1 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:04,480 Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast. 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,280 Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,280 take hold of. So we hope this message inspires 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,600 you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,880 perspective for your day. Enjoy. 6 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,760 Thinking of, you know, seeing people who are good looking, but 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:27,800 also just where people's focus is over here on this cross 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,760 faith, love, hope. We have a stack of praise 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:32,800 reports and a stack of prayer requests. 10 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,840 But can I just encourage everybody here to not let the 11 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:44,600 prayer requests that you have here be your focus, but rather 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,680 let the answer, the hope be your focus? 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,040 Because, you know, one of the privileges of being a pastor in 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:57,040 this church is I get to hear lots of people's stories, both 15 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,160 trauma and joy. So it's not all, you know, like 16 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,960 this is mental health stuff. And in all of it, whether it's 17 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,080 good or bad, rich or poor, all direction needs to be back to 18 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,160 Jesus. All of it, absolutely all of it 19 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:19,520 because there is literally no hope in anything except for God 20 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,840 through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and hope in God 21 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:28,720 is the only way to see clearly. So you'll focus what what do you 22 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,120 see clearly and that's the title for today's message. 23 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:45,080 During the week I spent the night at my brother in I love 24 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,360 that she goes, Uncle John, she goes, I just want to be a better 25 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,160 me. And just this morning Pastor 26 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,720 Graham was saying, how do you be a better you? 27 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,360 How do we do that? Is it through self help books? 28 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,280 They might help a little bit, but they're definitely not the 29 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:09,960 answer. What about yoga, drugs, being 30 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:14,960 drunk all the time? The answer to being a better 31 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,800 version of you is actually for you to see clearly. 32 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,960 It really, really is. And one of the first points in 33 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:28,320 this message about how to see clearly is you must see God, 34 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,920 must see God. And so we'll begin in Matthew 5. 35 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,040 Don't have to open up the Bible for those who are going to take 36 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,600 notes today. You are going to have a hand 37 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:39,920 cramp. I'm so sorry. 38 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,320 All right, so Matthew 5 you've got the beatitudes as Jesus 39 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,120 preaching on a mountain and it says in Matthew 5, verse 8, 40 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:51,160 important verse for today's message. 41 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,520 Blessed are the purer in heart for they shall see God. 42 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,280 But there is so much more to this in Greek ortos Hotheus 43 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,040 optomini, see God. But the word, see God there, see 44 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,400 optomini. It doesn't just mean oh, I'm 45 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,360 looking at God. It's been fully aware of God. 46 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,840 It's seeing God what I love about Tom and I, It also means 47 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,560 to be seen. Who wants to be seen by God? 48 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,480 But this verse is not present. Sorry is not future tense. 49 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:34,640 Jesus does not say blessed are the pure in heart for that one 50 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:36,360 day they're going to see God when they die. 51 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:38,840 He says blessed are the pure in heart. 52 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:44,320 For they do see God. They see God. 53 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,560 They're aware of him everywhere. They're seeing God right now. 54 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:51,960 Not the toast. Ever seen that? 55 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,160 You know, people, they say, I see Jesus. 56 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,000 That's actually called pareidolia. 57 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,800 Yeah. And people travel all over the 58 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,760 world because someone on their window, you know, like someone's 59 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,120 spilled the coffee and it makes a face and they're like Jesus. 60 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,560 Pastor Mike actually said he preached here and something I 61 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,839 wrote down from his message, he says lift up your eyes, let the 62 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:25,280 invisible become invisible. That was great because God is in 63 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:27,080 all things. We read that in Scripture, 64 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,800 Ephesians 4 verse 6 where it says one God and Father of all 65 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,080 who is above all and through all and in you all, but He is 66 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,320 through all. If He's through all, then we 67 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:45,720 should see Him through all and we need to see God daily. 