Hi everyone,
This morning we announced a lot and had a beautiful time of ministry, and so I rushed through my notes – but here’s the sermon with a recap of the announcements first.
What’s Happening: Quick Announcements Recap
Focus February is here! We’re creating some focus in our lives on the things that matter:
- Week 1 – PRIORITISE: Bible reading plan
- Week 2 – PRAY: Ask God what to focus on
- Week 3 – PREPARE: Get ready to fast
- Week 4 – PURSUE: Fast something together
Missions March is coming! The Roddas will be with us on 1st March, and we’ll have a focus on prayer and invitation for Easter, including prayer for Alpha.
Church App Updates: Please log in and update your birthdays and contact details. You can view events and give via card or Apple Pay. If you haven’t logged in yet do so here.
Website Progress: Our new site (lithgowclc.com.au) now has events synced with Planning Centre Online, giving links, and will be our platform for news, announcements, blogs, and sermon notes.
Bible Reading Plan: Join our church page on YouVersion by clicking here and join the February reading plan by clicking here. Please join in and share your thoughts in “Talk It Over”!
Friday Creative (5-6:30pm): Ages 8+ can learn and improve on instruments and playing as a team. Our goal? Have a worship team ready for Easter Sunday!
Plus One Sunday: Think of it like tidying your house and using your nicer crockery when you have guests. This is a special Sunday to invite friends or family who may not know the Lord.
Alpha: After Easter Sunday, we’ll launch Alpha as a church – a place to explore faith, life, and meaning.
The Sermon: Pressure vs Priority
Now, let me share what I wanted to say this morning about why Focus February matters.
As I’ve been reflecting on the start of 2026, there’s been a list of questions running through my mind about our church: What about our youth ministry? Worship? Kids’ ministry? Evangelism? It’s easy to get lost in the “how” and forget the “who” – to forget that it’s all about Jesus. As you can see from above, there is a lot and this isn’t everything!
And I suspect I’m not alone in this struggle. Don’t we all have a thousand things vying for our attention? Multiple demands, endless notifications, constant interruptions. If we aren’t careful to live intentionally by priority, we will live by pressure. We simply react to whatever pressure appears in our day, driven by adrenaline and circumstances rather than by God’s purpose.
But the Christian life is meant to be intentional. We don’t live for ourselves or our circumstances. We live intentional lives, fixing our eyes on Jesus to seek His will and purpose. This requires deliberate focus, not passive drift.
So here’s the big idea I want you to grasp:
Focus is not about doing more; it is about creating the space to abide, so that God’s presence, power and mission becomes our priority.
Let me unpack this through three principles from Scripture.
Point 1: The Law of the Look – Where You Look Is Where You’ll Go
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…” (Hebrews 12:2)
There’s a principle that surfers, golfers, and snowboarders all understand instinctively: your body follows your eyes. Where you look is where you’ll go. It’s a physical law – your body naturally follows the direction of your gaze.
The same is true spiritually. If we aim for nothing, we will definitely hit it. This applies to every area of our lives: our marriages, our businesses, our faith walk, our parenting, our ministry.
But focus is more than just what we see with our eyes – it’s about what captures our attention. What we listen to. The environments we stay in. The adrenaline-driven pressures we allow to lead us. The media we consume. The conversations we engage in.
Think of David’s tragic story in 2 Samuel 11. He saw Bathsheba. That sight became a focus. That focus shaped his direction. He took his eyes off God’s purpose and put them on a distraction. One moment of misdirected attention led to adultery, murder, and family destruction.
Here’s the fundamental truth: Attention equals affection. What repeatedly captures your attention eventually captures your heart. This is precisely why Hebrews 12:2 encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus – because what we focus on forms us.
Ask yourself:
- What currently has the majority of my attention?
- Is it leading me towards God’s purposes or away from them?
- What would change if I truly fixed my eyes on Jesus?
