Paul Daugherty - Staying FOCUSED
Summary
In this fiery sermon, Pastor Paul Dillard urges us to «Shift Your Focus» — to stop staring at stress, distractions, and sin, and instead fix our eyes on Jesus and the victory He’s already secured for us. He builds his message on Hebrews 12:1–2, calling us to throw off every weight and run our race with perseverance, surrounded by a cheering cloud of witnesses. The big takeaway: the fight is fixed, the church wins, so shake off what slows you down, stay engaged, and run hard — victory is ours!
All right, everybody say, «In God We Trust.» If you have a Bible, go to Hebrews chapter 12. Come on, who brews? Hebrews! That’s a dad joke right there! Oh man, it’s so good to see you all here today. You know, Wednesday night we had this powerful outdoor rooftop revival service, and we were set up outside. If you were there, make some noise! Raise your hand! It was so powerful. We were outside, and cars started coming in. It was such a beautiful night to see the whole church coming together, all these generations, as we were standing outside.
God’s Presence in the Chaos
Now, right before the service, I was getting stressed because things weren’t working. Our scissor lift wasn’t working, our sound system was going in and out, and there were things that were kind of stressing me out. I was getting overwhelmed, and I could just feel like God’s presence was saying, «Paul, chill out.» Do you ever feel like God’s just telling you to chill out? Any ladies or men in the room that just need a chill pill, and the Holy Spirit’s like, «Just chill out?» I needed a Holy Spirit chill pill because I was starting to get stressed.
Even one of our team members, John Morgan, was like, «Dude, are you okay? Is your heart okay?» I was like, «Yes, I just want everything to work.» And all of a sudden, worship started. We began singing, «Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the Darkness, ” right as the sun was setting. It was almost like God was watching the service happen from Heaven. The sun was setting right on the backside of victory over the Arkansas River. Come on, this is the most beautiful city in the world!
Then, while we were singing one of these worship songs, „I’ll Raise A Hallelujah, ” all of a sudden this flying V of geese came over. These birds flying in a V formation started flying, and one of our guys, Damon, had a drone outside. If you guys have that footage, his drone was in the sky when all of a sudden the geese flew right through the drone! Look at my reaction. Turn the volume up! That’s our flying V right there! Are you kidding me? It’s almost like God is making the service happen tonight. It’s almost like Heaven is watching this service tonight. Can I tell you? Heaven is watching this service tonight. Heaven is on its feet! There’s a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on tonight! Come on, church! I think that was sent for me.
Shift Your Focus
I want to title the message today „Shift Your Focus.“ Everybody say, „Shift Your Focus.“ Something happened during that service. I was stressed and overwhelmed about the worship, the sound booth, the scissor lift, whether people were going to come, and I was looking at the parking lot. It was almost like when that flying V of geese showed up. My dad and mom used to say that when the geese fly in a V, it’s God’s sign for victory. That was our sign that we were going to have victory at Victory Church. You know, we didn’t name ourselves Victim Church; we named ourselves Victory Church. When you came on this campus, you didn’t come into defeated church, a church that’s never going to rise; you came into Victory Church. Somebody say, „I got the victory!“
Let that flying V be a reminder to you today: you have the victory in your marriage, in your health, in your finances, in your dreams, in our nation. Let it remind you that God is watching. That’s what I said to our parking lot on Wednesday night: „God is watching!“ You say, „How do you know that?“ Hebrews 12:1 says, „Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…“ You know, I think my dad is up there. I think he was talking with God, orchestrating the service. He’s still trying to run the church even from Heaven. He’s like, „Paul’s a little stressed. I want the sun to go down at about 6:30. I want the moon to come up. Come on, God, can we send some Flying V geese right over Paul to just remind him to chill out?“ That God is watching and that heaven is on its feet.
A Great Cloud of Witnesses
I want you to know that I think God is up there with some of your ancestors right now. I know it’s true because it’s in the Bible. The Bible says that the saints of old, those who’ve put their faith in Jesus, are joined with this great cloud of witnesses. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This life is just a vapor; we’re here today and gone tomorrow. There is an eternal crowd up there.
Now, „surrounded“ means it’s a full circle. In this room, we have a half-circle from that wall to that wall; maybe not even a half-circle. But can you imagine a full circle of people all around? That would be like an arena! How many of you have ever been to an arena sports game before? Soccer, hockey, football, or basketball at the major center? It’s like a big arena, a big circle. I’ll never forget going to a Sooners game, cheering on our team, and right when the fourth quarter started, it was a close game—I think it was tied, 21-21.
Then something happened: the entire stand stood to its feet. At the fourth quarter, they lifted up their four fingers. It was like all the fans were telling each other, „We got to cheer on the guys on the field!“ Now, if Heaven is on its feet, then Earth should be in the field. Christians should be participating in the middle of the field. If Heaven is cheering us on, that means they’re asking us to get engaged down here on Earth.