68 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:49,240 People say to me, but I don't see God. 69 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:55,160 Well, you need to learn to see Him daily because blessed are 70 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,480 the pure in heart. They will see God. 71 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,600 You'll notice it says pure in heart, not perfect. 72 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,600 Isn't that a good thing Or you sinners? 73 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:15,680 Everyone's like he's right. Because the word pure here, the 74 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,520 Greek word cathros, it doesn't mean you're a perfect person. 75 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,680 It means pure. And there's a difference. 76 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:30,960 Pure cathros really refers to being refined, refined in a 77 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,680 fire, just like gold goes through refining process. 78 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:42,760 Purity, not perfection, purity. Is anyone pure? 79 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,680 Of course not. But what I love when Jesus says 80 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,080 is this is actually in John 15 for those who want to write it 81 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,040 down. John 15 one to three Jesus says 82 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:54,160 and he's talking about being pruned. 83 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,120 So verses one and two, he's talking about being pruned. 84 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:04,480 In verse 3, Jesus says you are already clean, Cathros, you are 85 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:09,880 already pure because of the word which I have spoken to you. 86 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,280 Now Jesus never said to his disciples, geez, you guys are 87 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:15,120 the most perfect bunch of people I've ever met. 88 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,000 That's why you get to be my disciples. 89 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,520 But He did say you are pure because of the words which I 90 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,480 have spoken to you. Pruning is such an interesting 91 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:30,360 subject to me. Rachel showed me this actually, 92 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,080 because we have trees, actually we have anniversary trees. 93 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,560 So we, we try and buy a tree, you know, it's lovely. 94 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,440 And as I've mentioned before, one of those trees, it's one of 95 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,280 those trees that all the leaves is all the leaves every winter. 96 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,720 Yeah, literally yesterday I walked out and I said to Rachel, 97 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:51,880 it's dead again. She's like, how long is this 98 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:53,480 going to persist? I'm like, I don't know. 99 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,680 How long is it going to keep losing its leaves? 100 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,640 So anyway, The thing is, is Rachel has been pruning some of 101 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:05,520 the trees and on the outside when you see someone cutting off 102 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:10,160 all the branches, it looks like they are destroying it. 103 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:17,160 And sometimes when God's pruning our lives, it looks like God is 104 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:24,360 destroying it. But pruning is an essential part 105 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,320 of making a tree healthier and stronger. 106 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:33,320 So Jesus is saying I have made you pure. 107 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,760 Now if you are pure, then you get to see God. 108 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,800 So don't get upset and don't get all broken and disappointed and 109 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,680 depressed when there are things in your life that God's cutting 110 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,440 off and you think God must hate me? 111 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:51,760 No, He just wants you to see him. 112 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,240 Learning to see, it's like taking up your cross daily. 113 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,440 I've had people over the years, they're like, John, I'm still 114 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,600 just a Sinner. I'm like, no, you are not. 115 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,640 You are the righteousness of Christ. 116 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,520 Anyone who believes in Jesus is completely pure. 117 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:14,240 Are you perfect? No. 118 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,600 Oh my gosh, you're disgusting. So we are right. 119 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:21,320 But I heard years ago someone said, they said you will never 120 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:26,000 know just how disgusting your church is because we all have 121 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,560 things that we all deal with. But what happens is the lie of 122 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,679 the enemy is to say, Oh yeah, there you go. 123 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,280 That's your identity. It is not your identity. 124 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:41,000 Your identity is in Christ. What do you see? 125 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,520 What do you see? Yeah, that purity is a gift from 126 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:44,920 God. It really is. 127 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,800 Hey, 01 day, I'm going to preach the whole message on that purity 128 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,080 because it is staggering what God has promised his people who 129 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:53,560 just, we just want to lean into him. 130 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:55,680 Absolutely staggering. It's just beautiful, mind 131 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:57,960 blowing stuff. Anyway, get back to the actual 132 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,640 message, John. So what do you see and why does 133 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,640 it matter? Because where you focus, 134 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:14,320 especially if you're not focused on God, will bring about other 135 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,880 things in your life that aren't godly. 