Point 2: Creating Space to Abide
St. Basil the Great, a 4th-century church leader who helped develop spiritual disciplines, wrote something profound:
“We must strive after a quiet mind. As well might the eye ascertain an object put before it while it is wandering restless up and down and sideways, without fixing a steady gaze upon it, as a mind, distracted by a thousand worldly cares, be able clearly to apprehend the truth.”
It’s funny – if you read the full text here, you can see that even though this was written over 1,600 years ago, the same struggles in life are the same struggles we all face today…!
Just as a wandering eye cannot see an object clearly, a mind distracted by a thousand worldly cares cannot clearly apprehend God’s truth. The human mind needs stillness to perceive what God is saying.
St. Basil then offers this beautiful image: “It is the smoothing of the waxen tablet before attempting to write on it.”
In ancient times, wax tablets were used for writing. Before you could write something new, you had to smooth out the old scribbles. Spiritually speaking, we have to clear the old scribbles of the world to hear a fresh word from God. Focus is preparation for God’s revelation.
Here’s the point: Focus is not about doing more; it is about creating the space to abide. Abiding in Christ (John 15) requires intentional space. We cannot abide while in constant motion. We must smooth the tablet before God can write.
Ask yourself:
- What “scribbles” need to be cleared from your life?
- What would it look like to create real space to abide this month?
- Are you willing to slow down enough to hear God clearly?
Point 3: Refusing to “Come Down”
“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3)
God called Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He found favour with the king, and it’s clear throughout the narrative that God favoured both him and the process. He was doing exactly what God had called him to do.
But opposition arose. Sanballat and Tobiah became his opponents – and they didn’t use swords or direct attacks. They used something far more subtle: distraction.
They tried to lure Nehemiah to a meeting. The invitation seemed reasonable, even diplomatic. But Nehemiah discerned it was a trap designed to pull him away from his work.
Listen to his famous response: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”
Nehemiah knew the importance of staying focussed on the task at hand. He recognised the trap. For us, this is true too: we need to recognise the traps that vie for our attention and distract us from the main thing.
Here’s the critical insight: It’s not so much that these things cause us to do the wrong thing as much as they distract us from the main thing.
Modern-day “invitations to come down” aren’t always bad things. They can be:
- Good opportunities that aren’t God’s best
- Legitimate concerns that aren’t your current assignment
- Worthy causes that pull you from your primary calling
- Drama and conflict that demand your emotional energy
- Comparison with others’ ministries or successes
Ask yourself:
- What is the “wall” God has called you to build right now?
- What invitations keep trying to pull you down from it?
- Do you have the discernment and courage to say, “I cannot come down”?
The Focus February Rhythm
Here’s how we’re going to create space to abide together:
Week 1: PRIORITISE
- Starting the Bible reading plan today
- Getting God’s Word as our first focus
Week 2: PRAY
- Asking God: “What is the one area I need to refocus?”
- Listening for His specific direction
Week 3: PREPARE
- The on-ramp and mental preparation for the fast
- Getting our hearts and schedules ready
Week 4: PURSUE
- Our week of corporate fasting leading into Missions March
- Intense focus on seeking God’s presence and direction
Where We’re Heading
Let me remind you of the three principles:
- The Law of the Look: Where you look is where you’ll go. Attention equals affection.
- Creating Space: We must smooth the waxen tablet before God can write on it.
- Refusing Distraction: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
We focus now so we can reach out in March. Our Circles, Alpha, and Friday Creative – these all require a focussed church. The Alpha push is for everyone. One term. Done by 2pm. Let’s do this together.
Your Personal Challenge
So let me leave you with these questions:
- What is God asking you to fix your eyes on?
- What “wax tablet scribbles” need to be smoothed away?
- What invitation to “come down” do you need to refuse?
- Will you commit to this Focus February rhythm with your church family?
Don’t come down from the wall. Smooth the tablet. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Create the space to abide.
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…” – Hebrews 12:2
Let’s do this together! Well, thats the invitation anyway!
Pastor Andy