I do praise Yahveh, I love Him, and I love what He is doing! I want you to turn with me to Matthew, the 16th chapter; we’re going to start reading at the 26th verse. Have you ever been driving down the road and missed your turn? What was the reason you missed the turn? Sometimes mothers with children are distracted by their children, right? Sometimes, we’re just “asleep at the wheel”–not really sleeping, but we just didn’t know where we were. Well, I want you to kind of hold onto that thought.
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels and He will reward each one according to his works.”And I want you to hear that — how is He going to reward you? According to your works–that’s right! Today, I want to talk about the distractions. There are so many distractions in this world that get us looking off, not paying attention, and first thing we know we missed the turn! We didn’t intend to miss it, but we missed the turn! I think there is a time when we need to consider our priorities; because that is the only way you can keep from missing your turn. There are so many things in this world to grasp our attention, to grasp our gaze. The fact is that we have to focus and be determined to stay on the path that is before us because if we don’t, then we are going to miss the whole ball of wax. What will a man give for his soul? I was thinking about that. In thinking about it I have this picture of a man that is bargaining with Father Yahveh for his soul, and he knows that he’s damned, he’s undone. What would he give Father Yahveh say, “Enter therein to the joy of the LORD, thou good and faithful servant.” What would he give? Well, I dare say that a man would give anything he could get, rake up, scrape together, beg, borrow, or steal! He would give all he has, all he could get, all he ever could acquire for his soul, to hear those words.
How many people do you know who approach the Gospel with that attitude? They value the Gospel as the most important thing in all the earth and they do not allow themselves to be distracted from that priority — the importance of the Gospel. It’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it! But we as the children of Yahveh need to start focusing in that manner. We need to have a mindset that we’re going to keep our focus. We’re going to keep our focus trained on where it’s supposed to be. It’s not easy! You’re not always going to be successful. It’s something you have to work on. The minute that you realize that you’re not focused on the Gospel, then is the time to refocus! Then is the time to renew that commitment. “Father, I’m out of focus here and I want to refocus! Help me; Father, help me get my focus back where it should be. Hold me, please, where I’m supposed to be.” The Father is trying to bring us into a place where we focus on the Kingdom of Yahveh. We need to focus in such a manner that our priorities are so entwined with His priorities that we don’t lose them. Believe me; it gets better as we go. When you first start trying to stay focused, we wander so badly that it looks like a side-winder’s trail. But after a while, it gets straighter, and it gets straighter, and straighter. What’s more, you get more and more and more joy in your life because you are able to keep that path. Keep that focus, and you are able to have fellowship and communion with the Father. I’m not talking about a “cup of wine and cracker.” I’m talking about having communion and fellowship with Him in such a manner that, Glory to Yahveh, nothing can distract you, because you are focused on the most wonderful One in all of creation! We need to learn how to focus on the Father and you can believe me, that there is going to be a time in your life when you will be so instantly, so 100 percent focused that nothing could get your attention. And that’s going to be right after you draw your last breath. It’s like when people are having a struggle doing their homework so they don’t do it. Many times it’s because of procrastination, they’re going to do it later, or at the last minute, but somehow it doesn’t get done. This is the same principle that we’re talking about here; you procrastinate and procrastinate and put off until it doesn’t get done. You just can’t get it done in the time that you have left.
Many have refused to think about the Kingdom and the Father’s requirements. I know that is prominent in this society, because it unsettles them a little bit, it is unpleasant, they don’t stop to think ask of themselves where they are in the Kingdom. “Where is my focus and what am I focused on?” It makes them a little nervous and uncomfortable and it should! Because this is not something you are going to do flippantly. Standing before the Father is going to be the most incredibly important time of your life, and you are going to be in awe, whoever you are, I don’t believe anybody is going to be as confident when they stand before The Father, as they are when they’re talking about it here on earth; like the guy that didn’t get his homework finished. The time is gone, there’s no more time, and he didn’t get it done. Guess what? Is that not the same principle that we are looking at here? The same thing will happen; many are going to find themselves out of time. They had enough time, but because they didn’t focus they missed out. You won’t do anything but think about the lost opportunity in eternity lost to the Father. Did you ever think about this?
If you do miss Glory with the Father, you are going to spend your whole eternity thinking about the opportunities that you lost, missed and rejected. And you are going to have a lot of time to think about it, aren’t you? I’m not kidding about it. I’m talking about realities while we can still talk about reality. What will a man give for his soul?” We can say, “Well, I don’t have time.” If you don’t have time, you will then when it’s too late… It may not seem important today, because you keep intentionally defocusing. That’s the problem, whenever we defocus enough to draw our attention away from the Kingdom because it makes us a little uncomfortable, or it causes a little anxiety, and we don’t want to think about it right now because it’s unpleasant–now we have double trouble, don’t we. There is going to be an Eternity, if you don’t make Heaven your home, then you are going to spend and every minute of that time; and you are going to be focused on all the opportunities you had, and I believe you will see every one of them. I believe you will see the times that you were stubborn. I believe that you will see the times that you were resistant to the Word, and I believe all those things will haunt you.