136 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:18,720 Like we can actually choose not to see God. 137 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:23,040 Let me give you some examples. OK, so in Genesis 20, so if we 138 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,160 don't see God, we see other things in Genesis 20, Abraham, 139 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,600 if you can read the events yourself, but Abraham gives his 140 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,800 wife to some other guy called Abimelech, right? 141 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,440 And God in a dream shows up to Abimelech. 142 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:39,640 And this is in Genesis 20 verse 3. 143 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,280 It's not on the screen, but it says indeed, you are a dead man 144 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,520 because of the woman you have taken for. 145 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:50,920 She is a man's wife. And Abim looks like, well, dude, 146 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,800 I didn't know like, like this guy, Abraham literally gave me 147 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,600 this woman and out of innocence, I thought it was going to be OK 148 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:01,160 to marry her. And I was like, no, don't touch 149 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,200 her. You're like, so Abraham. 150 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,960 Abimelech then confronts Abraham and this is what Abimelech says 151 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,480 to Abraham. He said, what do you have in 152 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:15,840 view? What did you have in view? 153 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:17,840 That's actually a very good translation. 154 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:25,800 Not what have you done? What have you in view that you 155 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,520 have done this thing? Hebrew word rah. 156 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:34,520 Because Abraham here saw fear. He thought Abimelech was going 157 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:36,160 to kill him. He's like, how do I Pierce this 158 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:37,400 guy? I don't know, give him the wife. 159 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,800 He saw fear, so his focus was fear. 160 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,440 He forgot about the promises of God. 161 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,960 His focus was not on God or the hope that God had for him. 162 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,960 His focus was on fear. Now don't be hating on Abraham 163 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:59,360 because we all do this. We often give away precious 164 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:06,880 things because our focus is fear sometimes. 165 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:15,320 And this generation is wildly persuaded this way is a very 166 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,760 polite way of saying it. Some this whole generation is 167 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:23,960 persuaded not to have children, and they go, no, no children. 168 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,080 Why? Oh, because the way this world 169 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,280 is going. So you're giving up something 170 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,000 precious because you are focused on the fear? 171 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,440 What about people who say to me, oh, you know something? 172 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:39,000 I'm not, We're not, we're not getting married. 173 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,040 That's crazy. Why? 174 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,960 Oh, the divorce rate is so high? Oh. 175 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:49,120 So instead of focusing on God, His promises for a marriage and 176 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:54,160 wanting to do things God's way, you are focusing on your fear. 177 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,120 See, we often give up things that are precious for fear. 178 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:07,400 In Genesis 27, one and two. Genesis 27, the one of the 179 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,280 patriarchs of the Bible, his name's Isaac. 180 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:11,600 All right, so you can read this yourself. 181 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,000 But Isaac, he thinks he's going to die. 182 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,320 He's come to the end of his life. 183 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,960 And this is what it says in Genesis 27 one and two, it says. 184 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,920 Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim 185 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,880 that he could not see, that he called Esau, that's his oldest 186 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:37,440 son, and said to him, My son. And Esau said, here I am. 187 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,360 And then Isaac says to him, Behold, now I am old and I do 188 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:47,760 not know the day of my death. So the story continues where 189 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:51,160 Esau and I Esau goes out, makes him a meal, and then there's 190 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,720 this big hole, jumble, jumble between Esau and his brother 191 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,080 Jacob. It's a mess. 192 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,320 What I want to focus on here isn't the mess of hit their 193 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,560 sons, OK? No, I want to focus on the fact 194 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:11,440 that Isaac did not die for chapters later. 195 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:18,800 Many, many chapters later. There are some scholars who 196 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:27,040 believe that between what is it, Genesis 27 and Genesis 35 where 197 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,800 Isaac actually dies, is about 50 years. 198 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:41,160 You think Days of Our Lives has a long death scenes, 50 years. 