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Focus

Rooted Next Level

February 23, 2020 • Pastor Tim Cruz

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 NIV→ ​

“​16 ​Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.​ ​

17 ​For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.​ ​

18 ​So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”


Focus on God and He will take care of the rest.

Focus means:
- a center of activity, attraction, or attention
- a point of concentration

2 Corinthians 4:1 NIV→​ ​ “​Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.“

Ephesians 2: 4-5 NIV→ ​“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

What holds us back from going to the next level in our focus?

Fear

We are scared of the outcome or what it might do.

Laziness

We are not willing to do what it takes to go Next Level because we are comfortable where we are so we become lazy and stay put.

Comparison

Everybody compares themselves to someone, the difference is do I try to be them or do I try to be who God created me to be?

Shame

The painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable

We all have done things we are not proud of. We can be held back by our own chains

Guilt

The feeling of remorse, guilt, or responsibility for something that had happened.

Jesus Christ is who sets us free from: Fear, laziness, comparison, shame, guilt, and so much more...

To move forward to the Next Level you need to→ ​Fix your focus...


#1. Renew your Focus

2 Corinthians 4:16→ ​“​16 ​Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

Ephesians 3:16 NIV→ “​16 ​I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV​ → “18 ​And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”


#2. Remember your purpose

2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV→ ​“​17 ​For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”


Romans 8:17-18 NIV→​ “​17 ​Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.​18 ​I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Ephesians 6: 10-18 NIV→​

10 ​"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

​11 ​Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ​

12 ​For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ​

13 ​Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

​14 ​Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

​15 ​and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

​16 ​In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ​

17 ​Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ​

18 ​And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”


#3. Re-focus on what matters

2 Corinthians 4: 18 NIV→​ “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”


References:

2 Corinthians 4

● Renouncing secret and shameful ways (4:2)

● Fighting deception and distortion (4:2)

● Preaching for God's glory, and not his own (4:5)

● And becoming light in his culture's darkness (4:6)

● In other writings, Paul confesses his ongoing battle with temptation
(Romans 7), his loneliness (2 Timothy 4:9-13), and his failing health
(2 Cor. 4:16)

Philippians 3:15-16 The Message (MSG)​-->​“15-16 ​So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

Isaiah 35:10 NIV→ ​“and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

The Fast That God Chooses

March 1, 2020 • Lead Pastor Tim Moen

1 Timothy 2:3-4 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Matthew 26:36-40 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Isaiah 58:1-12 1 Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgement of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 Why have fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. True worship will have an impact on our world view... and how we choose to live! Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? THE FAST THAT GOD CHOSSES Matthew 25:31-46 31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’    41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. #1. We must LIFT the burden of bondage! Luke 11:46 Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. #2. We must FEED the hungry! #3 We must CLOTHE the naked! #4 We must be SYMPATHETIC! Hebrews 13:3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. #5 We must put away CONTEMPT for other people! Isaiah 58:9 Remove the pointing of the finger and [remove] speaking wickedness. #6 We must give OURSELVES to help satisfy the soul of the afflicted! Isaiah 58:10 “And if you give yourself [soul] to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. “

One Big Vision

February 17, 2020 • Guest Speaker Doug Sayers

It’s a Big Deal

February 9, 2020 • Lead Pastor Tim Moen

Luke 12:48b “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Genesis 1:27-29 27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” Romans 14:12 “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Genesis 3:1-11 1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 "The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’” 13 “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 1:27 “ Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Matthew 25:35-36 35 “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Colossians 3:22 “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God.” Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”