Go with me to John, the 9th chapter; we’ll start reading at the third verse, “Now the Apostles had asked Yahshua, ‘Who sinned–this man or his parents?'” (That he was in this condition). And Yahshua said, “Neither (this condition) is not because of the sins; this condition is that Father Yahveh may be glorified”. Whenever they asked the question, Yahshua, in John 3, answered, “Neither the man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of Yahveh should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him Who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”.
Now “the night is coming. I want you to pay attention to that, because He said, “The night is coming when no man can work”–no one can work! And I believe that’s in the time, a specified time of the Father talked about in Joel where He says there was a famine of the Word. I think there is going to be a famine of the Word. I think there is going to be a dry spell of the Ruach ha Kadesh, I believe there is going to be a time that no man knows, that the curtain is going to drop, that not one more person is going to be saved. And I am serious. You see, it’s not like there’s going to be something there to let you know. I believe that time is going to be hidden from us and the people who are not prepared. He is going to catch them like a “thief in the night.”
Things happen that glorify the Father; that His Might was demonstrated to men. We need to understand that we need to know and we need to seek the Father’s Presence. We need to seek the Father’s understanding. The Father is drawing, and is drawing for a reason. The reason is, I believe, that the time is getting short.
It’s not about the “story.” It’s not about the fairy tales. It’s not about all the human attractions. It’s about being focused on Yahveh! Being focused on what He is doing in your life, and being willing to make the changes in your life as He shows them to you. If you aren’t willing to make the changes, He isn’t going to keep showing them to you. The most precious thing we can experience tonight is the Father showing us where we need to make a change. That should not be discouraging or disheartening. That should be exciting that the Creator of all the earth should show us where we need to make the change so that we might be aligned and right with Him! I see that happening all around, and sometimes people pay attention and sometimes they don’t. The Father is constantly tweaking and showing people where things are wrong in their life, and what they need to do to make them right. I love that! I get excited when the Father shows me something I am doing wrong and shows me how to straighten it out. It’s exciting! That’s revelation! That’s a blessing!
We need to have time with the Father. We need to be able to receive from the Father in that manner. There’s a place where sometimes and in this case particularly t hat this man was not sick because of his transgression nor his father’s or mother’s transgression, but that the Glory of Yahveh might be demonstrated in his life. Yahshua said, “I must do the work of the Father,” and we must do the work of the Father. Not “we can,” not “He lets me,” but “we must do the work of the Father!”
You have a choice to make for the rest of your life. You can choose to follow Father Yahveh or you can choose to come and only listen and then ignore what you learn. What a blessing, you have the choice! There are people who don’t have the choice. All they hear is a pacifying, “feel good,” fleshly message. They don’ t ever hear the revelation of Almighty Yahveh. They don’t understand that right now, today, we have to make the choices that will affect the rest of our lives. You have to make those choice, the world or for the Kingdom.< /p>
The Father is talking, if you choose to listen to Him. He said, “Seek me early and you will surely find me.” You have a choice of seeking Him while you are yet young, and you can give Him the very best of your life! Or you can wait until you get old with no energy or ability to do work or change. “I’d better get this straight, because I’m going to be dying pretty soon.” You can choose.
You ought to take heed how you deal with your children, because you might be nurturing the next great vessel of Almighty Yahveh. How you deal with them and how you train them may affect whether they comes into it easily, or whether he comes into it the hard way or whether they ever comes into it at all.
How long have you been on earth? What works have you done for Him? These are things we should be evaluating. I remember my Mama when the preacher called to say he was coming over the house would turn into a blur getting ready; the dust off of the Bible–don’t have dust on the Bible! Dust the coffee table, dust everything there was, everything was in a tizzy before the preacher got to our house. I have thought about that all my life. And I’ve thought about how it would be if we had just a short notice before Yahshua comes back! Do you think there would be a tizzy? Do you think there would be a whirr of activity in the Kingdom? I think so! I think it would be a blur, people would be trying quickly to get right.
We don’t have to do that because we have the Ruach HaKodesh today who tells us He is coming soon, and very soon. And if He is coming soon and very soon, then we ought to be getting ready! We should not be procrastinating! We ought to be about the Father’s business, seeing people saved and set free every time we come into the House of Yahveh. It’s not impossible but it takes dedication, it takes prayer, it takes commitment, and it takes teaching. So we need to understand that the time for procrastination is over! We need to focus and we need to stay focused!
Yahshua said,” I must do the work of my Father!” He didn’t say, “I choose;” He said, “I must” there is no other choice. If He didn’t do the work of the Father, the Father would raise another! He had to do the works of The Father.
Go with me to the 26th chapter of Acts, 20th verse. “The Gospel–but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to Yahveh, and do the works be- fitting repentance. For this reason, the Jews seized me in the Temple, and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from Yahveh to this day, I stand witnessing both to small and great saying, ‘Know the things and those which the Prophets and Moses said would come–that the Christ would suffer, and that He would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim life to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.'”