199 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:50,040 His focus, his view, was on the death and actually he made a 200 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:55,240 mess of the whole situation with his sons, Esau and Jacob, 201 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,520 because he rushed the story instead of actually waiting for 202 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,120 the moment he was dying. No, no, he got everyone worked 203 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,800 up and they all went and did silly things. 204 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,480 Can you be a Mac? Can you imagine being married to 205 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:11,840 Isaac? It's like the wife says, honey, 206 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,200 what do you want for dinner tonight? 207 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,760 Well, considering it's my last meal. 208 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,800 And he did that for 50 years. I think probably after about 20, 209 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:31,120 she was like, just toy. Sorry, I don't know if that's 210 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:38,400 disrespectful. But seriously, that was what his 211 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,440 focus was. His focus was not on any hope at 212 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,880 all. Then we got Nebuchadnezzar, 213 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:52,560 Daniel 4:30 That was a great king, and this is what it says. 214 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,800 The king spoke, saying, is this not great Babylon that I have 215 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,040 built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honour 216 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:06,680 of my My Majesty? Remember that My Majesty in 31 217 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,920 while the word was still in the King's mouth, God was like Nope. 218 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:18,000 And for seven years he became this mental animal, eating, it 219 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:22,160 says in verse 33, that very hour the word was fulfilled 220 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,040 concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men in a 221 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:30,600 grass, yeah, like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of 222 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,520 heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles feathers, and his 223 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:36,920 nails like birds claws. Horrible. 224 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:43,160 But at the end of four, sorry, seven years in verse 34, it says 225 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,920 and at the end of the time I Nebuchadnezzar, what'd he do? 226 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:55,560 Lifted my eyes to heaven. So now he sees now he has the 227 00:15:55,560 --> 00:16:00,840 right focus and I understand and return to me and I bless thee 228 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:05,200 most high and praise and honoured him who lives forever. 229 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,120 You will notice in these verses he did not go and then I'm like 230 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,880 God, why did you do that? He was like, I've changed my 231 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,280 focus. And then he found his answer 232 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:22,840 because all of our answers come from him. 233 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:28,880 So .2 I got this inspiration from Pastor Isaac last week, 234 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,520 Just see it. And last week he's like, just do 235 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:33,560 it. Just see it. 236 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,960 All right? Now, this is really easy to say, 237 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,000 but how do we just see it in our house? 238 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,040 Rachel will say, and I think some, maybe a lot of people can 239 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:44,760 relate to this. Rachel will say, John, can you 240 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:46,720 please get the bread out of the cupboard? 241 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,760 I hate that. I really do open the cupboard. 242 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,600 It's not in there. She's like, yeah, it is. 243 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,320 Nope, I'm not even making this up. 244 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,360 Hey, I know it's not so cliche, but I've just done this so many 245 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:02,840 times. And then sure enough, she'll get 246 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:03,960 up and it's right in front of me. 247 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:06,079 OK. We call it a boy. 248 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:07,640 Look, I don't know if that's sexist or not. 249 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,480 OK, cool. It's accurate. 250 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:12,280 Is it? I just can't believe it. 251 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:14,839 It's actually embarrassing. And I get really, like, nervous. 252 00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:17,119 I'm like, I'm going to fail. I just know it. 253 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,000 Maybe that makes it worse because I'm focused on the fear 254 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,880 instead of the bread. Anyway, yeah, I don't know. 255 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,240 I'm preaching to myself. It's OK. 256 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:31,600 You know, sometimes we don't see. 257 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,360 We don't just see it because we want to keep the status quo. 258 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,720 If you're familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, you 259 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:43,560 know, the leaders of the temple establishment and the priests, 260 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,760 there was someone beat up, dying and bleeding, but they were 261 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,600 concerned that it would disrupt their position. 