How do you attend upon the Lord without distraction?

Text: 1 Corinthians 7:35  And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

1.   You must forget in order to remember.

a.   Philippians 3:13

13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

a.   Never allow past events to rob you of your present and your future.

b.   You have to remember that in the midst of your trials, there is nothing too hard for God. It doesn't matter what you are going through, you have to trust God.

b.   Deuteronomy 1:22

22  And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.

23  And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:

24  And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.

25  And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

26  Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:

27  And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28  Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

             i.    They brought an evil report, and the report that they brought to the people made them very discouraged.

            ii.    There is no discouragement like what Christian folk can bring into your life. If you can survive that discouragement, you can survive anything.

          iii.    It's when you try to get yourself back in the presence of God, many times it's Christian folk that try to knock you back down. And you have to continue to do what you are supposed to do in spite of what people say.

          iv.    When you are overtaken by fear and discouragement, you will forget that God can call those things that are not as though they were.

c.        You got to learn to take your eyes off people, and when you learn to do that, you can see God more clearly. People can cloud your vision.

d.        Real Ministry is born in the presence of God and not of people.

e.        If Israel could have forgotten what the giants looked like and remembered that they served a God who opened the red sea, they could have moved forward.

f.        After you've seen the hand of God, you should never get to a place in your life where you forget what He can do.

2.   You must remember in order to forget.

a.        2 Timothy 4:16-18

16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

17  Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

           a.    Paul was in his final hours of life, and he noticed that there were times in his life that ONLY God stood with Him.

b.        Even when you are surrounded by people who care for you, you must realize that God will stand by you when no one else does.

c.        God will stand with you at your worst and even at your best, because you don't have to perform for God. God loves you even when you're unlovely. All of us have fallen short.

d.        It is so important for you to get your eyes off of people.

e.        Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

             i.        In other words, to have friends, I'm gonna have to be friendly, but a real friend will still be my friend when I'm not friendly.

            ii.        That friend is Christ Himself. He loves you regardless of what you are going through.

f.        John 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

             i.        Christ laid down His life even though we didn't deserve it.

            ii.        When you lay yourself on the altar, you begin to understand that God is all you need.

g.        2 Corinthians 8:1-6

1  Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2  How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

3  For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4  Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

5  And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

6  Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

             i.    The grace of God here doesn't refer to salvational grace, but to an unusual divine blessing.

            ii.    Christians are not naturally generous. It is not something that is just bestowed upon you when you get saved. God must empower us to be givers.

          iii.    The people of God ought to be able to depend on one another, so that if any of us is ever in need, we can go to our brethren and get help.

          iv.    It is God's way to make sure that things are taken care of.

3.   Some things you must remember, some things you must forget, but you have to remember that you will never remember what you forget.

 i.        Hebrews 2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

ii.        When you forget God, you turn back to your old way of thinking, and ultimately will turn back to your old way of living.

iii.        No matter what you go through you can never take God out of the equation.

iv.        The difference will be made in your life when you truly walk with God, not when you come to church and try to ACT like you walk with God.

v.        Deuteronomy 24:23  Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

             i.        Take heed, lest you begin to set up idols in your life. Sometimes an idol isn't even something that is made, it could be something like your job.

vi.        Deuteronomy 6:12  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

vii.        8:11

11  Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12  Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13  And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14  Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15  Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

h.        9:4

4  Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

5  Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

             i.    What all these verses are saying is this - Don't ever forget about God, the one who was there when nobody else was.

            ii.    These are also warnings to the people of God not to forget the one who provided for them, protected them, and delivered them.

          iii.    When things fall apart, remember God and don't let anything distract you from Him.

 i.        In Luke 22:61 the Bible tells us that after Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus turned and looked at Peter. He was about to die for the sins of the world, and He called for a time out. He looked upon Peter, and Peter looked back at Him. This was a look that Peter would remember for the rest of his life.

             i.        Later on He would look at Peter again and say, "Lovest thou me?" And love there was agape love. And Peter responded "You know I love you." But love here meant I'm fond of you.

            ii.        There is something that happens when God is able to break you. This broken man would become the leader and voice of the early church and would eventually give his life for Christ.

j.        It doesn’t matter what you've done, the Lord still loves you. No one is what they need to be.

             i.        If we were all that we should be, we would have no need to confess our sins, but we still do, because we all commit sin.

            ii.        The Word we need to take to a lost world is that we are all a work in progress.

k.        God is working on all of us, and He is building us, until the day that He comes in Christ's likeness.

