Transcription
Hello. Today I want to talk with you on such a thought, such a topic: How to learn to focus on God's promises and not focus on problems. This is important because when you focus on a problem, it becomes bigger in your head. The problem starts to inflate, and you begin to see it as so big and hopeless. Because you are focusing. What does it mean to focus? It means to concentrate, to think about it, to reflect on it, to talk about it. I heard such an interesting example: if you take a small coin, just imagine some object or just a coin, and bring it to your eye, then this coin will cover the sun. A coin that is a billion or a trillion or quadrillions of times smaller than the sun, because you brought it so close to your eye, it covered this mighty object before you. And when a person brings some small problem before themselves, focuses on it, they cover, they overshadow all the promises, blessings, and an abundant life for themselves, because they concentrated on it. Do you understand what I'm saying? And we must, well, see this picture for ourselves. You know, maybe today, well, you don't know how to get out of debt. Maybe you don't know how to cope with this illness, or you've just been given some kind of diagnosis that is not comforting. Instead of, yes, I'm not saying you should ignore it, I'm saying you shouldn't focus on it. I will give you a few interesting examples that show how people received blessings when they did not focus on circumstances. They did not ignore them; they were absolutely sober-minded and understood the situation, but they did not continue to focus on them. Therefore, if a doctor has given you some diagnosis, I know that you can call someone and tell them about it. And when you tell them about it, that person might start telling you, "You know, recently my acquaintance died from such a disease." And then someone else will tell you and say that a similar situation happened to my neighbor, and you know, he only lasted three weeks. And all this information you will concentrate around yourself, this negativity that will cover the blessings, the promises, or even life, or a way out of this situation, because you brought it too close, like a coin that covers this object. I'm not saying you should ignore it, I'm saying you shouldn't focus on it. Therefore, now each of us has some situation that is simply starting to press on us, and I tell you that we need to learn not to focus on it. I heard such a story: there was a boy in the yard, some bully who constantly offended him, just bullied him. He was so afraid of him, he was afraid to go outside, he was afraid to go to school, he was constantly afraid because he would meet him there, and he constantly lived in this fear. One day, his father bought him this telescope so he could look at the stars and all that. And at one moment, the father sees that his son has turned the telescope the wrong way and is looking at something. And his dad says to him, "Listen, you're holding the telescope wrong, it needs to be turned around." He says, "Dad, I know it needs to be turned around. I just found that bully, I'm looking at him backwards, he's so small, I'm not afraid of him anymore." He just turned the telescope around, and when he saw him as small, he stopped being afraid of him. I'm just saying that you can turn circumstances around and look at problems backwards, turn that telescope around and look at these problems like this, and then you will stop being afraid. What I'm going to say now is very important. To believe, you need as much energy as you do to worry. If you understand that you need to focus your energy on positive things and start moving into God's promises, then this energy is enough for you, enough for you to start believing it. God has promises for us. God promised something, said something to each of us, and I know that each person has their own promises. You can simply quote the Bible and say, "This is God's promise, this is true, this is good." But there is a personal promise that God has already told you. And I know that this is the secret to speaking these promises: when you speak these promises, you begin to believe in them, you begin to focus on them, you begin to concentrate on them, and when you speak it, it starts to work in your life. God does not answer what you say; He answers what He has said. And when you speak, you articulate what God has said. Listen carefully now: when you begin to articulate what God has promised and what He has said, He commands His angels and says, "It's time to start working. Start doing this now because there is a connection. His word, His word has power when it is perceived, when someone believes in it." All scripture, all life, all spiritual life is permeated with faith, trust in God. I will give a brief example of Abraham. I want you to see the uniqueness of Abraham. He is constantly brought up in the Bible, constantly in the New Testament writings. The Apostle Paul often brings up Abraham, and he says interesting things about Abraham. Abraham received a promise from God. God promised something to Abraham. Remember that God promised something. God said, and Abraham needed to trust God, and this divine promise to manifest in his life. If you think that God promised it, it is written in the Bible, therefore it will be with me, do not deceive yourself, it will not be with you. It will be so when you start to believe in it, when you speak it, when you confess it, and then it will start to happen to you. So, remember three simple rules that happened with Abraham: what Abraham concentrated on. God gave Abraham a promise. God promised Abraham something. And Abraham understood that He is a great God, and He does not deceive, He does not lie, so it will be. Second, remember: Abraham promised God nothing. This is a teaching of the Old Testament, where they began to