Focused Even on the Cross - Secret to Staying Focussed in Crisis | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world

0:05 Speaker 1: is a crazy place and it just seems to get

0:08 Speaker 1: crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break.

0:13 Speaker 1: This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're

0:17 Speaker 1: a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living,

0:23 Speaker 1: in Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live

0:27 Speaker 1: the life that you were created for. Your host is

0:30 Speaker 1: a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder,

0:35 Speaker 1: aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:45 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for

0:47 Speaker 2: the Soul with jo on Gifta podcast. If you've been

0:49 Speaker 2: checking out our recent episodes, we've been doing various studies

0:53 Speaker 2: on the incident with regard to the two thieves who're

0:56 Speaker 2: hanging on the cross along with Jesus, and I just

0:58 Speaker 2: want to share with you guys that one of the

1:02 Speaker 2: things that really caught my attention because as I've been

1:05 Speaker 2: telling you that one of those episodes the last couple

1:08 Speaker 2: of days, I said that I've been studying a lot

1:10 Speaker 2: about this because I'm going to be speaking from this

1:13 Speaker 2: passage in two different churches. There's good Friday. I really

1:16 Speaker 2: challenge or encourage you to keep me in your praise.

1:19 Speaker 2: I pray that these messages will be a blessing when

1:23 Speaker 2: I'm sharing with those who are listening as well. So

1:26 Speaker 2: the first things first, I want to talk about the

1:29 Speaker 2: fact that you know, we see that one of the

1:32 Speaker 2: criminals hanging beside Jesus scoffed right like, he ridicules and

1:37 Speaker 2: mocks Jesus and says, so you're the Messiah, right, prove

1:41 Speaker 2: yourself by saving yourself and save us as well while

1:45 Speaker 2: you're at it. I've also shared with you the past

1:48 Speaker 2: couple of episodes ago that both the thieves started off

1:52 Speaker 2: walking ridiculing Jesus, but one of them had a turn

1:56 Speaker 2: of thought. One of them repents. And if you look

1:59 Speaker 2: at when this man made this comment, Jesus did not

2:04 Speaker 2: even respond to this man. Even in the midst of

2:08 Speaker 2: so much of turmoil, in the midst of the pain,

2:10 Speaker 2: in the midst of everything that Jesus was going through,

2:13 Speaker 2: he was focused on spending his energy in the right way.

2:18 Speaker 2: You see something. He didn't respond, He didn't reply, He

2:20 Speaker 2: didn't say amen, why do you say this like, he

2:24 Speaker 2: didn't even reply to this man. But when the other

2:27 Speaker 2: criminal protested and says, don't you fear God when you

2:31 Speaker 2: have been sinceced to die? We deserve to die for

2:33 Speaker 2: our crimes. But this man has done nothing wrong. And

2:37 Speaker 2: he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your

2:39 Speaker 2: kingdom and look at forty three. Jesus replies and says,

2:46 Speaker 2: I assure you today you will be with me in paradise.

2:50 Speaker 2: This is from Luke twenty three. Okay, verse forty three.

2:53 Speaker 2: Now here's the thing. Jesus did not reply to the

2:57 Speaker 2: unrepentant man. He did not reply to the one who

3:02 Speaker 2: was ridiculing and walking till the very hand. He replied

3:05 Speaker 2: to the repentant man. He replied to the other thief. Right,

3:10 Speaker 2: here's the thing. In the midst of so much that

3:14 Speaker 2: Jesus was enduring emotionally, mentally, physically, like hit so much

3:20 Speaker 2: for someone to go through, and in the midst of that,

3:23 Speaker 2: he was focused. In the midst of that, he was like,

3:27 Speaker 2: you know what, I need to respond to this, but

3:30 Speaker 2: I won't respond to that, you know what I mean.

3:32 Speaker 2: He didn't waste the time responding to something that did

3:36 Speaker 2: not matter. He stayed focused. Even in the crucial moment.

3:41 Speaker 2: He stayed focused when all of his energy and his vitalities,

3:47 Speaker 2: his mind, and his emotions, everything is in a very

3:51 Speaker 2: bad ship. In the midst of that, he was able

3:53 Speaker 2: to stay focused. He did not waste time explaining himself

3:58 Speaker 2: or trying to prove himself to the unrepentent man. At

4:02 Speaker 2: the same time, he was not silent when the repentant

4:05 Speaker 2: man responded to Jesus, say, Jesus, remember me when you

4:08 Speaker 2: come into your kingdom. Jesus could have just you know,

4:12 Speaker 2: looked at him and nodded. He could have gnawed yes.