This Is Not the Time to Disengage
If we’re living in this hour, this is not a time to check out. This is not a time to lose focus. This is not a time to disengage; this is a time to participate! Because Heaven is on its feet! I can almost see Heaven; it’s like the fourth quarter, and there’s a scoreboard! And can I tell you? The church is going to win! God’s already written the playbook; He’s already written it down. This is a fixed fight! Turn to the person next to you and say, „We’re going to win! We’re going to win!“
Heaven is on its feet, cheering us on. I know there’s Billy Joe Dyer up there, Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Lester Sumrall, Smith Wigglesworth, Clyde Swift, Elvie Swift. There are a lot of people joined up there in Heaven, cheering us on and saying, „Don’t you quit! Don’t throw in the towel! Don’t let the enemy slow you down! This is not a time to disengage; this is a time to be present!“
This is what he says: „Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance.“ If you’re taking notes, note-takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. Just write this in your notes: „What’s slowing me down?“
Throw Off What Slows You Down
Josh, can I borrow you for a second? Pastor Josh, our Victory Young Adults Pastor, mighty man of God right here. Will you jump on my back? Oh Jesus, help me! Thank you, Lord! Yeah, Josh is strong; he’s not heavy, he’s just strong. There’s a lot of muscle! Total muscle on top of me!
Imagine if I was like, „Put me in, Coach!“ to the football game. And Coach is like, „There’s someone on top of your back.“ I’d be like, „But just put me in! Let me play quarterback!“ But he says, „You’re not going to be able to throw that very far because there’s someone on your back.“ And I’m like, „Yeah, but I just, you know, I feel tired. I do feel weary.“ He says, „Right, because there’s someone on your back! I know I can barely move, Coach!“
Liam, I want you to come over here, grab my leg; just hold my leg. Yeah, get down there and just hold my leg. Imagine if I’m like, „Put me in on the track, and I’m going to run the 400-meter.“ They shoot the shot, and it’s like I’m trying to run! „Hold me back, Liam!“ I’m trying, and I’m slowed down because of what I’m holding on to, what I’m carrying. This is the picture of so many Christians right now: we’re slowed down by what we’re holding onto. We’re entangled in sin, in offense, in shame, in confusion, in distractions.
What’s slowing you down right now? What’s holding you back? You know, when I think about the Flying V, I think about the movie „The Mighty Ducks.“ Any ’80s babies or ’90s babies in the room? This movie is about a hockey team. There’s a moment where the team is losing—Team USA, Mighty Ducks number two.
There’s this moment when they’re losing. It looks grim, and they’ve forgotten who they are. They’ve forgotten that they’re not just Team USA; they’re the Ducks! The coach says, „Come on, guys! We’re better than this! We can do better! We’re playing slow. It’s like we’ve forgotten who we are!“ He pulls out their jerseys, and the Mighty Duck starts putting it on. They all start talking about the Flying V.
That Flying V formation is a sign of unity, but it’s also a sign of victory. He says, „We got to start playing like we got the victory!“ One of the guys in the locker room is like a cowboy saying, „When the roosters are crowing and the cows are spinning circles in the fields, Ducks fly together!“
But I started thinking, as I was watching that scene, about how the church sometimes gets divided over petty issues. We can get distracted; we can get slowed down; we get sluggish in sin. We got to come back to our commanding coach, our chief officer, our Father in Heaven. He’s saying, „Come on, church! You’ve got the victory! Shake off everything!“
This is what Hebrews 12 says: „Take off everything that so easily entangles you. Throw it off!“ Everybody say, „Throw it off!“ What do you need to throw off right now? „Let us run with perseverance.“ That word perseverance means you have to press through when you don’t feel like it.
Now, I don’t always feel like being in some places. How many of y’all show up to things? You don’t always feel like showing up, and you’re like, „Right now, buddy!“ Okay, all right! I know! But that’s the case! God never asked us to live how we feel; He asked us to persevere, run! Don’t run with your feelings; run with perseverance!
I don’t ask my kids, „Hey, do you feel like going to school today?“ If so, maybe we’ll go! I’m like, „You’re going to school today!“ They say, „I don’t feel like it! I’m tired! I just want to sleep in!“ But God never called us to live by our feelings; He called us to live by faith.
We have to shift our focus off of a feeling-based society that says, „Well, if I don’t feel like voting this year, if I don’t feel like going to work, if I don’t feel like going to church…“ If I don’t feel like loving my spouse, if I don’t feel like being a good kid, if I don’t feel like obeying, I’m just going to live how I feel.
Since when did God tell us to consult our feelings about anything? We don’t live how we feel; we live by faith. There’s a great cloud of witnesses watching, cheering us on. They’re saying, „Throw off this feeling-based faith that is so consumed with whether it feels good or not.“ I don’t know if I like the feelings, so run with perseverance.
