Focus, It'll Change Your Life

FOCUS- It'll Change Your Life! April 22, 2012/ a.m.

Joke: a pastor visited a house no one would come to the door so he left a note that on his card that said revelation 3:20 the next Sunday an usher gave him that same card and under his reference it said Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone answers I will come in… I heard your voice but I was afraid because I was naked.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,”

It begins with the notation that the time was evening. In other words, there was still darkness gripping the disciples.

That unbelievable day would change the way they would view everything.

It was a new day for worship and remembrance.

That day would become known throughout Christian history as the “Lord’s Day” (cf. ).

This first day of the week became the dividing day in history, the day when God revealed his power in an unmistakable manner.

It’s not like any other Sunday these men have ever experienced in their life.

Yet, they did not understand at this point how significant this day actually is. It’s not because they were not told; remember Jesus tried to explain what would happen time and time again; yet the disciples would not understand it.

The King was alive, He had risen from the grave; yet the disciples still lived in fear and trembling.

It’s a great vision of the way many ‘followers’ of Christ live today.

The King is alive, He is not dead, and Death has been defeated! Yet we walk around oblivious to that fact and we live our life in defeat.

Illustration: It was June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo. The French under the command of Napoleon were fighting the allied forces of the British, Dutch and Germans under the command of Wellington. The people of England depended on a system of signals to find out how the battle was going. One of these signals was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral. Late in the day it flashed the signal: “WELLINGTON DEFEATED.” Just at that moment a fog cloud made it impossible to read the message.

The news of defeat quickly spread throughout the city. The whole countryside was sad and gloomy when they heard the news that their country had lost the war. Suddenly, the fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could be read. The message had four words, not two. The complete message was: “WELLINGTON DEFEATED THE ENEMY”. It took only a few minutes for the good news to spread. Sorrow was turned into joy, defeat was turned into victory; death was turned into life!

So it was when Jesus was laid in the tomb. Hope had died in the hearts of Jesus’ most loyal friends and followers. After the frightful crucifixion, the fog of disappointment and misunderstanding had crept in on the followers of Jesus. They had read only part of the message. “Christ defeated” was all they knew.

As they gather together they begin to recall just how terrible things have become over the last several days.

There entire world is shaken up:

They begin to recall the events they have experienced:

: Last Supper- Disciples will fall away

Prayer in the Garden- Disciples Fall Asleep

Garden- Betrayal of a Kiss

Garden- Arrest

Trials- Peter’s Denial

Sentencing

Beating

The Crucifixion

Could it possibly get any worse?

What is going on?

How could this have happened?

I wonder if you ever feel like this in your life.

Do you ever look at your life in disbelief and wonder how it has gotten so out of control?

· Family

· Finances

· Spiritual Health

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

“the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews”

But the disciples at this point of the story were still gripped with fear. They were still terrified that security forces would find them.

After all, their enemies found Jesus at night and came after him with torches and weapons (18:3).

Now they were locked in a room and undoubtedly were reviewing their uncomfortable situation.

1. Focus Your Eyes

I find it interesting to note how quickly our courage can turn to fear when we take our eyes off of Christ.

The problem on this day is the disciples have lost all of their hope in Christ, in their minds it is finished, it’s over, and they are just trying to stay alive.

This is a huge contrast to what we see many times as the disciples abandon their fears to live a reckless life for Jesus Christ.

As they go out preaching and performing miracles, as they become the enemies to the religious leaders of the day, as they serve the Lord, however; now they have lost their focus and their world is unraveling quickly.

I wonder if you ever lose focus in your life…

Illustration: Peter walking on Water

Illustration: Preaching

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I am convinced that someone’s happiness is not based upon their circumstances, yet it is based upon their focus.

This week I read about a fascinating research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University. She studied Olympic medalists and she discovered that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists. Here’s why. Medvec found that Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold so they weren’t satisfied with silver. Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all. I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: your focus determines your reality.

How we feel isn’t determined by objective circumstances.

If that was the case, Silver Medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result.

But how we feel isn’t determined by our objective circumstances. How we feel is determined by our subjective focus. Here’s another way of saying it: your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

The disciples were focused on their circumstances and because of that they totally dismissed any thought about Jesus… when we do that it is a frightful thing.

Life can be scary… If we are not careful we will spend our entire lives as the disciples are in this passage… Locked Up and Trembling in Fear.

2. Jesus = Peace

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

The disciples would indeed be found that night, but not by their enemies.

Jesus appeared in the locked room!

Can you just imagine?

Place yourself in that locked room scared to death when all of a sudden through the wall Jesus appears.

Readers of this story are often tempted to ponder what kind of body Jesus could have that passed through walls or doors and yet was physically present so that he could be touched and even eat physical food.

The Gospel writers did not and undoubtedly could not explain such a mystery. What the early followers of Jesus did was witness to what they saw and touched.

For some contemporary readers trained in scientific rationality, such testimonies may not suffice. But divine mystery can hardly be grasped fully by human minds and certainly cannot be analyzed by the computer or other mechanisms of mere humans.

I love the fact that Jesus is not limited to our limited knowledge.

It reminds me in life that

· You can’t explain Jesus and you cannot contain Jesus!

You can’t even lock him out

Think about it now, a lot of Christians want to lock him out of an area of their life.

We love to compartmentalize and say Jesus you are welcome here, but you can’t come over here.

You are welcome with me when it comes to church, but when I go to my job don’t interfere.

You can go with me to revival service, but when I’m watching my favorite television shows then you need to leave me alone.

Listen to me now your little barricades you put up in your life will not withstand the mighty power of Jesus.

And so Jesus walks right through and comes face to face with his disciples.

The appearance of Jesus in their midst was accompanied by the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you!”

