The MOST Obvious Signs That You're A Target

a group of Christians were defeated by the devil simply by him targeting Their Eyes Ears desires and actions let me explain a fictional story was told of how a group of Christians were defeated by the devil and here's how it went the devil thought how can I best conquer this group of Christians so that they don't go to heaven and so that they don't evangelize if he sent his demons to attack them these Christians would pray and seek help from God so that wouldn't work if he took things away from them their health their money

and homes they would rely on God even further so that wouldn't work but he thought let's distract them let's give them so many things to watch to listen to do and keep them so occupied so that they never get the time to pray and develop into strong Christians so the devil set a plan in motion he bombarded these Christians with melodic music from artists who sounded like Christians but lived very much in a secular world he gave these Christians different topics to argue about one group believed the Rapture will happen before the tribulation and another

believed it would happen after one group believed that there will never be any kind of biblical Miracles that will happen again in this world and the other did believe they still happened one group believed in the Trinity and another didn't and on and on the AR arguments piled up time went on and on they grew old and died and on Judgment Day these so-called Christians stood before God and he said depart from me I never knew you but how how can this be an angel spoke to them and said you were distracted during your lifetime

distractions starved your prayer lives because you spent your energy studying God's word to prove people wrong instead of studying to get to know God the angel said to them distractions cause you to lose focus on your own relationship with God and for that the price you are to pay is for all eternity you see distractions in life can be devastating think about the damage that a distracted driver can cause think about the potential danger of being distracted while walking down a large flight of stairs a surgeon has to tune out all distractions so that they

can perform surgery many years ago Billy Graham preached on the topic of hell and he said words to the following effect you can never understand hell though until first you understand the great love mercy and grace of God and it should never be preached by any preacher without tears I've heard some preachers preach on hell as though they were glad there was a hell and glad that people were going there but I'm not I don't like to preach on it I do it only because I'm commanded in scripture to preach the word and it's against

the backdrop of God's love and mercy and Grace that I must preach it you see hell was not made for man hell was created for the devil and his angels but some have taken license and Imagination and distorted the idea of future judgment it causes some people to say that God is not a god of love and they've distorted the biblical concept of the love of God a lady said some time ago I hate the very thought of hell so do I and I also hate the sin that sends people to hell I hate War

I hate the fact that people are Starving in the world but war is a reality and starvation is a reality in our world unfortunately my hating does not change the facts and hating to die doesn't change the fact that I'm going to die one clergyman said if he used hell in the pull pit the people would fire him well I know that down in South Carolina I came to to a place some years ago in which they had 13 or I believe no 16 slow down signs and stop signs because so many people had been

killed at that intersection now is that right for the state of South Carolina to put those signs up and warn people is it right for me to warn you tonight what Jesus taught and what the Bible teaches from cover to cover is it wrong for a man to wave a lantern to stop people at a railroad crossing is it wrong to wave the flag and warn of coming judgment those were powerful words spoken by Billy Graham and today my message is to do with the uncomfortable reality of Eternity and life after death and before I

go any further let me make something clear God loves you and he does not want you to go to hell however he created us as free moral agents and we decide based on how we live our lives whether in obedience or Disobedience we decide whether we go to heaven or hell in December 1972 the United States suffered one of the worst disasters in its aviation history when the Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed the tragedy in the story can be found in not only what happened but how it happened one article reads as follows according to

the National Transportation safety board report the pilots placed the landing gear handle down but notice the green light that indicates that the nose landing gear is fully extended and locked failed to illuminate the pilot told the control tower of their problem and explained that they would have to circle the runway until they could find a green light the control tower accepted and told them to maintain an altitude of 2,000 ft the pilot put the plane on autopilot as they investigated the problem now reports go on to suggest that for the 7 to 8 minutes the

flight crew worked together to try and figure out what was wrong with the light an article by NBC Miami reported on the incident saying the pilots engaged the autopilot so they could inspect the light and the landing gear but the darkness apparently made it hard to see a short time later the pilot was cleared to turn back to Mia and that's when a crew member noticed something was a mess we did something to the altitude the first officer remarked and the captain's reply was what we're still at 2,000 right the first officer asked and the

captain immediately exclaimed hey what's happening here seconds later the plane crashed into the ground at 227 mph and at a distance of 19 M away from the airport investigators concluded that the probable cause for the crash was that the autopilot was was accidentally disengaged and the entire flight crew failed to keep an eye on the flight instruments they were too distracted trying to fix the landing gear light that no one checked on the actual plane itself but for the believer in Christ we should fight to maintain our Focus On Christ there has never been a

time in history like we are facing today where we are consistently bombarded with distractions we are being distracted at every point from technology to world events not to mention the people in our lives at any given time there is always something or someone there to distract us but hear me saints of God if we allow them if we give them access distractions will cause us to lose focus on what matters most what matters most is your walk with the most high god what matters most is your relationship with Jesus Christ what matters most is whether

whether you are obedient to God's word or not what matters most is that you love your neighbor as you love yourself and live a life that is Holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service you see the thing about distractions is that the enemy designs them in such a way that they take your time they take your energy they take and take from you and eventually distractions will derail you from your purpose the enemy wants to distract you because he doesn't want you committed to Christ he doesn't want you to serve him Faithfully