Half of the book of Proverbs deals with this message against laziness because laziness plagues our world. It has for thousands of years. If it did back then, it still does today! King Solomon saw that work ethic was a hard situation in his lifetime. People just were lazy; nobody wanted to work, but they all wanted money. He said, „If you don’t work, you don’t eat! You got to get out! You got to go past your feelings!“
Right now, I wonder if there’s a spirit of laziness that’s plaguing the church—lethargic energy, just unmotivated. „I’m just exhausted. I’m tired.“ My question would be, „What are you holding onto that you need to throw off? What’s on your back?“
You know, I had Josh on my back, and Liam on my leg, but that really represented something else. Maybe for some of you, you have lust on your back and shame on your leg. Maybe you have lack on your back; you just lack mental capacity—poverty. „God will never bless me!“ Just fear: „God will never…“ „I’m not giving!“ „I just…“ I’m consumed with lack, or fear, or sin—just giving into the sin, the thing that I know I’m not supposed to do, but I just keep going back to these old vices, these things that make me feel comfortable and good.
I know I’m not supposed to, and God says it’s slowing you down, buddy! It’s slowing you down! It’s time to throw it off and run your race! In verse 2, he says, „Fixing your eyes.“ This is where the focus comes in because as a man thinketh, so is he. As a person focuses, so goes the direction of their life. Show me your focus, and I’ll show you your future. If you’re focused on money, if you’re focused on this… Our world is losing focus. I mean, focus right now is a superpower! People who are actually able to focus—people are struggling to stay focused anywhere and everywhere.
I mean, if I talk to people, it’s hard to focus at work. It’s hard to focus on a date night. It’s hard to focus when they’re with their family because they’re checked out. This right here is probably one of the biggest reasons why we struggle with focus: our smartphone. I’m preaching to myself for a second! Did you know technology has revolutionized the world? I mean, like, technology is amazing, but it has ravaged our souls! It has consumed our eyeballs. Even if it’s not bad stuff, it’s just distractions!
Fix your eyes on Jesus! Jesus, where are your eyes right now? The average user of a smartphone touches their smartphone 2,617 times a day! A heavy user—who uses their iPhone a lot—touches their iPhone 5,427 times a day! Here’s what I know: a distracted Christian is an ineffective Christian. A distracted father is an ineffective father. A distracted mother is an ineffective mother. A distracted leader is an ineffective leader. The more distracted I am, the less purposeful my life is because I’m all over the place.
Proverbs 4:25 says, „Do not look to the right or to the left.“ Let’s talk about the elephant in the room and the donkey! Keep your eyes straight on the Lamb who was slain! He says, „Stay focused!“ Now, that’s not a cop-out to not vote or to disengage. Right now, there are 31 million Christians claiming they will not show up to vote in this upcoming election because they simply said, „I can’t find a candidate that matches 100% who Jesus Christ is.“
But we’re not voting for Jesus Christ; He’s our King of Kings. He’s our Lord of Lords! Right now, we’re just voting for a president. You go, „Yeah, I just don’t want to be political!“ You can’t be biblical and political? No! Daniel was biblical and political! Esther was biblical and political! Nehemiah was biblical and political! Moses was biblical and political! Abraham was biblical and political! Isaac was biblical and political! Jacob was biblical and political! Peter was biblical and political! Jesus was biblical and political!
How can you disengage from the nation? Yeah, Paul, you and your generation can figure it out—I’m done voting! Your kids can just deal with the mess, and maybe one day they can vote and maybe things get better, but I’m sitting this one out. This is not a time for the church to disengage and walk off the field! This is a time to get back out on the field! Shake it off, vote for whoever is closest to the ideals of Jesus! I’m telling you, there’s no perfect candidate, but just as a Christian, just go, „Man, is there anyone close to this? Is anyone going to listen to Christians right now?“
This is not an hour for us to disengage and check out. We got to stay focused on our mission regardless of who’s elected. And that’s not a cop-out to not vote. That means vote, and then pray, and keep your eyes on Jesus! Keep your eyes on Jesus, no matter what! Whether your candidate wins or not, keep your eyes on Jesus, the author, the perfecter, the pioneer of our faith!
For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame. Fix your focus! Paul the Apostle says fix your thoughts. Everybody say, „Fix your thoughts!“ Paul was talking to Christians because Christians are allowed to get their thoughts running amok. Paul wasn’t talking to atheists; he was talking to Christians. He says, „Christians, even though you’re saved, your mind is still a mess!“ Which means you got to fix your thoughts every day, as much as you got to brush your teeth.
In case you forgot to brush your teeth today, this is your reminder: brush your teeth later! Check your breath! As much as we got to check our breath and brush our teeth, do some hygiene work, soap our bodies, Paul says you got to fix your thoughts daily! Because every day, there’s going to be thoughts of offense, thoughts of anger, thoughts of pride, thoughts of jealousy, thoughts of lust, thoughts of immorality, thoughts of wickedness, and there’s going to be thoughts of shame and thoughts of regret and just living in the past.
So, Paul says you got to fix your thoughts on what is true, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things! Fix your focus! Shift your focus! Don’t let anything or anyone rent space in your head unless they are a good tenant! Many people have lost their authority. If you don’t walk in your God-given authority, someone else will take it from you and use it against you.