Paul said, “Here I stand today, declaring a message that has not been easy for me–this has been contrary to all the people of my country.” What they have been taught has been offensive to them because they have been blinded to the light that was in the Gospel. He also said, “They would have killed me, but the Father intervened”. Hallelu-Yah! How we need that intervention from the Father sometimes! Sometimes there are people who intend to do us much evil, even to the taking of our lives, and we need that intervention of the Father! Oh, how we need it! Ha Satan is constantly trying to distract and to destroy our efforts to serve the Father. Oh, how we need deliverance. How we need the Father to step in and help us.
The same message that was declared before, I declare today: That you should repent and turn from the ways of the world, hate them, and follow Yahshua. Turn to Yahveh and be centered in His mercy, and His grace, and His loving concern. He will carry you far beyond where that you could go on your own. Oh, listen to me! The Father is not in the mindset or mode of destroying those who have not quite attained what He wants. He is not looking for a reason to destroy you, or to set you aside. He is constantly looking for an avenue to enlighten you, to encourage you, and to tell you, “This is what you will reap if you do this.” And to show you how much you will receive for the mere pittance of effort you put out in comparison with His Glory. Oh, we need to see His Glory today. We need to know it inside our heart. We need to think it, as it is the finest treasure of the entire world, because it surely is. You know, instead of preaching the same thing that was preached by the Apostles and Paul; and what did they teach? “Repent and turn to Yahveh.” Repent! Instead we have this thing so turned around today that people don’t know what repentance is. What they’re told most of the time is that they just need to accept Yahshua (or not even “Yahshua,” but “Jesus”) as their Savior, and “you’re all right.” What happened to “Repent and change your lifestyle”? There has to be a change, people. If you are still living the same way you were before you were saved, what benefit has Yahshua been to you? “For this reason the Jews tried to kill me.” Why? Because what he was saying was that the Father sent him the Supreme Sacrifice. He sent the Sacrifice of Yahshua Ha Maschiach, and that we would no longer have to sacrifice bulls and goats, and that the Blood of Yahshua was far superior to the blood of a bull or a goat. It removed the sin from us. He even declared that He was the Son of Yahveh and they sought to kill Him because of that declaration! What a potent opportunity those people had! There were some who accepted, and there were some who walked the same as Yahshua walked. They were Maschiach (Messiah) imitators, and they called them Nazarenes, because they walked after Him.
Having obtained help from Yahveh, Paul said, “I, this day, am able to stand, witnessing to everybody those things Moses said would come.” You mean the Father didn’t change His mind somewhere and change His program and do a different thing! No, Sir! He followed through with the same plan that He started with in the beginning. He brought it to pass and we are going to see the final chapter in this plan. We might even see it before our life expires on this earth. We’re going to see the final chapter when Yahshua comes. When He puts EVERY enemy under His foot, then He Himself is going to be subject to the Father, that Father Yahveh may be All in all!
Brothers and Sisters, we need to understand this is serious. Which days are we going to have and which day are we going to go home? We don’t know! None of us knows. All we can do is love the Father every day, and intentionally stay focused on what He is saying for us to do and seeking training in our life. We are should not get discouraged if we don’t have it perfect today, but be sure that we are working on that imperfection to bringing that thing into subjection! The Father talks about, “if you love the world, you hate Him, and if you hate the world, you love Him. There are many in the ecclesia that is caught up in the world. They are mesmerized by it spending their life splurging on worldly lusts, when, glory to Yahveh, they ought to have the things of Yahveh as their priority! They ought to refocus, and I am encouraging you to stop and refocus! Get yourself back on-line, if you’re off. If you have varied from that charted course, then get back on that course. Let your life be focused on Father Yahveh, for He is the end-all for everybody! If we keep procrastinating, we just might not have enough time to get that assignment done before He comes to take us. What a shame it would be tonight to find out that we had lived our whole lives and that we had missed the major assignment! The assignment was to hate the world and love Him!
You know already that if you love the world, you hate Him. You know already that when you get so in love with the world, something is wrong. So it’s time to refocus, isn’t it! It’s time to get your focus back right!
I see all the opportunities that I have to just go to sleep at the wheel, they are out there everywhere. But I’m telling you, I’ve got to stay focused on what the Father has for me to do. I cannot go sideways or follow rabbit trails and neither can you, precious saint. You can’t follow the rabbit trails! You have to stay focused on the Father, and His Word, and following exactly what He has called you and instructed you to do. Do not, do not; be angry or spiteful at the Father’s chastening or correction. That is precious people. That is precious to you. First of all, it verifies that you are His child, and second, it gives you an opportunity to straighten out something that was wrong. When the Father chastens me, I rejoice that He didn’t just leave me alone and let me wander off into hell! Isn’t it exciting! We not only have a Creator who saves us, but we have One who protects us and keeps us safe. One of the most precious things in the world is correction. That lets you know that you are His, and that gives you an opportunity to adjust your focus and get it back where it is supposed to be.