CHOOSE - Diminish Your Distractions 2

Single somebody opportunities over diversions and distractions. Why for your attention.

Whatever the fund balance of art, but they can be done Turning Point. Dr. Jeremiah takes a closer look at priorities that help make sure that yours in alignment with God's from the series forward is David to introduce the conclusion of this message, choose diminish or distraction mashing question today as we began. Are you a generalist or specialist.

Everybody has a little bit of each in their life, but in one of the risks that we have going forward and trying to get momentum back in our lives is that we become so much of a generalist that nothing special ever gets done and I discovered that there's a principal in life. Some people call it essentialism. Some people have other names for it, but we just know that in order for us to accomplish what God wants us to do. We have to learn how to diminish our distractions.

We started talking about that yesterday were going to finish it today as we open our Bibles together and learn how to get momentum in life and move toward the goal God is set for you and for me so important that we do that, so let's go back and learn a little bit more about how to many distractions.

Notice again how Jesus stated this commandment, he said, you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. That means it's okay to love ourselves. In fact, we are commanded to love ourselves to be careful here because the devil always tries to turn self-love into selfishness and go low and high self-esteem can see haughtiness and self-importance and all the other things that make up for sinful narcissism. I'm not recommending any of these.

On the other hand, the apostle Paul said, therefore, take heed to yourself and to all the flock, let me paraphrase, take heed to yourselves and everyone else assigned by God to your care if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of others.

If you become fatigued and edible. You can't uplift others. If you don't pay attention to your diet and exercise, you will lose the strength you need to fulfill God's will. You have a God-given responsibility to take care of yourself, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your personality is the means by which God touches others.

If you get in a rut. You will pull others down into it with you when you have your priority love in its right place and you understand the three applications. Things have a way of moving forward. You have to take care of yourself.

I remember as a young pastor walking into the office of a chiropractor and there was a note on the wall and this is what it said when you were out this body then where will you live. We only get one body we don't know what we don't do over so we have to take care what God has given us so consider what's best and clarify what's best and of course you have to choose what's best. Once you've clarified what is God's best in your life. The next thing you need to do is actually choose those priorities. You need to make intentional plan decisions that elevate what is best and remove what is just good older you get, the more you'll find out that your choices are not between good and bad, but there between good and best and sometimes they almost seem like a between best and best choices become hard as Moses was dying. He told his successor, Joshua, be strong and of a good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them and you shall cause them to inherit the Lord. He's the one who goes before you. He will be with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you.

Do not fear nor be dismayed.

In other words, once you establish your priorities.

Find the courage to say no to some things and yes to some other things… Look at two areas where this courage is required. First of all, we all need the courage to embrace our limitation to have any of those we all do, don't we were all aware of the maybe specifically more aware of them now than we've ever been. Because of the environment in which we find ourselves.

Beware of living in denial to move forward. You have to be realistic. Progress comes by embracing your God-given limits.

I: God-given some limits for have to do with your age or stage in life. I used to do a lot of running for exercise. Now my knees will allow me to do that so I have to accept that limitation and find other ways to get the exercise that I need some of your limitations have to do with the gifts God has given you, or the location were displaced you. Maybe you battle a handicap or chronic illness or your caregiver for someone who does.

Maybe you have a dysfunctional family member or you live in a dangerous area. You might be on a fixed income or maybe you can afford to go to college or your job is being phased out.

Whatever your limitations except them.

Don't use them as an excuse for not doing what God assigned you to do something that will shock you. Even the Lord Jesus Christ had limitations as Almighty God.

Of course he had no limitations he was and is all powerful, all-knowing and all loving, not even the entire universe can contain him this power might grace holiness and justice are limitless, boundless and measureless. But when the son of God entered the human race in Bethlehem, he was confined within an animal's feeding trough. He grew up in a small hillside town he didn't know recorded miracles for the first 30 years of his life and he lived in submission to his parents when Jesus began his ministry and fly around like an angel from one preaching assignment to another even have a horse or donkey except on one occasion he said in Matthew 820 foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Jesus, area of ministry. During the whole time he was on this earth was limited to a little strip of land along the Mediterranean and he never visited the great cities of his day. Athens, Rome, Milan, Alexandria, Carthage, he had a limited education, a limited income and a limited time for his work only three years old and his mission was inflated. It was occupied by Roman soldiers, limitless son of God was financially geographically chronologically, politically and physically limited, and then his limitations became far more stringent on the cross, he became so limited by the nails in his hands and feet. He was unable to wipe the blood from his eyes or scout of the flies from his face. Yet his limitations worked for the advantages of the whole world. Imagine that limitations should never become excuses for staying where you are. Your priorities are determined by the gifts God has given you, or stage in life. Your personal shortcomings doesn't the Bible say something about that.