Those familiar with visions from God in the Old Testament will soon recognize the various elements of such an appearance but with a slight variation.

The basic elements are:

(1) Fear, (2) the calming word of “peace” or “do not be afraid” (3) a word of commission for the task to be performed.

In most divine appearances the fear is given by an appearance of the divine.

In this case the fear had already gripped the followers of Jesus.

What was necessary was the calming word of “Shalom!” (cf. for the same greeting).

Normally the term shalom is the common greeting to others in the community.

The context of a theophany, the divine appearance, was expected to strike terror in the life of a human because of the common Semitic belief that to see God would mean that one would die or be “undone” (cf. ; ; ; cf. also ; ).

To have God say “fear not” or to place a hand on the person indicated that the appearance did not bring with it judgment (cf. ).

If I am a disciple, I expect a little judging at this point.

How quickly the disciples had abandoned Jesus.

Illustration: I Told You So (Stuck Ranger)

But Jesus comes and he doesn’t scold the disciples, he doesn’t say Peter I told you that you would deny me; he doesn’t look at the disciples and say I told you that all of you would fall away and none of you would stand with me. He doesn’t even comment on their weak faith. He comes and he offers peace.

He comes and he offers peace!

There’s a lot of Christians who do not want to go “home” because they are afraid of the consequences.

Let me make this clear to you today- Jesus wants to give you a peace!

Despite of how bad things might seem in your life right now- He wants to come in and give you a PEACE!

You say, you don’t understand what I’m going through…

You couldn’t understand the “Troubles” in my life… That may be true, but I assure you that in the midst of your troubles you must remain focused on Christ.

Peace comes when you focus on Jesus!

He will you give you a peace that passes all of your understandings.

We live in a world of chaos. Peace is at many times a lost characteristic

Shalam= Completeness- Soundness- Well-Being

Peace only comes through CHRIST!

I don’t care who you are; I don’t care how much money you have in the bank; I don’t care how successful you are at your job… None of that will bring you peace!

Madonna: In personal interview has stated that “she is not happy, and that she doesn’t even know of anyone who is.”

Her only goal in life is to be ‘somebody.’

Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of over 400 million dollars having sold over 200 million records worldwide. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association as the best-selling female rock artist of the twentieth century

63 million certified albums

Michael Jordan: The Game offers no more challenges to motivate me.

Having accomplished everything that basketball could ask, He felt it was time to call it a career.

Basketball-and the fame, money and excitement of being better at it than anyone else- no longer was enough for this superstar As he looked ahead to the prospect of another NBA season, in his head he must have said ‘Been There Done That, Now What.’

So many of us keep searching for peace, we keep searching for happiness and all the while it is right in front of us!

Paul and Silas Understood where there Peace came from!

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Another way to say it would be: KINGDOM FOCUSED

3. Focus on the REAL JESUS

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

The risen Jesus made sure his followers understood that he was the very same Jesus (20:20) who had been their earlier companion (cf. ).

They needed to be sure that he was the same Jesus who was attached to the cross by nails through his hands, and that he was precisely the same Jesus who was pierced in the side by one of the soldiers (cf. ).

The disciples’ reaction when they realized that Jesus was alive was obviously one of great rejoicing. The evangelist added the editorial note that their rejoicing was because “they saw the Lord.”

These verses are an assertion that the disciples’ mourning for Jesus and “fear of the Jews” gave way to the surprising revelation that very Jesus who has been crucified was indeed alive and standing in their presence. And just as he promised before his crucifixion, their weeping and mourning turned to an effervescent experience of joy (cf. 16:20).

AHH HA

Have you ever had a moment like this?

Have you ever had a moment where it just makes sense?

All of a sudden the disciples recalled all that Jesus had told them and now they truly understood.

Many people go through their entire life and they never have a moment like this.

They have all the knowledge and they have spent lots of time in their Bibles, and at church, and in choir, and in Sunday School. But there has never been a time when it “Clicked” and they realize that “THIS IS WHAT I SURRENDER MY LIFE TO!”

Illustration: Mason and Maddox

They call him Lord, I believe that is a way of showing that they understand and now Jesus really is the “Lord” “Master” “Captain” of their life.

“Fix your thoughts on Jesus:

· Transformation ()

· Purpose

· Mission

· Hope

· Future

· Blessings

· Resurrection

· Communion with Father

· Given you the Counselor and Comforter

The Real Jesus Changes You!

Let your proclamation of Christ go much deeper then the head let it go to the heart.

Let your declaration be much more then words’ let it be a life changing event

Application:

· When you look at your life instead of feeling that you are insignificant- look to Jesus and find your worth. Conside the price that he paid for you!

· When you are worn out in life and you feel like you can’t go any longer- look to Jesus who says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

· When a situation seems so impossible- Look to Jesus who reminds us that “With Christ all things are possible.”

· When you begin to worry about the uncertainty of the future- Look to Christ 'Plans to give you a hope and a future."

· When a love one is as though no one really cares about you~ Look to Jesus who says "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

· When you look at life and you don’t know which way to go- Look to Jesus for guidance

· When your spiritual lives seems to digress- look to Jesus

· When it seems as though no one cares in your life- Look to Jesus who tells us to push our anxieties upon him because He care for us!

·

Would you commit to stay focused on Christ this morning?

Although it sounds easy, it is infact something that you must wake up every morning and make a councious decision to do.

But I can assure you that the decision to focus on Christ will change your life in ways that you cannot imagine.

Maybe this morning you realize that through the trial and the turmoils of life you have lost focus.

And this morning you are ready to commit, to adjust your focus.

Interesting detail of life... No one can control what you focus on.. It is completely up to you... Would you focus?