262 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,480 So they chose not to look, you know, so they didn't see what 263 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,160 they were meant to be seen. And it was actually the Good 264 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,280 Samaritan who came along and did see it. 265 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,400 Other ones, actually, there's a very interesting terminology. 266 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,120 It's called the Badda Minehoff. Has anyone heard that? 267 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:11,320 Byda Minehoff? It's where you see things that 268 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:12,520 you wouldn't have seen beforehand. 269 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,520 A good example. If you suddenly decide one day 270 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:21,440 you want to buy a motorbike, yeah, it's always a great thing. 271 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:27,000 You then suddenly be care, become aware that there are many 272 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,240 other motorbikes around. Yeah. 273 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,040 So something that you have suddenly becomes very obvious. 274 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,120 Like I, when I was young, I actually owned one of those 275 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,000 little mini miners. Little mini. 276 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,280 I did not realize how many were they were until I had one. 277 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,320 They're everywhere. Now that I haven't got 1, I 278 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:48,920 don't think they even exist anymore. 279 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:54,600 All right, so this does actually occur because your brain having 280 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,400 recently focused on a item, just simply becomes attuned to it. 281 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,840 But are we being attuned to God? Like that's that's a God-given 282 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,920 gift. It's where God's like, you know, 283 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,080 when you become aware of me, when you see me, I've actually 284 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,240 got something in your brain that's going to see and learn to 285 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,640 see me everywhere. It's not just there so that you 286 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,280 see other minis or other motorbikes. 287 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,240 It's a cognitive based biased route. 288 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,840 Actually, sometimes we're focused on previous herds. 289 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,240 Are you focused on your past so much that you can't see your 290 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,880 future? And maybe you're just simply 291 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,440 looking at the wrong thing, like that's not your wife. 292 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,120 Maybe you're looking at your own success, like Mr. 293 00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:45,840 Nebuchadnezzar. Yeah, and often we're so 294 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,040 overwhelmed by our circumstances that we're actually no longer 295 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,960 able to recognize the answer right in front of us. 296 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,360 So, you know, I understand OK, I've got my own story and I've 297 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,960 got my own journey as well. And a lot of time I've had to 298 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:05,680 go, I need to refocus and engage the correct like looking pattern 299 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,280 and see God again because when we. 300 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,640 Re engage when we find our hope, when we lift up our eyes, often 301 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,160 the answer has always been right in front of us. 302 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:23,760 In Genesis 21. There's an event here where you 303 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,880 have what's called Hagar. That's one of Abraham's wives, 304 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:31,000 right? Hagar and she gives birth. 305 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,200 She has this child named Ishmael. 306 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,640 And basically the whole house erupts. 307 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,000 It's just turns to pure hell. And so they kick Hagar and 308 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,760 Ishmael out. Like, I mean, I think this is 309 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:42,200 for the second time, but it's permanent. 310 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,240 It's like go away. They they so they leave rah rah 311 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,600 and they are about to die of thirst actually. 312 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:58,680 And so in Genesis 2116, it says, and I'll just read it through. 313 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,480 Oh, something good. Then she went and sat down 314 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,480 across from him. That's across from Ishmael at a 315 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,720 distance of about a bow shot. OK, so, you know, actually a 316 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,360 fair distance because she could not deal. 317 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,760 She's like, my child is about to die of thirst. 318 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:21,040 This, this is too much. I I can't even I can't even see 319 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,000 it anymore. I just can't deal with this. 320 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:28,000 So she goes away right? And she says to herself, let me 321 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:34,080 not see the death of the boy. So she sat opposite him and 322 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:38,520 lifted a voice and wept. Genesis 27/21/17 And God heard 323 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:43,400 the voice of the lad. Then the Angel of God called out 324 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,440 to Hagar out of heaven and said, What ails you Hagar? 325 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,840 Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 326 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,080 Interesting point. God didn't say Hagar. 327 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,280 I've heard you cry and I'm here to answer your prayer because 328 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,920 God's focus was already focused on the problem. 