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Good morning and welcome again as we walk through the Bible together in one year.
On this jury together today, I want us to look at Matthew chapter 15
and I want to talk about a little word called
“FOCUS”
Do you remember how at the end of the year, and even as we moved into the beginning of 2013
I talked with you
about the fact that it order to be consistent,
you had to be focused?
If you try to do too much, you won't do anything well if you...
bite off more than you can chew, you won't be able to accomplish anything
I'd like you to notice two passages here that show focus in Jesus' life
One is in verse [Matt 15] 24
when he said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”, He knew the specific
target
that he was to focus his life on
at that period of time
Now, we've already read earlier how the gospel was to go out to the Gentiles
that was...
that has never been an issue
but at this particular focus of time
Jesus was to spend his entire strength and energy on the lost sheep of Israel.
Let me show you another verse;
in verse thirty-two
Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I had compassion on
'these' people
now, He couldn't show compassion to everybody else in Israel at one time and start
a feeding program that fed everybody
but He said “on these people because they've been with me for three days and have
nothing to eat.
and I don't want to send them away hungry or they may collapse on the way.”
and then we have this
incredible miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.
Now, Brothers and Sisters noticed that Jesus recognised
'these people'
notice that Jesus recognised at this point in time
I need to take care of 'these people',
at this point in time, I need to focus on the Lost Sheep of Israel
If you are going to be successful in life, if you're gonna be successful in your
Christian ministry.
you have to learn
to focus.
Sometimes people get very upset with me and they say
“Pastor Sumrall, why don't you go around preach in all the other churches and do
everything else because --
I am to be focused as the pastor
of the Cathedral of Praise
from the very time God called me to be the Pastor of the Cathedral of Praise
years ago
God spoke to me that there was no one that looked out for the welfare of these people,
and that I was to focus on those people.
So, I've given myself totally to that
and I have no apologies for it
you have to learn, you can't do everything well
but, you can do a few things very well
focus
on the responsibilities that God has for you
focus on the people that God has for you
now those focuses may change at different seasons of time
or different circumstances
but you still have to learn, to stay focused.