Many people have lost their courage and their boldness and their motivation because we have rented out space in our minds to enemies that actually want to kill, steal, and destroy from our lives. So, we got to serve an eviction notice to everything that’s renting space. Who or what does God want you to focus on right now? I’ll tell you one thing: we need to focus on Jesus! Paul the Apostle knew in his lifetime in Philippians 3, he says, „One thing I focus on: forgetting that which is behind me and straining toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.“
Heaven, where I am focused on my future! I am focused on my assignment! What do I need to focus on? I need to focus on who God’s called me to be! You need to have healthy tunnel vision—a healthy fixation. Focus! Someone recently asked me, „Do any of your kids have fixation issues?“ I was like, „Remind me what that is again.“ They were like, „When they get so fixated, like tunnel vision on something, that nothing else matters except for the cookie!“
I was like, „Yeah, a lot of our kids have that! One in particular, I’m not going to say his name, but this one—I mean, when he sees red, nothing else matters except for revenge. He’s like, ‘I’m getting this guy! ’“ We need to work on that! But what I don’t want to do is erase the ability to have tunnel vision; I want to shift it. Instead of having tunnel vision on the wrong thing, I want to get his tunnel vision focused on Jesus!
Because the same energy he uses to do the wrong thing with tunnel vision, I’ve seen that same kid coming to church with tunnel vision to serve on the Dream Team. With tunnel vision to worship during church service—forgetting about everyone else in the room except Jesus. I’ve seen him get on his knees; I’ve seen him want to give to the homeless man down the street. When you can shift your focus from the wrong tunnel vision to the right, that’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah’s „No“ to Distraction
In Nehemiah chapter 6, his nation was a mess, and nobody was fixing it. FEMA wasn’t fixing it, the White House wasn’t fixing it. So Nehemiah said, „Not on my watch!“ Somebody said, „Not on my watch!“ Nehemiah gets involved; he starts rebuilding Israel because he cares about it. He starts calling out the people who don’t want to work. He’s like, „I’m going to name the families that did work on the wall, and the ones that didn’t—we’re not doing that here, but Nehemiah did.“ He was like, „God needs some people with a hammer and a sword!“
This past week, I was trying to build something and I hit my finger. If you can see it, it’s purple! I was trying to build a desk! One of my kids was like, „Dad, you’re better at preaching than hammering things. You should probably stick to just preaching!“ But I was thinking about Nehemiah working on that wall, just every day working on it, rebuilding it. And there were people who came to distract him. In Nehemiah 6:1, it says, „When the people started to hear what Nehemiah had done and the enemy started to hear how they had record time in building this wall, they came to him in verse 2.“
They sent a message to Nehemiah and they said, „Why don’t you come down to meet us in the plain of Oh No?“ Everybody say, „No, no to Oh No!“ Now this was an invitation to distraction. Anytime you’re driving down the road and you’re trying to walk in self-control and self-discipline, and a Krispy Kreme donut light is flashing red, you just need to say „No, no to Oh No!“ Anytime you’re distracted to look at your phone while driving really fast down the highway, and you need to shift lanes, and there’s a semi—I mean, you got kids in the back, you got precious cargo—say „No, no to Oh No!“
We’re living in a time, though, where we’re all so tempted to be distracted. Nehemiah sees the distraction for what it is! He knew they were coming to harm him; he knew this distraction was not worth his attention. In verse 3, I sent a message to them saying, „I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down.“ I want you to underline that in your Bible and say it with me: „I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down!“
Anyone who tries to tempt you with distraction—away from your marriage, away from your children, away from your purity if you’re single, away from your dream, your prayers, what you’ve been believing for—anyone who tries to tempt you to distract you from what God has called you to do, you need to say, „I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down!“ When you are working at home, when you are sitting on your phone, you need to look at that phone and say, „I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down!“
Then he says, „Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?“ In other words, Nehemiah was committed to a cause that was bigger than him! He said, „I’m not stopping!“ He said, „Four times they sent me the same message, and I kept saying the same thing.“
David and Goliath: The Power of Focus
I want to look at one more story of a guy who shifted his focus, and that’s 1 Samuel 17—David and Goliath! Now you know this story, but I want you to look at it through the lens of focus. Goliath shows up in 1 Samuel 17 and starts shouting at Israel. He was twice the size of all the Israelites, and it says that when he came out, he said, „Give me a man who will fight me this day! If he wins, then we Philistines will be servants to you and your King Saul for the rest of our lives! But if I win, then your nation will bow down to us for the rest of your lives! Give me a man!“
In verse 11 of 1 Samuel 17, it says when the Israelites heard Goliath speaking, they were afraid, dismayed, and terrified. They ran for their lives. Verse 24 says they ran for the caves; they hid in fear. Now at the same time that fear was plaguing one group of soldiers—and really the whole nation—David shows up to the battlefield. David had been sent by his father to bring a cheeseboard to his brothers: bread and cheese.
So, he shows up with bread and cheese, meats—he’s like the Uber Eats delivery guy! „Hey guys! Got your food!“ He drops it off, but he hears this giant speaking! This giant had come out 40 days in a row, taunting the Israelites, intimidating them, paralyzing them. When I had Josh on my back, I felt paralyzed; I felt like I couldn’t move further!
