Fixing your focus

Now I would like to read first of all in the gospel of John chapter 21. John chapter 21. I think all of us especially enjoyed that time with Sandy Higgins this morning just opening his treasure chest of what he had gleaned and sharing it with us.

While he was speaking I was thinking of Brother Dan's message yesterday about technology and if I could be so bold as to suggest you use your technology for a profitable thing that would be that you go to a website called heaven for sure with the number 444 heavenforsure.com. You go and you subscribe there. Peter Ramsey has Bible bites. If you don't get them it would be really good and also our brother Sandy has begun something called Monday meditations and if you want a little more of that then you just plug in there and he'll get sent right into your computer something sound and healthy and good from the Word of God.

More of meditations from our good brother. If he was here he wouldn't have allowed me to say that or he would have gotten after me afterwards but he had to leave so I took advantage of it and because Sandy does not take a compliment very well. But we're thankful for his ministry and it was good to be here this weekend.

I thank the assembly here for inviting me to come along. I especially enjoyed the ministry of my brethren. I always enjoy ministry in English.

That's still my favorite. I have to be honest with you and it was a joy to be here and work with our brethren and fellowship together. Now we'll read together in John's Gospel chapter 21 verse 1. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias and on this wise showed he himself.

There were together Simon Peter, Thomas, Calditimus and Nathanael of Canaan Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples just seven. Simon Peter saith unto them I go a fishing they say unto him we also go with thee. Now turn the page over if it is it requires that to Acts chapter 1 please.

Acts chapter 1 verse 9 and when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said you men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey and when they were come in they went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew James the son of Alpheus and Simon Zalotes and Judas the brother of James. These all continue the one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and marry the mother of Jesus with his brother.