Thank you Norristown Baptist Church for 17 years. And if Jesus tarries, God help us to worship and serve another 17 years. And maybe one day we can turn our community upside down for the cause of Christ, and even reach beyond the limits of Norristown.

Trusting God in The Dry Places

Text: Joshua 3:14-17

14  And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

15  And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

16  That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

17  And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

We all have Jordans in our lives, the obstacles that keep us from growing.

a.   We must face these issues or they assassinate the purpose of God in our lives.

b.   God brought His people to the brinks of the Jordan which was overflowing its banks.

c.   God sometimes brings us to a situation like that so we can learn that if we are going to get victory, it's only going to be by the power of God.

d.   Israel was put in a position where the only way they could get into the promised land was by the power of God.

11.   There is always a great obstacle that keeps us from growth.

a.   Vs. 15  And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest)

             i.        When the 12 spies first searched out the land of Canaan, the obstacle was giants. This situation was a conduit to prove what was inside of them.

            ii.        A lot of times we have to ourselves what is in us in order to move into the next area in our lives.

b.   Numbers 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

             i.        What this verse is saying is when they compared themselves to the giants, they were like grasshoppers.

            ii.        A lot of times it is not what other people say about you, it is what you say about yourself.

c.   From a human standpoint, the Israelites came to the Jordan at the worst time possible.

             i.        The inhabitants of Canaan knew this obstacle and didn't worry that the Israelites would be able to come over.

            ii.        The Canaanites, like the enemy of our soul, didn't know our God.

          iii.        The problem is not how powerful God is, many times the problem is do we have enough faith to allow God to guide us through the obstacles in our lives.

d.   Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

             i.        This is why we are saved, because God took us, simple people, when we came to Him and told Him we were sinners and weren't deserving of Heaven.

            ii.        What God did was come down, and took upon Himself the form of a man, and said I love man so much that I will lay my life down for YOU.

          iii.        Then He said if you just call upon my name, you shall be saved. Are you saved today? Do you take for granted what God has done for you?

e.   An old preacher was in a prison and preaching to the prisoners. In the middle of the sermon, an inmate got an envelope. As soon as the inmate opened the letter, he shouted! They asked why he was so excited, and he said "I just received a pardon." The preacher said this man is excited over a temporary pardon, yet we have received a pardon from hell, and yet we sit back so secure.

             i.        We have received a pardon from hell that nothing can take away from us.

            ii.        When God looks at me, I am the righteousness of God, through Christ Jesus. I am not going to Heaven because of my own righteousness, it is the righteousness that has been imputed to me by Christ.

          iii.        Jesus said, "I'm going to cover your past, present, and future sins. We need to give God praise for what He did for us.

          iv.        If it was up to me to keep myself saved, I would be lost every minute, and have to repent and get re-baptized over and over again.

f.    The Israelites were at the brink of the Jordan, the great obstacle that was blocking them from their victory, their destination.

             i.        Every person in this room has a great obstacle that blocks them from their victory, and you have to persevere through those obstacles in order to get to where God wants you to be.

            ii.        Do you want it bad enough to suffer for it, to lose some sleep over it? Sometimes you just got to want it, because everything will be against their vision and purpose.

g.   Sometimes you got to get to a place where you say "God I got to have it. I don't know nothing else, I got to have it."

             i.        When you run out of options, it's hard. It's not easy being a Christian. You hear people say it's easy, they're a liar. You haven't even had problems until you start to serve God.

h.   You ever knew that God was taking you somewhere, and every time it seemed like you got close to your direction, you got set back?

             i.        God knew the time of the season that the Jordan overflowed it's banks, and yet He still had the Israelites stay there for 3 days waiting for instruction?