This is what the enemy wants to do! He wants to weigh you down to where you are paralyzed from moving forward! That’s where the Israelites were; they were paralyzed in fear! David shows up; he hears the same thing they’ve heard, but he responds differently! It’s crazy that people can sit in the same room, hear the same thing, and have a totally different response! Because someone in the room is listening to a different frequency of what’s being spoken!
People who walk by sight don’t understand people who walk by faith! People hear the same thing, but they have a different response! David hears the giant, and he gets excited to fight! The Israelites hear the giant, including David’s brothers, and they run in fear! One person is excited with opportunity; another person is running from fear, all because of where their focus is!
It reminds me of a true story! There was an interview for a job, and there were about 200 people lined up for it. This was a lucrative job—a six-figure salary promised to this job—and the interview had been posted on all these different sites. People showed up, walking in line; it was in the newspaper, and this guy standing in line, while everyone was focused on their resumes, recognizes a sound going off. No one’s paying attention, and he realizes it’s Morse code!
As he listens to the Morse code, he begins to decipher it. It says, „If you can hear this message, step out of the line, walk to the front, come straight to the front door, to the end of the hallway.“ This man walks up the stairs, past 200 people, walks down the hallway, goes to the front door, and is given the job on the spot—bypasses everybody in line!
Everybody heard the same thing, but this guy was tuned in to the right frequency! I wonder if the Holy Spirit is sending a message right now. While everyone’s listening to Trump and Cala and the RNC and the DNC, and the hurricanes and Israel and all this stuff, I wonder if there is Morse code going out. The Holy Spirit is calling the church, „Rise up! Rise up! This is an hour! Provision is on the way! Supply is on the way!“ While everyone’s listening to The Economist and the experts talk about what’s going to happen if this happens, it’s so bad!
See, some people hear the economy is terrible and there are no opportunities for anybody, but there’s someone in the room today that’s listening to a different frequency. They’re hearing, „My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus! Will He not open the windows in Heaven and pour out a blessing that I don’t have room enough to contain?“
See, someone’s tuned in to a different frequency! Someone’s hearing right now, „There are no good single guys or single girls in town. If you’re going to get married, you’ve got to move somewhere else.“ But someone else is hearing, „No, no! God has the right man picked out for me here! God has the right woman picked out for me here! Where God guides, He provides! Where God directs, He protects! He’s lined up the right people in my path!“
See, everyone’s listening, but not everyone’s responding the same way! Everyone hears the giant, but only David responds with faith. David says in verse 32, „Don’t let anyone be afraid. I will fight this giant!“ Now, this comes right after his older brother says, „You need to go back and take care of those sheep! Go back to home school, David! Go back to Dad. Go back to the house! You don’t belong out here! You’re arrogant! You’re cocky!“
David does not engage in a fight with his brother; he goes straight to the real giant! Sometimes we’re fighting the wrong battle! We are battling petty things that do not matter in the end! Forget about that stuff; focus on the real giant that’s in your future!
So, David shifts his focus; he says, „Let no one lose heart! I will fight this giant!“ Saul looks at David in verse 33, he says, „You’re just a little boy! He’s a grown man! He’s going to eat you! He’s going to defeat you!“ But David wins the fight!
Eight Ways to Win with Focus
I want to give you real quickly the ways that David won. Here are eight ways to win with focus:
1. Focus on who God is according to His Word. Focus on who God is! See, if my focus is on the giant—Juan, will you step up here? I need you to play Goliath!
If someone can get me a rock and a slingshot, I’m going to hit him in the head! Just kidding! That happened to me when I was in nursery! Someone said, „Paul, you’re Goliath! I’m David!“ They took a wooden block, and they hit me in the head! I went to the hospital! I had eight stitches in my head! I was like three or four years old! That’s why I love illustrated sermons: I get to make myself the good guy!
You’re Goliath, I’m David. As long as I’m looking at him, he’s consuming my focus! His shadow is overtaking me! I mean, his bigness! This is where the Israelites’ focus was—and they were running in fear! But when I look beyond him—when I shift my focus from him to above him, I look in the heavens where my help comes from! David said, „He’s the glory and the lifter of my head! Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the author of my salvation! Why should I be afraid? He is my light! He’s my fortress!“
David would often lift his head! Everybody say, „Lift your head up!“ So as David gets his head higher than Goliath, he starts to realize God is bigger than his giant! The Word of God says that God is stronger. He is Jehovah Jireh. He’s Jehovah Nissi. He’s bigger than any battle you face! He’s the same God that brought down the walls of Jericho! He’s the same God that parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River! He’s the same God that opens the blind eyes and the deaf ears! He still heals the sick! He still raises the dead!
He’s the same God that helped Peter with the coin in the fish! He’s the same God that brought Lazarus! When you start seeing God for who His Word says, and you start moving with that kind of strength and that kind of focus, the giant can’t handle your confidence! The giant looks big as long as you’re running! But the second you start moving toward that giant, he starts getting smaller! He starts losing his strength!
When you focus on how great God is, thank you, Juan, instead of how great the giant is, you have a whole lot more power to win!