329 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,880 God's focus was already I'm going to fix this. 330 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:14,120 I've got an answer. God's focus is always on your 331 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:17,320 prayer requests, not just on you. 332 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,520 And then he deals with you like he did with Hagar. 333 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:22,120 So God's like, you know something. 334 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:25,880 I know that you couldn't deal with this trauma, but I'm right 335 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:31,680 there at that moment with a purpose and a plan for this. 336 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:41,000 And verse 18, it says, arise, lift the lad and hold him with 337 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,720 your hand, for I will make him a great nation. 338 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:50,200 Verse 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water 339 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,720 and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a 340 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:56,680 drink. Now there's a bunch of theories 341 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:01,480 about this like was the well already there or did God just 342 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,280 make a well happen? The thing is that the well was 343 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:10,920 probably already there because it does not say that God made a 344 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,120 well. It just says that she lifted her 345 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,680 eyes and then God opened her eyes because her focus was back 346 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,280 on Hope, her focus was back on God. 347 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,920 And when you bring your focus back to God, your eyes are 348 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,520 opened. Always do, always bring yourself 349 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,960 back. In Second King Six, there was a 350 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,640 bunch of enemies surrounding the building called Dothan, which is 351 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,960 where Elisha was staying, and Elisha's servant was freaking 352 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,400 out. OK, because the Syrian Army has 353 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:45,640 surrounded it. They were going to slaughter 354 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,120 everybody and then Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray that you 355 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:54,400 open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of 356 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:58,600 the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of 357 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,920 horses and Chariots of fire. That would be awesome to see. 358 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:07,960 Hey all around Elijah .3 singers and musicians you can come up 359 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:08,960 now. That'd be great. 360 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,200 Thank you so much, Alex. He just literally sat down. 361 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,920 He just did like we've been 10 seconds ago. 362 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,600 Lovely. All right, you know, in Joel, 363 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,160 I'm not going to go through this because we've run out of time, 364 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,840 but I do want to explain some principles of how to do this 365 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:31,600 because .3 is see your position. See your position. 366 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:36,920 You know, in Joel 232, Romans 10/13, Acts 221, it says that 367 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,960 all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. 368 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,680 Beautiful verse. It's very good for you to etch 369 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:50,000 that one in your mind actually, because sometimes we think we 370 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,440 know who will make it to heaven and who won't. 371 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,440 And I like to think, well, all who call on the name of the Lord 372 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,600 will be saved. But let's go to the next one in 373 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:05,400 Matthew 721 to 23. Important verse in context it 374 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,640 says on that day many will say to me, Lord Lord, did we not 375 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,800 prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do 376 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:17,120 mighty works in your name and then I will declare to them I 377 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:21,120 never knew you depart from me. Wait, isn't this a 378 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:22,840 contradiction? Isn't there a bunch of 379 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,400 scriptures that I just said all who call on the name of the Lord 380 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,960 will be saved and now Jesus like no, all who call on the name of 381 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,360 the Lord will be saved. But that word there, I never 382 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:39,120 knew you knew The word new is gonosco. 383 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:43,520 Gonosco is a marital intimacy word. 384 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:52,240 It's not knowledge fully. It is a form of knowledge, but 385 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:57,880 it's very it's biblical knowing. How's that trying to be kind 386 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,600 children? So I want you to remember that 387 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,160 point, Gonosco intimately involved with our God. 388 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:14,640 It's so close where you are focused on each other, you're 389 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,520 married to each other, you're intimate with each other. 390 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,680 Like my eyes are on my wife because she's beautiful. 391 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:29,760 But here's the thing guys, God thinks you are beautiful. 