22.   In order to get past the obstacles, you must absolutely trust God.

a.   Joshua 3:8-11

8  And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

9  And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

10  And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

11  Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

a.   We all have "ites" in our lives. Fear, depression, lust, anger, gossip, drunkenness, we all have these things. The Lord must bring you to a place of death before you can be healed form these things.

b.   The worst thing in the world is for a Christian to come in church and act like they have no issues.

             i.        Every Christian has issues. When we learn that in church, we will get over the fairytale religion. There is no happily ever after church.

c.   Vs. 8  And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

             i.        This is the hardest thing to do, to stand still in the midst of your trials. Everything is falling apart and God says don't move.

            ii.        Sometimes it takes more faith to do nothing than it does to do something.

d.   Israel had to be willing to stand in the middle of the overflowing water in order to see what the Lord was going to do.

             i.        Sometimes you have to be willing to stand still when you see everything falling apart in order to really see the glory of God.

            ii.        A lot of times when you see the problems, that is when you need to stand still the most, because God is not leading you out because you see problems.

e.   Stand still, means to rest. God said rest in the midst of your problems. It's easy to get sleep when everything is alright. It's another thing when everything is falling apart and you can still sleep.

f.    The Lord is teaching us that we must trust Him when we don't know what is going on.

             i.        God often waits until a situation seems hopeless before He moves.

33.   Set up a memorial after it's over.

a.   Joshua 4:1-7

1  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,

2  Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

3  And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

4  Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:

5  And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:

6  That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

7  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

a.   You have to grab some stones out of your process. Israel had to go back into their process and grab some stones, so that one day they could tell their children how God dried the Jordan when it overflowed it's banks, and they walked across on dry ground.

b.   You have to be able to go back and grab stones from your process.

b.   Every one of us must go through a process of hardship. It's when you can reach back and grab things out of your process and say "Let me tell you how God delivered me, how God came and comforted me when no one else did, what He did for me."

             i.        One day you will remember your dry place. Remember your dry places. It's the dry places in your life that make you into the person that you are.

c.   When God entrusts you with dry places, He's entrusting you with something precious.

             i.        Your process is not just for you, it's so one day, you can help someone else.

            ii.        When everything falls apart, that's when God is getting ready to work. And you cannot let go.

d.   No matter how much you love somebody, sometimes you go through something that nobody can help you with. When was the last time that you were in God's operating room?

             i.        When a husband is rolled into the OR, no matter how much the wife loves him, she is not welcome. Same with a wife/husband.

            ii.        There are sometimes when God rolls you into His OR, and puts a sign up that says NO ADMITTANCE.

e.   We all know what it's like to be brokenhearted, to feel alone, like nobody understands.

             i.        When you've really been healed, nothing can stop you from turning around and helping somebody else.

            ii.        Once you know what it's like to fall, all judgmentalism goes out the window. You will remember how God restored you and reached you when nobody else did.

f.    If the priest wasn't willing to move forward in spite of the overflowing Jordan, they never would have known victory.

             i.        This reminds me of when the Israelites were at the Red Sea, and the Egyptian Army started coming through there.

            ii.        Moses said stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The voice that came back to Moses said "Wherefore call ye unto me, tell the people to move forward. Moses, tell the people to move forward."

          iii.        Do you know how much faith it takes to move forward, when there are obstacles in front of you?

Don't allow nothing to stop you from moving forward. The Bible says we are always to be a bounty unto the Lord. Your victory comes when you totally learn to trust God, and you say "Lord what you want me to do, I will do it." It's not about you, it is about the purpose that He has for you. The purpose of God in your live is to be more and more like Christ every day. Can you trust God through your dry places? You will never know what it's like to have abundant joy until you can trust God through your dry places.