2. Focus on who God says you are. Shift your focus on who God says you are, not what the people in your life have said you are! My identity does not come from my parents! And I’m thankful for my parents; I’m thankful for who they made me!
But ultimately, our identity comes from us being children of God! You are not what people have said about you! You are not what coaches or teachers or siblings or parents have labeled you! You are a child of God! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are a champion! You are a mighty man of God! You’re a mighty woman of God! You are more than a conqueror! Greater is He who lives in you than he that is in this world!
God is for you! He loves you! David said, „You number the sand on the sea; your thoughts about me are good, and they outnumber the sand on the seashore.“
So David had this revelation: „God, you did a good job working on me!“
There was this fighter who won this major championship. He had been boxing and had all these fights, and he wins this great championship. The interviewer comes to interview him; this was a big deal on live television. The boxer gets in front of the camera and says, „You see that, Dad? I’m not a loser! I’m not a loser! I am somebody!“
The interviewer is looking like, „Who are you talking to?“ The guy goes, „I’m sorry; I just blacked out! My dad’s actually been dead for 20 years!“ He’s like, „But he abused me as a kid, verbally and physically. I put his face on every opponent! That’s why I win! I just want to knock his lights out!“
He said, „Sorry, when the camera came on, I just wanted to tell my dad, ‘I’m not a loser! ’“ See, he had been winning the fights out here but still losing the fight in here! The real fight is between your ears! If you don’t start seeing yourself the way God sees you, you can be successful out here but still feel miserable in here.
3. Focus on what God’s Word says about your problems! God says He can do things suddenly! God says nothing is impossible for Him!
I want the band to come out; we’re about to worship! See, there were moments throughout the Bible where the Israelites faced impossible situations, and God told Gideon, „Take courage, Gideon! There are more for you!“ I’m going to do more for you! God is more for you than those who are against you!
There were moments where Elijah was surrounded, and Elijah said, „Lord, open my eyes to see! There are more for me than those against me!“ In other words, the problems you’re facing are not as big as they look! The bark is bigger than the bite! Goliath may look big to everybody else, but God is bigger than your giants!
4. Focus your words with faith to be your biggest encourager! Focus your words! It’s not enough to just believe it on the inside; you’ve got to speak it on the outside! Sometimes you have to encourage yourself when nobody else is encouraging you! I’ve got to speak to myself! I’ve got to talk to myself! Every Sunday morning, I come in this room, and I declare, „Lord, I thank you! I’m anointed and appointed, and I’ve got a word to preach to our church!“
There was a season where I walked into our church 15 years ago after my dad passed. My mom was serving as the pastor, and during that season, I just felt so discouraged! I would discourage myself with my words! I would put myself down, thinking maybe it was humility. Someone stopped me and said, „Paul, stop being so condescending towards yourself! Stop putting yourself down so much! You need to start building yourself up! You need to start being your biggest encourager!“
If you don’t encourage yourself, no one else’s encouragement is going to matter! You could hear a hundred compliments, but if you constantly discredit yourself, then you’re canceling every encouraging word! You’ve got to start encouraging yourself in the Lord! This is what David did. He had to speak to himself.
Saul said, „You’re not big enough! You’re not strong enough!“ David starts talking to himself. Look at this in verse—let’s go to this verse: 34. But David said—I love that—“But David said, ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep! When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it! I struck it! I rescued the sheep from its mouth! When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair! I struck that lion, and I killed it! Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear! And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God! ’»
In other words, David said, «This ain’t my first rodeo! I’ve been here before! You haven’t seen me when I was in the field when nobody was watching! You haven’t seen the hours I’ve put in! There are things that no one else has seen except for you and God! You need to remind the devil when anyone comes with a label of ‘You’re disqualified! ’ Hey! Their labels never qualified you! Don’t let them disqualify you! Their opinions didn’t call you! Don’t let their opinions haunt you! They didn’t shape you; don’t let them break you! You’ve got to start talking yourself back into it! Talk yourself into victory!
David said, „The same God—the same God!“ Everybody say, „The same God!“ He says, „The same God that rescued me from the lion, the same God that rescued me from the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!“ So Saul said to David, „Go, and may the Lord be with you!“ See, Saul had lost his own courage, so he was letting this 16-year-old boy! If you don’t do what God called you to do, God will find someone else to do it!
5. Focus on what God has uniquely given you and put inside you to win! Saul wanted David to wear his armor! Just as Saul was sending him out, he said, „Let me put my breastplate on top of you! It’s heavy! Let me put on my helmet!“ In other words, „I want you to think like me; I want you to use my style; I want you to use my weapons! I want you to lead my way!“
But Saul had lost his way! Saul had lost his mind! David wasn’t about to forfeit his uniqueness! It’s a dangerous thing to try to be like somebody else! Anytime you start wanting to be like somebody else, you lose your distinctiveness! You lose the power of who God made you to be! God made you original! Don’t die as a copy!