I hope you won't accuse me of coming with to the conference of the one-string guitar speaking on lists of disciples and that's all I have but the truth of the matter is in the last couple weeks as I've been studying that's all I've been spoken to about from the Lord and so I'm just passing it on to you because we began on the yesterday in the morning looking at the subject of the lists of disciples in the Gospels and we tried to find look at the subject of finding your focus because those men were those twelve disciples they are the ones that are called apostles which means sent ones they were commissioned they were given a mission by the Lord and they had to carry that mission out they were to live with a distinct focus in their lives a plan that they were to carry out and the challenge was we were all to be looking at was to find our focus what is the mission what is it that God wants you to do not in the sense that you drop everything in being called to a full-time service here abroad but right where you are what is it that God has for you because the possibility is that any one of us even those who us who are in the full-time work as it is called we could all fall into the mundane of the mechanical and just be raising our families and we lose the whole the whole plan of God in it all or we could be teaching a Sunday school class and and lose the focus or we could be working in the gospel in the neighborhood or we could not be working in the gospel in the neighborhood or not working in the gospel in our community as an assembly and we lose our focus or first of all maybe there's young people here and they have never stopped to think what is it that God wants me to be doing right now why did he save me why am I here but then we looked at the subject in the keys to being able to carry out that mission the following your focus what the Lord Jesus gave to those disciples the resources that were given to them and they were able to go and they had all they needed to complete their mission and you have all you need as well to complete the mission that God has given you but I just wonder I just wonder this afternoon if there's some believer here even just one and you're saying I remember when I knew I was so clear on my mission and what God wanted me to do and I was going along I was following out that mission and then then it happened the wrong choice the wrong influence the sin you committed and maybe you're not even in the assembly anymore and you just say what happened to me I lost my mission I'd like to speak to you this afternoon and the first part of this meeting about fixing your focus fixing your focus the focus you used to have well you were so clear living for God and now it's all gone what happened what I want to begin by looking at recovery first of all the recovery because recovery is what took place here and John 21 and Acts chapter 1 I want you to see in this list of disciples and the verses around it I want you to see first of all that their recovery I want you to see the forgiving of their error the forgiving of their error not treating our error and getting forgiveness and coming to forgiveness will impede proper recovery and the fixing of focus I think you can see that here first of all what was their error forgiving the error first of all of discouragement because you see they had a change of circumstances they were out going around in Galilee and they were they were with the Lord Jesus all of a sudden he's gone circumstances changed and they were discouraged they were downhearted you can't read what happened and how that they were downhearted you can almost sense it when the seven are off going fishing Peter says I'm going fishing the other we're going with you you can almost sense the discouragement because they've had a change in circumstances and not only that they faced a loss they have faced a sense of loss their friend and he was a real personal friend of them he's no longer with them physically you see when people have a change of circumstances that is a classic moment when discouragement can come in all of a sudden maybe you went to work and there was a security person that gave you your final escort up to the desk to empty the stuff on your desk and bring it back to your car and they wished you goodbye with an envelope maybe it was that you went to that kid and you you suddenly you got that notice that you were going to have to be moving to another place and you had to move and everything's all new and maybe you have that sense of loss because that elder passed away in your assembly or that young couple that was so promising well they're gone and you sense that loss and it's discouraging we need to understand that those things although we we talk about those things happening the Lord Jesus had given them enough in his ministry to avoid discouragement they were responsible for their own discouragement they couldn't blame him just because he went up to heaven clearly that would be wrong so I bring in the idea of getting forgiveness and facing the error of their discouragement but I want you to think of the error of their disillusionment because you see they thought something was going to happen I think they had visions of a golden throne in Jerusalem I think they had visions of maybe being a you know the chief men there in the kingdom that's what they were waiting for and it didn't happen I wonder if there's anyone here today and you came to the conference young man and you were sure that girl would say yes and she didn't instead when you arrived she was sitting with somebody else and you're going home now and you're just did your disillusioned you thought I can see some married people are saying yeah I remember that then maybe you thought you were going to get that job you were on the final and you knew the competition and you thought you were going to get that grade and and it just didn't happen and you thought that you thought you were going to get the Sunday school class and they picked that other person and you thought that they were going to bring you on to the oversight brother and it didn't happen and maybe you thought they were going to give you a green light to go ahead with your plan of an activity for the assembly and they gave you a clear red one instead disillusionment they should never have been disillusioned he told them what was coming he explained it all to them and there was a need for forgiveness for falling into disillusionment but I want you to think about their error of division you see they needed to fix their focus because they had fallen in not only in discouragement disillusionment they had fallen into division there they are in the garden but there's 11 there's not 12 Judas is already gone he's up from the table and out the door then there's 11 and then what