bargain with God: "God, if you give me victory, I will give you what comes out of my house." Well, what came out, and what then? Why give such oaths at all, for the devil to participate? God is not involved in this. God does not need you to give Him promises. As it is written everywhere, when we are baptized, we promise God a good conscience. This is a wrong translation, a distorted translation, because in all other translations it says a request or asking God for a good conscience. Where do you get a good conscience? When you come to God, you can only receive it from God. He is good; He can give you a pure conscience. Therefore, we promise God nothing; we believe in His promises. And when you believe in His promises, your life becomes active, capable, strong, confident. You start doing much more than just starting to promise something. There was a period in my life when I broke off all the promises I made to God because I broke them all. I don't know about you, you might say and be a person of your word. I know a person who thought, "How should I answer for this before God?" But sooner or later, you will break down from all your achievements because you rely on the flesh, not on the Lord. Therefore, Abraham relied on God, not on himself. Abraham promised God nothing at all. You won't find Abraham giving any promise to God. And by the way, God manifested Himself much more through Abraham than through those who promise God something. Let's focus on God's promises. What God promised Him, He likes it. And third, which is very important to remember, can I highlight it? We need to highlight the text of scripture so that you look at it. Let's do at least one place, otherwise it won't be spiritual at all, it will be like telling something about coins, about the sun, and not according to scripture at all. Romans chapter 4. Let's look. I've opened it, and the law produces wrath. Immediately, the law produces wrath, because where there is no law, there is no transgression. Let's skip this thought; we've talked about it a lot already, otherwise I'll get stuck. Let's move on. So, by faith, the law produces wrath. In the law, there is no faith. The law without faith. The law is your achievements, so that you understand. When it says "law," it means human achievements. When it speaks of grace, it means God's achievements. And grace produces faith. Before the coming of faith, we, the people of Israel, were bound by the law. After the coming of faith, we no longer need to be bound by the law. The law produces only wrath. So, by faith, so that it may be by mercy. This is the second classic interesting point. Do you know what "by mercy" means? Mercy, no one person can earn, not one creature. No one deserves mercy. Mercy can only be shown by someone who is capable of showing it, because judgment is by justice, and by mercy is not by justice. Therefore, when I say that grace is completely unfair, and some say, "How can that be?" Yes, it can be for everyone, because it is by mercy, not by justice. If you want it by justice, then you need to take everything, not just the part you want to show people or want to show God. Then everything will be by justice, and it will be very harsh by justice, because your justice will not be enough for anything. The only option is simply by mercy. So, believe so that it may be by mercy, so that the promise may not be applied to all, not only by law. Promises. Some are promises by law. If you keep the commandments, then God will bless you by law. Such promises, forget about these promises. Because in these, if you open the promises of the law, chapter 28, verse 2, and you read the whole chapter 28, you will see that there are a few verses of promises and three times more curses if you do not fulfill it. Hello. Therefore, by mercy. So, by faith, so that it may be by mercy, so that the promise may not be applied to all, not only by law, but also by faith, to the descendants of Abraham, who is the father of us all. And what was so amazing about Abraham? What was so interesting about him as a person that he is exalted above all the principles of the law of Israel and is given as an example? We read the following verses: "As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations before God, whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist as though they did." God said to Abraham when he was old, "Abraham, I will give you offspring, I will give you a son." Abraham was a hundred years old. And imagine, Abraham, by the way, Googled if it's possible to have a child at a hundred years old. What do you think about this situation? And he started typing, and experts started telling him, "Are you crazy? It's impossible. And how old is Sarah? She's 18-20 years old, not him." Forget about it. And people would start telling him, because if he shared the problem, he had a real problem. He was old, literally. I'll read here: it says that he understood that Sarah's womb was dead, and the horse's or donkey's also doesn't stand up. Well, you read it, it says that. Someone will say, "What kind of translation is this about a horse? Yura, what are you doing with this horse?" Abraham had a serious problem, more serious than yours, believe me. But here's what Abraham did. We read further: Abraham believed God, who calls into existence things that do not exist as though they did. Abraham, you are the father of nations, and he is childless. God calls Abraham the father of nations, even though he had no offspring. Sarah is also the mother of nations, who did not yet have a child. This is calling what does not exist as existing. And by the way, this is not your problem. You think about it, they start to fantasize, they start to invent something, they call what does not exist as existing. It is God who invented this. Thanks to this, it becomes a reality. When something does not exist, you say