God has an original anointing for you! God won’t bless who you pretend to be! Stop trying to be like somebody else! Be who God made you to be! You’ve got what you need to succeed! If you don’t have something, you don’t need it! You have the things you need to do what God has called you to do! He made you for such a time as this!
I used to think I had to have everything my dad had, and then I started realizing, no, I don’t! Because he had what he needed in his season to be a leader and a pastor! I used to think I had to have everything my mom had—my mom had everything she needed to be who God made her to be, and she does a great job! I’m so thankful for my mom, Pastor Sharon!
But if I tried to be a copy of them, I would discredit what God has put inside me! Be who God made you to be! So David says, „Saul, I can’t wear your armor! It’s too heavy! I can’t wear your helmet because I can’t think like you! I got a different mindset than you! I have a different style than you! But I can use my slingshot and my five stones!“
6. Focus your words with faith towards the problem or the promise in your life! See, when the giant talks to you, you got to talk back to the giant! Mountains are going to talk to you, and they’ll keep talking until you start talking back!
In verse 41, meanwhile, the Philistine with his shield-bearer in front of him kept coming closer to David. He was trying to get a closer look! He looked David over and saw that he was a mere little boy! Still going through puberty! David was like, „Hello!“ like cracking his voice, you know?
But Goliath noticed he was glowing with health and he was handsome! Goliath was like, „This is just a kid—but he’s handsome! That’s weird!“ It’s in the Bible; he despised him for being handsome too!
In verse 43, Goliath says, „Am I a dog that you come at me with your sticks and stones?“ The Philistine cursed David by his gods. „Come here!“ he said, „and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals! I’ll feed your carcass to the animals outside!“
I love that I’m preaching this the week that Israel took out the top terrorist of Hamas! You know, God is a God of justice! America cheered when our soldiers took out Osama bin Laden, who wanted to annihilate our nation! The world was extremely grateful when Hitler was dead because his goal was to kill millions of more Jews!
It is not a bad thing to rejoice in the justice of God when someone is a terrorist towards millions of people, trying to kill families, rape women, hurt children. It’s not a bad thing to rejoice in the justice and righteousness of God!
So David rises up, with this rough like righteous justice in other words! He’s getting cursed by Goliath, but he’s going to bring the same heat right back at him! He looks at Goliath and says, „You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God Almighty!“
He says, „I come to you today with the God of the armies of Israel on my side, whom you have defied! This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands! I will strike you down, and I will cut off your head! This very day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!
All those gathered here will know that it’s not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle belongs to the Lord! And He will give all of you into our hands!“
As the Philistine heard this, he moved toward David, and David ran just as fast toward him!
7. Focus by attacking the giant quickly! In fact, I’m going to say focus by attacking the giant now! Everybody say, „Now!“ No more procrastination! No more putting it off for tomorrow! No more saying, „I’ll get around to it one day!“ Now is the time! Now is the day of salvation! Now is the day to repent! Now is the day to get sober! Now is the day to break free! Now is the day to get right with God!
Now is the day to get down to the altar! Today’s opposition is connected to tomorrow’s promotion! Today’s surrender is connected to tomorrow’s victory! Today’s humility is connected to tomorrow’s exaltation!
So David said, „I’m not waiting another second! I’m not putting this off! You’ve been here for 40 days, and today I’m cutting your head off!“ So David runs toward the giant, takes out his slingshot, throws the stone, knocks the giant to the ground! And then he doesn’t stop there; he stands on top of the giant, takes his sword out, cuts his head off, and holds it up in the air!
Prayer
I want you to stand on your feet all over this place! Y’all, the Bible is so powerful! The Bible—I just get excited reading the Bible! It’s a prophetic word!
Don’t be thinking about a person you need to go kill! Start thinking about the enemies in your own mind and heart that you need to get rid of! The enemies that you need to have victory over! The enemies of sin and laziness and fear and shame and lust and pride and jealousy and discontentment! Depression! Anxiety! Panic attacks! Whatever it is that’s been messing with you, messing with your energy, messing with your strength! Whatever’s slowing you down! Whatever’s distracting you from what you really need to focus on! Maybe for some of you, you do need to cut the head off of your iPhone!
Maybe you do need to take a radical break from something! Maybe you need to hit reset! Maybe you need to just go „Lord, I’ve been so distracted! I need to get my energy back! I need to get my strength back! I need to get my life back!“
You know, the last point I’ll give you right here:
8. Focus after every victory by preparing for the next battle! What David needed to know is that this would just be the beginning. Goliath was not his one-and-only giant! There were brothers of Goliath; there were more giants to fight! And then there would be battles within his own family, battles in his own marriage, battles in his own mind!
The enemy loves it when we win a battle, and we check out! He acts as if the rest of our lives will never face another battle because that’s when the enemy sneaks in and he’s like, „Oh, I got him now! I got her now! She’s tired! She’s happy! She’s prideful of what she just accomplished!“ That’s when we need to get on our knees and say, „Lord, help me to be prepared for what’s next! You helped me with this! You gave me the victory here! So, Lord, help me to be prepared spiritually for whatever is next!“
I just want to pray for anyone right now that you are here. I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes! If you’re here right now, and you just need to shift your focus in this season back to Jesus and who God says you are and what God has called you to do; if the enemy has been messing with you, distracting you in any way, I want you to raise your hand!