happens says they all forsook him and fled you just see him scrambling pell-mell all corners they're no longer that and tighten it group that was all together and then what do we read about him we read about to Peter and John they're there right by the fire and then we later we read about seven and here they are well we read about the the group that was together and Thomas wasn't there he's absent you see they're not together and now we read about a group that goes fishing and there's seven allowing division to come in can cause a lot a loss of focus division in a marriage can blur our vision of our focus division in a home division in a business divisions in the Sunday school division and assembly the fighting interesting that there's no major doctrinal correction in the book of Philippians but again begins in the first chapter about telling them to be of one mind in the gospel and you say why does he tell him that maybe it was because there were two scissors scissors two sisters who were sharp as scissors who were fighting each other in chapter four you see the idea division is going to cause a loss of focus and if you have an assembly I don't know the assemblies here if there is division if there is you know that act that friction that is going to ruin the sense of mission and purpose that's what happened here but then I want you to think about their own disobedience when they come right down to it Peter did you not see his head going down forever recorded in the Word of God denying his Savior three times Thomas forever recorded in the Word of God you doubted you doubted the Lord we're so judgmental aren't we look around the room Acts chapter 1 the whole group of them every one of them they all forsook him and fled you see when it comes to fixing our focus it's not a case of just pining for old times nostalgia to get back to it it calls for real introspection and coming down to face what these men came to face very clearly and their own hearts and own their own minds recovery was dependent upon forgiveness forgiveness forgiveness from him first of all they were forgiven already when he died on the cross just a imagine them thinking it over Peter he died his precious blood covers my denial Thomas his precious blood covers my doubting Bartholomew his precious blood carries covers my forsaking it's all forgiven thank God see the forgiveness comes in and the discouragement and the dissension and the division and the disillusionment and you come to see it all what it is the forgiveness of it all we've got it and so you read through the Bible and one how many times do you read about the Lord Jesus calling them in and said hey boys don't forget what you did to me never and how many times do you read in the Bible of Peter saying I'm the one who did it everybody knows me I'm the one who did not forgiveness of yourself never bringing it up again to yourself forgetting those things that are behind that is we're all going to be necessary to get the focus back to get back into the mission to get going again on the course and so we are thankful for this example I want you to see their recovery begins with the the forgiving of their error but I want you to see the the fastening of their eyes here's this group of men and they have been looking all over the place looking for cover they have been looking looking for warmth and they have been looking for fish and they're looking and they're all out all of a sudden what do we read in the book of the Acts they're standing there autumn gazing up there's young people have done this trick where you go in a big crowd of people maybe in a park and all of a sudden somebody stands there and looks up they're not really looking at anything what happens everybody else's head all of a sudden up it goes this wasn't one of those kinds of false things their beloved Savior all eyes focused on him see the beauty of it all the fastening of their eyes on the Savior that's what what was going to bring about their for their recovery the fixing of their focus Psalm 51 David has committed an awful sin it is atrocious what he has done what an embarrassment to him to his wife to his family to the throne to the kingdom it's a to Bathsheba all that has happened is an absolute disgrace when you come into the Psalm 51 you'll notice there he sets his focus on God read the psalm and you'll see that this man got a new sense of mission because he fixed he fastened his eyes on God and if you have wandered and if you have lost your focus do not get consumed with your failure it's dealt with don't let it come up again get your eyes on the Savior they fastened their eyes on him that's why they got the fixing of their mission the recovery of that mission but I want you to think about it not only that but but they got the message the one you just saw disappear through the clouds he's coming back you see the fastening of their eyes on him on Christ the resurrected ascended Christ the resurrected ascended coming Christ if you and I got our eyes on him and we were looking and waiting I think it would we would have had to peel those disciples away from that scene their eyes focused on him young brother if you have failed and you feel you have lost your mission I want to tell you there's a great hope for you you could have a recovery mission a recovery today how the forgiveness of your error and the fixed fastening of your eyes on Christ to fill your eyes your mind your heart again to begin reading about him and enjoying him and to begin waiting for him but I want you to notice the last part of the recovery that I want to point out here and that is the faith of their expectation it says that they came together there and the upper room and you will notice that it says that they were in prayer and supplication what were they praying for what they're praying about well it may have been that they were praying about they were praying because they were waiting they were waiting for the movement of God the comfortable comfort was coming the Holy Spirit was going to do they didn't know how and they didn't know quite know what it would be like it was going to be a new experience but they were praying and supplicating God and they were waiting waiting for the movement and the working of God they had faith that they were trusting that this was going to happen you see the Lord Jesus had told them to go to Jerusalem and to wait and there they were they were obeying the Word of God they were back obeying and they were back there and they were waiting and longing for God to work you see when a person gets their mission again they recall that the mission is that he sent us to work for him and I'm going to do this for him and I'm going to work at this for him and this is all going to be for him and you get the focus again and they're