that it already exists, because faith is this. Faith is not hope; it will be hope. Faith is when you say, "I have this." This is faith. Someone will say, "Show it." "Show it." Wait. When you see it, it is not faith; it is the result of faith. And when I had faith, it cannot be shown, it cannot be seen. Faith is only within me. I rely on what God has said, and He is faithful, He is strong, He can fulfill it. We read what's next: the following verse. "He believed in hope against hope." This is what faith is. Hope is to hope. Hope dies last, but it dies. It will be buried last, but it still dies. But faith. "He believed in hope against hope." He believed and added hope so that it would not die in the end. Through what did he become the father of many nations? According to what was said, "So numerous will be your offspring." Attention. The most interesting verse you will see next. "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now as good as dead, when he was about a hundred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb." He did not waver in the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. This is Abraham's principle. He did not think about the fact that he had a serious problem. He did not ignore it, but he simply concentrated on God's promise. God promised, he thought about it, and God helped him. He said, "Abraham, when it gets dark, look at the stars. Just visualize." Christians have moved away from these main principles that are written in the first book of the Bible, written long ago. God taught Abraham to visualize and said, "Look at the stars. Do you see the stars? Imagine, Abraham, so many little ones. These are your children, these are your descendants. Do you see how many there are?" And Abraham lies in the evening and visualizes, saying, "Sarah, we are rich, we have many children." Well, someone overhears and says, "They are old fools, they've gone crazy, they've been raving all their lives." And then they started calling each other. Abraham calls Sarah the mother of nations, a childless 90-year-old woman. You will look like fools when you call what does not exist as existing. And if you do not waver in God's promise and start proclaiming it. Therefore, he did not waver in God's promise through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. When you place your achievements, or your reliance, your confession, your promise. I realized that in all my promises to God, there was more doubt than faith. I doubted more and more that I could do it, because when I promised something, it was not 100% fulfilled. I fell into situations where I couldn't fulfill the promise. The only thing God expects is for you to believe in His promises, because then He is strong to fulfill them, He can do it then. Therefore, take God's promises. I will finish, I will not open it anymore, but I will show you, I will tell you that the Apostle Paul, in some amazing way, gathered all this into one whole and said, "If you have ever read or heard about God's promises to Adam, Abraham, David, and all other people to whom God gave any promises for human life, if you have ever heard, all God's promises in Christ Jesus have become Amen for you." Yes and Amen. All God's promises, everything God promised, has become your inheritance. God promised, God said, "I will be blessed." God, you said, "Start saying it." And God says that this person believes. He calls what does not yet exist as existing, not because he is fantasizing, but because he believed in the living God that God can do it. And later, the promise begins to work. Therefore, let's learn, let's work in this, not just to know about God's grace, but to live in this grace. It has become accessible to us through grace. All God's promises have become accessible to any of us through God's grace, God's mercy. God simply had mercy on us so that we could have access to God's throne, God's grace. What promises do you know? What promises are there in Christ Jesus? And what promises has God spoken? Start saying these promises. I know that it will be so with me. I know that it will be so. I am sure of it. I will talk about it. And when you talk less about problems, the problem does not become smaller in its essence; it becomes smaller in your head, which you then begin to activate. The problem and the promise become bigger. Therefore, you do not talk about problems; you talk about God, who is the answer to all problems. I hope this was useful for you to focus, to turn this telescope around, when you need to turn it to some angle. Well, so what? I know that this problem exists. Yes, I know that it exists. But I just turn it around. I look at God's promises. I start proclaiming them. I talk about it. I pray about it. I believe in it. I affirm it. Do you accept this today? Do you understand that you should not place this coin so close to your eye that you cannot see everything good around you, better than just this small coin that can cover it? Problems. And you go out, carrying this problem. With whomever you meet, "How are you?" "Everything is good." And after that, you start talking about the problem, about the problem. You want to be pitied. But it's better to be healthy, better to be successful than just a beggar who is pitied and everyone knows you because you are not well, you are so hard. No one. I once thought that if the day came when I got out of debt, got out of this terrible problem in my life, no one would have a problem like mine. I would tell people, the whole world would cry with me. [Applause] I want the whole world to laugh with me because I got out of debt, because everyone rejoiced, they laughed together, rejoiced together because I overcame it through God's promise. What you focus on, what you concentrate on, that will become the object of your life, your energy. Repeat again: to believe, you need as much energy as to doubt.