If you need to shift your focus back to what God has called you to do—like Nehemiah, like David—you just need to get your eyes fixed on Jesus right now! You need to fix your focus, fix your thoughts, focus on your assignment!
I need to focus on who God’s called me to be! Shake off thoughts of comparison! Shake off thoughts of discouragement! You need to shake off some entanglements—some sin that’s been slowing you down! If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand today! You’re just saying, „I just need to get my focus back!“
If that’s you—if you raised your hand, or you want to raise your hand—would you leave your seat and come meet me at this altar? And if you’re here today, and you say, „Man, I just need to get right with Jesus! I need to repent! I need to surrender!“ You come! This is your day of salvation!
Come and join us at this altar! Let’s cheer on brave men, brave women, brave moms and dads, sons and daughters, college students, teenagers, young adults, grandparents—whatever age you are, children! This is a day of salvation! This is a day of repentance! This is a day of healing! This is a day of focus!
This is a day pointing to the devil and serving an eviction notice saying, „Get out of my mind! I am focused on who God has called me to be!“ Let’s just begin to worship right now! Let’s fix our focus by singing praise and worship to the Lord! Come on, my soul! Come on, my soul! Don’t you get shy on me! You got a worship song inside! You got a praise song inside! Don’t you give up!
Shake off that lethargy! „I will praise You, Lord! I will praise You, Lord! I’m going to win the battle in my mind! I’m going to see who God says I am! I’m going to believe that I am who God says I am!“ Praise! You’re a mighty man of God! You are strong in the Lord! You are wonderful!
Don’t give up! Praise the Lord! Oh, come on, my soul! Come on, my soul! Oh, don’t you get silent! Lift up your song! You got a life inside of you! Get up and praise the Lord! We get up and praise You, Jesus! So, come on, my soul! Hold on to that praise! Lift up your song!
You got a light inside of you! Get up and praise the Lord! Oh, come on, my soul! Come on, my soul! Hold on to that praise! Lift up your song! You got a light inside those bones! Get up and praise the Lord! So, I lift my hands and praise You again and again because all that I have is a Hallelujah!
And I know it’s not much, but nothing else fit for the King except for a heart singing Hallelujah! So, come on, my soul! Oh, come on, my soul! Lift up your song! You got a light inside of those bones! Get up and praise the Lord!
I get up and praise You, Jesus! God, I just pray for strength for those that are casting off weights at this altar right now! If you’re not at the altar and you want to come down here to cast off some weights, some burdens, some sin, some shame, some worry, fear—just come on down! There’s still time before we dismiss if you just need to lay something at the altar!
I can see somebody here; it’s almost like we’re out on this open field, and the great cloud of witnesses is like an arena all around us. We’re down here in this field, and I can see there’s some man at this altar right now. It’s like you’ve been carrying so much extra weight, and today it’s coming off of you! You’re about to start running faster than you’ve ever run! You’re about to start thinking clearer than you’ve ever thought!
You’re about to get your clarity back! Your mind back! You’re about to start getting your energy and strength back! Your leg muscles are going to work better; your arm muscles are going to work better! Your heart is going to pump; the blood’s going to flow better! God says, „Let go of that offense! Let go of that bitterness! Let go of that resentment towards those people or that place!“
God says, „I’m setting you free today! Throw it off! Throw off every entanglement! Throw off every hurt! Throw off every wound! Throw off the shame!“ You came in with shame; throw it off in Jesus’ name! Shame off you in Jesus’ name! Sin, come off you in Jesus’ name! You are a child of God! You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! God says you’re stepping into the light! You’re stepping into a season of momentum!
And He says, „I’m going to give you focus—supernatural focus—with everything you’re facing right now!“ God says, „I’ve given you the victory! I’ve given you the victory! Goliath is going to fall! Goliath is going to fall! You’ve already thrown the stone! Now God says it’s time to let the giant hit the ground! Let the giant hit the ground! God says, ‘Get ready! Your victory is coming! Your victory is coming! Provision, protection, wisdom, direction! ’
Hebrews says there’s a race that’s been marked out for us; it’s already a fixed fight! You already have a victory; you’ve already won the race! You just got to stay in it; you just got to persevere! The enemy thought he had you; the enemy thought he won, but hell lost another one! Hell lost another one! Come on, you got the victory! You got the victory!
Just say this with me: ‘Jesus, thank You for setting me free! Thank You for giving me victory! Thank You for helping me focus on You, the author of my faith! Thank You, Jesus, that I am surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses cheering me on! I will not quit, and I will not lose focus! Distractions, you got to go! I’m focused on who God is and who I am according to God’s word! I am a child of God! I’m more than a conqueror! Greater is He who lives in me than he that is in this world! I am forgiven! I am saved! I am redeemed! My best days are right in front of me because Jesus died on the cross; He rose from the grave! I have victory! In Jesus’ name, Amen and Amen! ’