It says your strength is made perfect in weakness. Embrace your limitations realize you can't do everything, even the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of his life said the father, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. Not all the work there is to do the work that you gave me all of us have limitations. And before we can move forward before we can see this principle take hold in our lives. We have to acknowledge that were not Superman.

We don't have everything everybody else has God has given us a certain set of abilities and giftedness and in one way or another.

Those things limit us courage to embrace your limitations and then secondly, you need the courage to eliminate distractions by saying no to bad things and even say no to some good things you only say yes to the best things no to the bad note to the good yes to the best one buffet is learning can focus on too many things at once. This incredible man advises making a list of the top 25 things you want to accomplish in the next few years and from this list. Pick the five that are almost important to you.

Now you have to list buffet suggest you avoid at all costs.

The longer one for those items may well prevent the big things from happening to move forward in life. We have to discover the beauty of the word no. Someone said to me recently.

No is a complete sentence. The art of a graceful note takes courage. Why is it liberating in her book, learning how to say no when you usually say yes right so Mother Teresa advises her readers that it's all right to say no to lesser things that have room for the best thing most of us say yes more than we should. Because we were taught to be available, or because we don't want to disappoint anybody or we don't want to challenge authority, maybe we feel guilty or we don't want to damage our relationship. As a result were constantly overcommitted in the greater things are left behind. She suggests several ways to say no, these are important enough to include in this message because that's one of the hardest things all of us do some of her ideas of how to say no in a gentler way. She says try things like this. I'm sorry but I just simply can't do that at this time. I have a personal policy. It doesn't look like I'll be able to but if anything changes I'll let you know. It looks like I'm going to have to pass this time. I just can't fit it into my schedule that is such a good cause, but I'm already supporting other good causes no thank you. You can well imagine, because what I do I get asked to do a lot of things. One of the things I get asked to do a lot is to read a book and provide a reference. I used to just kind of skimmed the booking. If I knew the person write some nice things and let it go.

I got burned on that once and ended up endorsing a book that had some things and I believe I made a decision that I would never endorse a book unless I could fully read it every single page. So what that means is I don't endorse a lot of books. I do some but when people send me a manuscript and they want me to endorse it, which sounds like such a great thing and I would love to do and sometimes they do that for me I have to go back to my priorities do I have time to read this manuscript so I can honestly say I endorse it if I can't then I just tell them I would love to do this, but my life is so challenging right now I can't find time to read the book, so I'm going to have to pass. It's hard to do.

This is hard for you. It's hard for me but we must have the courage to eliminate distractions if were going to make forward progress.

Jesus said no. He said no to others so that he could say yes to his father in Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus asking him for sign. He said no and gave them a blunt little sermon. Instead, left them in one way in Mark 138 Peter asked Jesus to return to Capernaum, where everyone wanted to hear them. But Jesus said no let's go to the next towns that I may preach there also because for this purpose I have come forth.

So write this down. We can do everything but we can always do our father's will.

When we know what God wants us to do. We could do that but that doesn't mean we can do everything we can fulfill his design in our life if we will so consider what's best clarify what's best choose what's best and commit to what's best.

Let me sum up where we are in this message. When you get stuck, find some traction to give you forward momentum. Once you're moving you need clarity to know what direction to move Jesus, provided that by telling us to love God, love others and love ourselves armed with I clarity you need the courage to say no to some things so you can say yes to the best things and finally, you need the consistency to practice what's best. Proverbs 2317 says this be zealous for the fear of the Lord all day.

Paul said that we are to be his own special people, zealous for good works. When you do what I've suggested in this message, you place yourself in the path God has promised to bless even when things appear discouraging, keep pressing forward, trusting God to make away. Stay committed to what's best for the Lord takes things from there and he will take them to places you never dreamed I am in the ministry of the gospel. Believe it or not. Over 50 years ago at a startup church in Fort Wayne, Indiana recently I went back there to help celebrate their 50th anniversary. I was focused when I went to that church. I was just a young guy just married at the time we didn't have any children. I wasn't necessarily trying to be a spiritual success. I just didn't want to be a miserable failure supply work like crazy all my friends do that I want to Fort Wayne and they knew I went there to start a church in the last thing I wanted was for everybody to read about how I want to start a church.

I couldn't pull it off.