so he sends distractions that are meant to take your focus away from Jesus distractions are also there to starve your prayer life and to starve you of your time of worship the devil is the author of confusion and he knows exactly how to disturb divert and distract your attention so that in the end your focus isn't on the Lord the enemy desperately wants you to invest your time in meaningless things he knows how to get you to spend time doing numerous things that are worthless so you lose time distractions come in many forms distractions can

come in the form of people and enemies who want to destroy you distractions can come in the form of entertainment if you're not careful you'll spend hours and hours watching TV shows and movies day after day the enemy loves when we spend our energy on things that offer zero value to us spiritually the enemy loves it when we focus on things that will never edify or Build You Up in your faith we as people of God must guard our hearts and our time we must stay focused and continue in God's word it doesn't matter how

tempting it may look or how much better we think our lives will be with it if it zaps your spiritual strength we must turn from it and leave it alone children of God it is so easy nowadays to be caught off guard and be led astray there are all sorts of things that can hold our attention it is so easy to slip away and not even realize that we have been caught up in the snares of the devil now one of the ways that we can ensure that we are victorious is by keeping our mind

stayed on Christ this may mean putting the phone down and spending more time with Jesus it may mean turning off the TV or foregoing that trip out with friends we are in the last days in time is short tomorrow is not promised have you noticed how the days are moving faster and faster nations are rising up against Nations there are earthquakes famines and Wars everywhere it's not even a shock nowadays to hear that some people are falling away from their faith time is truly winding up people of God and the King of Kings is soon

to return will you be ready or will you be distracted so let me encourage you and tell you don't allow the devil to distract you don't allow the world to distract you don't allow sin to distract you Jesus Christ is worth so much more much more and he is the one who truly deserves our attention when you come to Christ there are many things that happen Matthew 11:28 says then Jesus said come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest this means that in Christ there

is rest it means there is freedom that can only be attained when you come to Christ freedom from worry freedom from Eternal damnation Freedom From The Snare of the devil there is freedom in the Lord when you come to Christ John 14: 27 says peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your heart be troubled neither Let It Be Afraid this means that in Christ there is peace there is peace which is unexplainable in Jesus a sense of calmness and Tranquility

that can be found in a person even when everything around them is chaotic or hostile when you come to Christ Romans 10:9-10 says if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for it is with your heart that you believe and are Justified and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved this means that in Jesus you have a savior who will justify you meaning that when you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior

he moves you away from a state of sin and death and by by his grace and mercy he gives you the opportunity and the gift of eternal life when you come to Christ the Bible says in Romans 8:1 there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit there is no condemnation in Jesus meaning when you come to him and repent and turn away from your sin you are declared not guilty you have been pardoned there is no more shame

on you anymore once you are in Christ there is no disgrace no accusations from the devil will stand there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ and when you really grasp the meaning of the word condemn then you can begin to appreciate just how much goodness can be found in Jesus the Bible in Revelation 12:1 says then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come for the accuser of our Brethren who accuse them before our God day and night

has been cast down the devil is referred to as the accuser of the Brethren meaning that he attempts to accuse us of sin of Shame and guilt the devil's intention is to condemn us but in Christ we are acquitted of all charges and found to be not guilty we are indeed Justified when we come to [Music] Christ I once heard a story told about a man who witnessed a major accident on a highway there were multiple cars involved and this man witnessed the accident happening in real time one car going into the back of another

now all the while as this was happening the driver was no longer paying attention to where he was going his Focus was on the disaster happening and not on navigating his way away from the disaster and as he was distracted with all that was going on he too went into the back of a car because he wasn't paying attention now many Christians are in this world but they're distracted with what's going on around them they are distracted by this world the Bible says in Matthew 26: 41 keep actively watching and praying that you may not

come into temptation the spirit is willing but the body is weak the word of God tells us to watch to focus and pay attention to what's going on yes but it also says keep praying continue praying so that you would not lose your focus ask Christian Chans we are not to focus on the sickness in this world we shouldn't be focusing on the different strains and diseases out there no our focus should be on the Healer we should focus on the chief physician the one who healed anyone and everyone who had a Measure of Faith

as Christians we're not to focus on the violence taking place in the world don't focus on the tragedies and disas diss that are happening all around the world instead focus on the ultimate protector ensure that you abide under the shadow of the almighty in short what I'm telling you to do is focus on Jesus focus on the Prince of Peace rather than focusing on the dread and the fear that's offered to you by the world focus on the deliverer Jesus Christ rather than the sin because ultimately focusing on the sin will not set you free

what will set you free is focusing on Jesus listen if you choose to focus on the addiction that you have if you focus on that stronghold that you have or the bondage that you're under what do you think will get bigger what you focus on you magnify and what you focus on will get bigger when Peter was walking on water do you know what made him sink he took his eyes he took his Focus away from God Matthew 14: 28-30 says and Peter answered him and said Lord if it is you command me to come

to you on the water so he said come and when Peter had come down out of the boat he walked on the water to go to Jesus but when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out saying Lord save me the Bible says when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid when you begin to focus on everything happening around you when you begin to look at everything going on around the world you will be left in fear but should you focus on Jesus should

you focus on the Prince of Peace then you will be blessed you will remain joyful and hopeful even in the midst of trouble [Music]