waiting for it to happen I can't help but think of a couple they actually met on the mission field and Ed and Pat I would never have called him that because that would be disrespectful but that's what they called each other sometimes and he was commended as a missionary and she was already there as a missionary and they met on the mission field and they married and they became very involved in the missionary work there in Cuba and then they had to leave Cuba and all of the time that mr. and mrs. Ed Doherty had invested in learning the Spanish language he had become very proficient in the grammar he had been involved in printing work he could write it with excellence come back to Canada with no hope humanly speaking that they would ever use that ability again but they came to the clear conclusion God has a purpose for us having learned this Spanish for all those years raising their family in Ontario there's no there was no Spanish work in that time in Ontario every morning mr. and mrs. Doherty had their devotional time together in Spanish because they knew that one day one day they said they told me one day God was going to use that him again because he had given him that skill for a mission I went to West Phoenix invited by the brethren there to try some meetings in Spanish and God began to work and we could see that I could I would live in in Detroit and Chad Kimber lived in Ontario and we were not going to be able to cover everything and stay there forever and so finally we decided to move but I had to sell a house and so we were kind of coming and going and there were some huge gaps well we just couldn't be there God hadn't been worried about that for a long time he wasn't worried about it at all because he had allowed mr. Doherty get a hell have a health problem that made him go to a warmer climate every every summer every winter and he was on the ground there he just came to us and he said brethren if I can be of any help I would be glad to do so mr. Doherty filled in those gaps mrs. Doherty visited those ladies and they saw people saved and when the time came when that work was done God called mr. Doherty and soon after mrs. Doherty home to heaven you see they had a mission they were very clear on it all I knew nothing about that no credit to me but when somebody has the faith they're focused God gave us this he's going to work he's going to work through it and it's all going to be for him that's the idea here but quickly I want you to see now not only their recovery I want you to see the results the results of their fixing of their focus first of all what happens when people get back focused and they get clear on their mission the first thing I want you to see is the fellowship of everyone everybody is together we read that they continued with one accord we read that they abode and that would refer to the group of them the the 11 probably at least that they abode there in that house this is where they were living they were living together now not one or another or two or seven and they are praying together you see that's what praying together does we all come together and we're all busy and we come together and we focus on God United a lack of mission causes disunity and a fixing of the focus will produce unity among us when a husband and wife are in conflict and there's the loss of focus and there's the re-establishing of that focus together unity and when there is an oversight and when there were workers in the gospel and when there are there there is an assembly and they come together and they're clear and they fix their focus before God having experienced recovery the blessed result is a unity but I want you to think as well now of the fullness of their exercise how does the book of the Acts begin we didn't lead it read it all that Jesus began began both to do and to teach well when did he end that he still hasn't finished it you see this is the book of his continuing work the only thing is he's not here doing the physical hands-on work now the 12 that the disciples are here and those who are saved and they're going to carry on his mission they're going to carry on his work the fullness of their exercise we are doing this and he is doing this through us and we are doing this for him you see I like what it says there in the list we get the list of the eleven there's about God's about to work and they make it clear and a twelfth is going to be there and then it says that there were those did you read did you hear what it says it says that Mary was there and the brothers of the Lord Jesus those brothers who one time stood outside the house and they said call him out here he's an embarrassment we think he's not right in the head and now there they are God's at work God's on the march the fullness of their exercise we are seeing God at work brethren when was the last time we had that sense that united bond together we came together we prayed and God was at work nothing like it when we're fixed and focused on mission but I want you to think of the finishing of their efforts the finishing of their efforts because I do not read there might have been a little dip a recorded for us in the case of Peter but but I think in a I think we can say the mission that they were given the book of the Acts ends the New Testament ends I told you yesterday I would like to be there in Cape Canaveral to see a rocket space shuttle or something whatever the new thing is going to be go up into the sky but I think I'd also like to go out there to the desert wherever they is they land out there closer to me and just be on the ground and and just see it come in and hear those words mission accomplished welcome home every one of these disciples heaven could say mission accomplished welcome home wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if you were so you got your focus fixed this weekend and you went back and you gave yourself like these disciples and you you saw these results of unity the fellowship of everyone in there a fullness in your exercise of seeing God at work and a finishing of the effort Paul says I have finished the course more than mission accomplished one day one day there was a man and he never once had to fix his focus and when his life came to an end and he went to heaven God gave him the seat at his right hand mission accomplished welcome home do you think that God would ever say to us well done thou good and faithful parent Sunday school teacher gospel neighbor businessman it's all part of the focus well done spiritually evaluated by the Savior what blessed words well done thou good and faithful servant may God stir our hearts as we listen to further ministry that every one of us will have this longing to have our focus fixed and be faithful to the end to hear the words mission accomplished welcome