward His high purpose for each of us. Many live their lives in His permissive will and never find that high purpose of God.

Basic Text: 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

The subtitle of the message is “Focus.”

A question we must ask ourselves: “Do I have the ability to focus, close out the other distractions and focus my whole attention in a particular area for any length of time at all?”

Today, there are so many distractions to focused thought that earlier generations could never have imagined.

The level of distraction is so high that we have to be consciously aware of protecting the time that we have to focus our attention in order to achieve the desired results.

Your time with the Lord should be invested in a level of attentiveness to His purpose, His wisdom, and His person and love. We must guard it ruthlessly because without it, we’ll never get wisdom from God that we need to direct our lives.

The enemy will work to bring distractions and adversity to your life. God says that when adversity comes our way, we’re to count it all joy. If you want your challenges and difficulties to be light and momentary, then count it all joy like James 1:2 says, “knowing this, that it’s the trying of your faith.”

The enemy’s most common form of warfare is to bring distractions to cause you to change your belief system. He can’t do anything to interfere with your destiny in God unless he can change what you believe. Everything that comes your way as adversity, difficulty, or challenge is intended by the enemy to dissuade you from the Word of God.

Our affliction becomes light and momentary only as we, “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” This is talking about what you give your attention to, what you focus on.

That means we are to focus our attention on the Word of God, what the Word says.

Read About It

2 Corinthians 4:17–18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

James 1:2–4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Discussion Questions

Can you think of a time in your life where you went through a trying time? Were you able to fix your attention on the Word of God? Or were you distracted?

What is the spiritual principle when we “count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations”?

How does God reveal His will and plan for your life?

Recent Sermon Notes

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we had the pleasure of being ministered to by guest speaker, Dennis Burke. He began his message, “Help of the Holy Spirit” by declaring, “I believe over the next few minutes, the Holy Spirit’s going to deposit something into your life.” Really, that’s why we come to church. We come to church to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit in order for Him to deposit in us things that are life changing! One word from God “can truly revolutionize something in your life.”

The Impossible Dream, #2: Fasting and Prayer | Mac Hammond

Pastor Mac gave the second installment of his series entitled, “The Impossible Dream.” He said, “Even though I say about every new series I teach that it is the most important message I’ve ever preached, when it comes to this message—for this day, at this time, and where we are right now—I truly believe that about this message. God has a dream for your life. And it’s not possible for you to achieve that dream without His partnership in your life.” That being said, what is God’s “Impossible Dream” for your life?

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Pastor Mac taught the first message in his new series entitled, “The Impossible Dream.” He said “the impossible dream” is a good message for the outset of a new year. However, it’s a good message for all to hear at any time during the year. He began the message by asking a rhetorical question: “Do your dreams fall only within the realm of logical possibility. Or do your dreams require the element of the miraculous in order to be realized?” He went on to explain how God-given dreams will always necessitate the supernatural power of God in order for them to be fulfilled.

GRACE UNVEILED, “Dominion of Grace” #25 | Jim Hammond

This past Sunday, Pastor Jim gave the 25th installment to his teaching series entitled, “Grace Unveiled.” In the past messages, we’ve been studying Romans 3, 4, 5, and 6. Before teaching on chapter 7, Pastor Jim wanted to break down these chapters again in a way we have not heard them before. He said, “You’re going to hear these chapters taught in a different way.” So far, we focused on the gift of righteousness. And we focused on justification. But there is a third subject that Pastor Jim wanted to focus on before we moved on to the next chapter.