392 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:40,720 Do you think he is? Because the God that I'm madly 393 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,200 in love with, deeply in love with. 394 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:49,640 Like yesterday I watched the sunset and all the colours and 395 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:54,240 you have to think to yourself, if there are such a wide variety 396 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,920 of colours and such a wide variety of spices and herbs and 397 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:04,040 tastes and just so many like laughter, children's laughter, 398 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:09,560 My gosh, if there are so many beautiful things in this world, 399 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,880 then surely the Creator is far more beautiful. 400 00:27:22,300 --> 00:27:25,540 But how do you begin this journey of intimacy with God? 401 00:27:26,860 --> 00:27:30,180 Well, you have to have have him as your first hope. 402 00:27:31,980 --> 00:27:39,640 Hope your first focus and Jesus. When Jesus said I never knew 403 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:44,280 you, what he was saying is I was not the focus of your affection 404 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:52,360 was Jesus saying you. You didn't hope in me, You hoped 405 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,640 and you had focus in what? Your own achievements? 406 00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:59,880 Because from the verse they're yelling out, you know, hey, we 407 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:03,280 cast our demons in your name. We prophesied, we did mighty 408 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,680 works in your name. It's like Jesus, like that was 409 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,520 your focus. I wasn't your focus. 410 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,600 Focused in your own achievements, focused in your 411 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,080 own spirituality. Oh, what great things you did in 412 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,600 my name. Good for you. 413 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:26,600 But I was not your only hope. So I don't know you, and if 414 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,440 you're not in an intimate relationship with Jesus, 415 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,120 remember we're not perfect, but an intimate relationship with 416 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:37,560 Jesus is. If he's not your first hope, 417 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,240 then it means that we're intimate with other things 418 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,680 because we're always intimate with something. 419 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:55,120 It's actually by default, we're either married to Jesus or we're 420 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,840 married to other things. Ever heard people say, oh, 421 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:06,720 they're married to their career? Yeah, maybe they're married to 422 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,520 their art or one of the ones I've heard often they're married 423 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,880 to the 'cause it's so easy to be married to the cause, the 424 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:17,560 casting out demons. They're doing wonderful, 425 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:24,520 powerful things in his name. God's like, well, and that's why 426 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,920 please understand this. And that's why Jesus said depart 427 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,080 from me, get away from me. You know why? 428 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,600 Because he doesn't break his own rules. 429 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,840 Jesus is like, I don't commit adultery. 430 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,600 You are married to something else. 431 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,360 Does that make sense? Yeah. 432 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,760 She's like, whoa, I don't fool around with someone else's 433 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,240 spouse. You're already married to the 434 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,120 'cause you're already married to your own spirituality. 435 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,720 You're already married to your own career, You're married to 436 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,640 the whole world. You're married to lots of stuff. 437 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,280 I'm not touching you because I don't break my own rules. 438 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,480 Here's the beautiful thing. And you can read about this all 439 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,840 through Scripture. At any moment you can 440 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,480 categorically stop having intimacy with the world and 441 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,720 everything else by simply placing your hope in Jesus. 442 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,640 How great is that? There is there is no big journey 443 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,920 or story here. It's like a I'm changing my 444 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:34,440 focus simple decision. And then then we have Cathros 445 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:38,360 where it's Jesus who prunes you, then he purifies you. 446 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:46,120 So I just encourage you, let let Jesus ignite that intimacy in 447 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,400 your heart. And just like the song we sang 448 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,120 this morning, I love how in tune our churches with Holy Spirit 449 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,680 where it says I didn't even know this song was going to be 450 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,440 played, which is Jesus. I belong to no one else. 451 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:04,520 That were the words we sang this morning and I was like, that's 452 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:08,080 the message for today. I belong to no one else. 453 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:10,960 There's a quote, and I'll finish with this. 454 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,320 There's a quote from CS Lewis, Beautiful quote. 455 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:20,080 It says I believe in Christianity as I believe that 456 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:26,840 the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by 457 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,160 it I see everything else.