I wanted to prove to them and to myself that I could build a church from scratch, so I was knocking on doors every spare moment all day Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon. That night I was gone all the time I was doing the work of God. I mean, what could be better. Those of you who know me won't have any trouble imagining that what I'm telling you, I did but then my wife Donna and I had two children we adopted one and then just a short time after that we had our second child at that time my daughter Jan was a toddler. David was just 13 months younger, and while Donna was at home with our kids. I was on my white horse winning people to Jesus in building the church when I came home for dinner each day.I would say to me, are you going to be gone again. The night I was struggling to balance my responsibilities to my family into the ministry and then I go out and knock on some more doors and going to come home to the hurt look in my wife's face. I thought I was doing God's will, but really I was doing David's will. I just didn't want to fail one day Donna sat me down in the kitchen for a heart-to-heart talk and this is what you said honey I just want to tell you I'm never going to ask you again are you going to be home tonight. I've been thinking and praying about this and the fact is you are the priest in this family and one day you're going to have to stand before God and give an account of how you lead us if you believe God wants you to lead us by being gone all the time that I'm not going to argue with you. This is all in your lap.

Now you are responsible for this was a Turning Point in my life. I realize there are no ultimate conflicts in God's perfect will doesn't call a man to be both a father and a pastor in such a way that those two things constantly are at war with each other so I begin to pray God's priorities back in my life and soon they began to crystallize and I organize them into the following four statements. The state first. I am a person with the responsibility to God. Second, partner with the responsibility for my wife third, parent with the responsibility to my children and forth. I'm a pastor with the responsibility to my congregation. I remember stare at my church after I got this all figured out, and announcing rather arrogantly to the congregation.

You all are number four number four and then I would say to them because if I don't get one, two and three. Right. I have nothing to give you. That brings us to a very important place in our life doesn't. I have always lived up to B's for priorities, but whenever I find myself straying.

I feel these principles pulling me back in the line. That's what a priority will do when you choose something and make it number one in your life it will constantly be there when you walk away from her little bit. It will be like a magnet, pulling you back and have experienced that in my life and that brings us back to our Marine. I'm sorry you had to wait so long to find out what happened to the boy but he was left dangling when we left him.

You know those Marines have a model. Semper Fi always faithful. They're not people who easily give up. Walter also path was hanging by his ankle pull behind the plane by the courts of his parachute which were entangled in the plane's wheels. The pilot, Harold Johnson was running out of fuel. But he knew if he tried an emergency landing, he would kill Walter possible so he descended to about 300 feet above the ground and he started circling around the airbase.

Most people who saw the plane thought it was some towing piece of equipment situation, but one pilot Lieut. Bill Lowery looked up and he knew what was happening. Spotting a nearby Marine John McCants Lowery shouted there's a man hanging on that line and they jumped into an SOC one to see "the plane took off without even knowing if the aircraft was fueled suddenly everybody on the ground realize the nature of the emergency every I was transfixed. There were no radios on the planes but lowering hand signal Johnson to head toward the Pacific and the two planes rose to an altitude of 3000 feet SOC one maneuvered beneath the larger plane and McCants stood upright in his rear cockpit seat and longed for possible grabbing him by the waist. He pulled him across the tiny seed, but also path was still attached to the harness now. Both planes and all the Marines were in mortal danger. Somehow, I believe it was by the grace of God. Lowery inched his plane closer and closer to the DC to and actually bumped it. But in the process. The propeller sliced through the remaining cords loss apostle parachute and freed him up after flying through the air for more than 1/2 an hour dangling on a parachute line also path was free.

But he wasn't safe. Now the cut parachute cord became entangled in the SOC's rudder and Lowery struggled to maintain control of his plane, but he did when he landed a roaring shout came from the crowd. They had just witnessed what was later called one of the most brilliant and daring rescues in naval history and asked for our hapless Marine spent six months in the hospital and as soon as he recovered he went right back to jumping out of airplanes. What you know good program you've been hanging around long enough so I want you to grab onto the lifeline of God's priorities and move forward in his design for your life, always abounding with his momentum and with his blessings. Find out what God wants you to do.

Make it your number one thing and then organize your life around that one thing, and God will move you forward into his grace in a way that will surprise you and everybody. May God grant that happens for all of us will got his position to each of us in a strategic place is given us all the sphere of influence some bigger than others but all of us have a part to play in the ongoing ministry of the word of God in the evangelization of the world when we find that place with what somebody says when you find your sweet spot. You thrive because you know your thoughts. Person doing that particular task that he designed you to do and I want you to find a word and continue talking about it tomorrow and talk about focusing making you one thing the main thing. Please join us tomorrow for the next edition of Turning Point that Mrs. today came to from Shadow Mountain Community Church with Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor.

How is the Turning Point enriching your fight, please write and tell us a Turning Point PO Box 38, San Diego, CA 92163 visit our website at Jeremiah.old/radio ask for your copy of David's powerful discovering God's presence and purpose in your tomorrow was for a gift of any amount also fetches the Jeremiah study Bible, English standard version. The new international version and the new King James version available in a variety of handsome, visit Jeremiah.old/radio for the time from Gary. Hopefully join us tomorrow as we continue the series turning .05. Taking time to listen to on tonight from teasing