Wisdom for Living: “The Focus Process” | Mac Hammond
 
Recap
Pastor Mac taught his 7th installment of his Wisdom for Living series entitled, “The Focus Process.” James 1:5 says that if you lack wisdom about anything that you should ask God and He will give it to you liberally. Maybe you’ve prayed about a situation, and nothing has changed. You’re now at your wits end and don’t know what to do. What you do is go to the source of wisdom… the Word of God.
 
Dive Deeper
 
2nd Corinthians 4:17 talks about “our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
 
There are two ways to view this. Paul could be talking about our light affliction being light and momentary because on the scale of eternity, it is a “light and momentary affliction.” But it can also be viewed as a way to experience adversity. Instead of adversity being earth shattering, you can make adversity feel light and momentary.  
 
The life of Christianity doesn’t mean you will never experience adversity, where you float around on a little puffy cloud with not a care in the world. The truth is that adversity is a part of the human experience. Your success in life isn’t measured on how little adversity you experience. It’s measured by how you handle it.
 
Through Jesus, God the Father has made you to be an overcomer. Through faith, you can overcome anything that stands in your way of the promises of God being realized in your life.
 
The key to being an overcomer is in verse 18: “…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 “how to” of making your adversity seem light and momentary is by not looking at the things that are in the seen realm, but instead looking at the things in the unseen realm.
 
Things in the seen realm are temporal. But the things in the unseen realm are eternal. The things in the seen realm represent the natural arena of human endeavor. The things in the unseen realm represent the spiritual arena that can’t be perceived with our natural sensory perception.
 
When it says “look,” what does that mean? Look means to “spy out, to study, and to consider.” So one realm we are to spy out, give attention to it, study, and consider. But the other realm, we are told not to spy it out, give attention to it, study, and consider.
 
If you want something in the seen realm to change, then you can’t be studying it, considering it, thinking about it, paying attention to it. You must shift your focus from the seen realm to the unseen realm.
 
The unseen realm is revealed to us through the Word of God.
 
We are to focus our attention. To focus means to bring something into clarity. For example, if you were looking at a beautiful vista through a pair of binoculars but it was blurry, you would correct it by turning the knob until the vista was brought into clarity. Likewise, you can get a clear understanding of what you need to know by looking at the unseen realm which is revealed by the Word of God.
 
And as you keep your focus off the natural circumstance and put it, instead, on the Word of God, you empower the Word of God to change the natural circumstance.
 
Read About It
 
James 5:1, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
 
Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
 
2nd 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.”
 
First Peter 1:13, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
Discussion Questions
 
What have you experienced in your life that you wanted God to intervene on your behalf?
Give an example of what it means to “not look” at something in the seen realm. What would that look like?
Have you had an experience where your circumstance was changed because you chose to not look at the seen realm, but rather continued to focus your attention on the Word of God?
 

Recent Sermon Notes

At Wit’s End | Jim Hammond

Have you ever been “at your wit’s end?” When you’ve exhausted all your emotional and physical resources and have nothing left to give, what do you do? When the Apostle Paul was at his wit’s end, the Lord gave him direction saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Pastor Jim went on to expound on when we are at our wit’s end, how we can lean on His grace.

Grace Unveiled, #9: Established in the Gift of Righteousness | Jim Hammond

This past weekend, Pastor Jim taught his 9th installment in his series on the book of Romans entitled, “Grace Unveiled.” The first three and a half chapters of Romans, Paul talked extensively, driving home the point, on how no one can make himself righteous in God’s eyes. The Apostle Paul didn’t leave anyone out. He listed the Pagans in the secular world, people just trying to do good, and the zealous disciplined Jews… he made sure they knew that none of them measured up in God’s eyes. No matter what they did, they would never be able to escape God’s wrath… unless there is something that appeases that judgment. That was Paul’s way of working up to a point. Paul then introduced the righteousness of God through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

The Principle of Connection | Mac Hammond

Pastor Mac taught a message entitled, “The Principle of Connection.” Oftentimes, we struggle with obedience to the Word, where our obedience to the Word is not done in faith but out of legalism. We don’t do it from our heart, but we do it out of obligation. However, as Pastor Mac pointed out, if the Word is going to work for you, it has to come from our heart. There is a remedy that puts an end to legalistic obedience: once you understand the principle behind a particular mandate, obedience to the Word becomes exciting. Pastor Mac goes on to discuss the Principle of Connection.

A Faith-Building Weekend With Nancy Dufresne

What a weekend we had with guest minister Nancy Dufresne. She shared on the power of faith and reminded us that God and the Holy Spirit should always remain our focus. That means when we face difficulty, listening to the Holy Spirit, our guide on the inside, is the best thing that we can do. You can walk in faith toward your miracle!

GRACE UNVEILED: “All Under Sin,” #7 | Jim Hammond

Pastor Jim delivered his seventh installment in his series on the book of Romans, entitled, “Grace Unveiled.” The first three chapters of Romans focuses explicitly on the definition of sin. “Because,” as Pastor Jim says, “if you don’t understand what sin is, you will not understand the solution to the sin problem.” Paul wanted them to understand that all of mankind has a sin problem, and no matter who you are, you will never, ever be able to achieve righteousness through your own merit. If doesn’t matter if you’re a secular pagan who worships Zeus or a religious Jew who strictly follows the law, God will never see you as righteous through your own effort. Pastor Jim has much more to say in this message subtitled, “All Under Sin.”