4:16 Speaker 2: He could have just you know, kept his mouth shut.

4:18 Speaker 2: He could have been like, yeah, anyway, you repent it right,

4:21 Speaker 2: you will get you will get saved. He could have

4:23 Speaker 2: kept his mouth shut because he is in extruciating pain.

4:27 Speaker 2: He every word he spoke was there was so much

4:31 Speaker 2: of effort. He could have kept his mouth shut. But

4:34 Speaker 2: he was intentionally responding to this man in the midst

4:38 Speaker 2: of the pain, in the midst of everything. He guarded

4:42 Speaker 2: this energy well in the midst of that moment. Think

4:46 Speaker 2: about it today. My challenge is we never know when

4:49 Speaker 2: you're going to hit a cross like moment. You never

4:51 Speaker 2: know when you're going to go through tough times. But

4:54 Speaker 2: I pray that you will pray and ask God's to

4:57 Speaker 2: give you the grace to be focused in the midst

5:00 Speaker 2: of the earth. You will be able to discern what

5:05 Speaker 2: message to give or in other words, where to spend

5:09 Speaker 2: your energy, how to spend your energy, where not to

5:12 Speaker 2: spend your energy, what to to respond to, which which

5:19 Speaker 2: or opportunity you need to say yes to, and which

5:22 Speaker 2: one you need to say no to. I pray that

5:24 Speaker 2: God will give you the grace. And one of the

5:26 Speaker 2: keys on how Jesus was able to handle this so

5:29 Speaker 2: beautifully was even before all of the drama began. Okay,

5:34 Speaker 2: even before everything started, when Jesus was at the garden

5:38 Speaker 2: of katsu Many. This is the monthly Thursday, right. It's

5:40 Speaker 2: so appropriate because he was in the garden of Kidsumene

5:44 Speaker 2: and there he says, not my will, but let your

5:48 Speaker 2: will be done. Father, if it's your will, remote this

5:51 Speaker 2: cup from me. But he says, but not my will,

5:53 Speaker 2: but your will be done. Before everything happened, before the

5:58 Speaker 2: problems began, before he experienced, you know, this cross movement,

6:03 Speaker 2: he made his commitment with a lord, saying God, not

6:07 Speaker 2: my will, but yr will be done. What I'm saying is,

6:10 Speaker 2: you know a lot of times we go through or

6:12 Speaker 2: get into that cross movement, and then we are trying

6:15 Speaker 2: to figure out, how do I discern God's will? How

6:19 Speaker 2: do I act in the right way? How do I

6:21 Speaker 2: behave this way? How how will I be listening by

6:25 Speaker 2: seeing in the Holy Spirit? You know, like, how will

6:28 Speaker 2: I you know, walk in in the spirit and all

6:32 Speaker 2: of that you see that should not happen when you're

6:35 Speaker 2: in that cross movement. It should not happen when you're

6:38 Speaker 2: in your crisis. You should do all of that before

6:42 Speaker 2: things actually get out of hand. That's what Jesus shows

6:45 Speaker 2: to us, before all of the trauma began, he committed

6:49 Speaker 2: himself into the Lord science and said, not my will,

6:52 Speaker 2: but let yo will be done. Can that be our

6:55 Speaker 2: prayer that today you commit to saying God, not my

7:00 Speaker 2: but you will be done, so that when you actually

7:02 Speaker 2: face a cross movement, when you face things which are

7:06 Speaker 2: excruciating and you know, deep storms and turmoils of life,

7:11 Speaker 2: there you will see that you will have the wisdom,

7:14 Speaker 2: the grace, the favor, the empowerment from God to make

7:18 Speaker 2: sure that you spend your energy wisely on the right

7:22 Speaker 2: things and also spend it on things that need to

7:24 Speaker 2: be spent as well. All right, so I really challenged

7:28 Speaker 2: that you make a new commitment and God will lead

7:31 Speaker 2: you and guide you every step along the way. All right,

7:35 Speaker 2: God bless you guys.

7:39 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta,

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8:35 Speaker 1: the Soul with John GIFTA God bless you