Dharius Daniels - Unbreakable Focus

Matthew chapter 14 verse 28: I thank God; that’s what makes God’s word so amazing. He can say many different things from the same passage. In verse 28, Peter says, «Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.» Jesus replied, «Come.» Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, «Lord, save me!» We’re in this series called «Unbreakable.» Everybody reaches a breaking point. God has constructed us in a way that when we reach that breaking point, we can bend and not break. Last week, we talked about unbreakable faith; that’s the key to living an unbreakable life. Today, I want to give you the second key to an unbreakable life: unbreakable focus. Unbreakable focus. Many of you are well aware that I am an unapologetically enthusiastic San Francisco 49ers fan. I’m a real fan, all the way back to Bill Walsh, George Seifert, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Roger Craig, John Taylor, Tom Rathman, and Brett Jones. I’m a true San Francisco 49ers fan. So, as you can imagine, earlier this year, I was still in grief recovery. I experienced a great deal of heartache as we lost the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, I’ll say what I’m about to say with no ill will toward the Chiefs or their fans. I think Andy Reid is an incredible coach, and Patrick Mahomes, in the words of Stephen A. Smith, is a bad man. However, we should have won that game. The reason I say this is that we had a double-digit lead and the football, with about six minutes left to go in the game. With one of the best defenses in the NFL, we should have won that game. But in the last six minutes, the Chiefs outscored us 21-0. Instead of winning by double digits, we ended up losing by double digits. I need prayer; I still need prayer. Pray for me right now! Somebody put, «Pray for Pastor» in the chat. Pray! As I’ve reflected on this loss, I thought, «Lord, some good has to come out of this.» I considered something salient for a sermon because I asked myself the quintessential question: «Man, how did we lose that game?» I saw the last six minutes of the game. We had the same coach; our coach is a genius, so we didn’t lose him in the last six minutes. We didn’t lose any players; our players were phenomenal. We didn’t lose them. I witnessed the last six minutes of the game; we were playing on the same field. Nothing changed there. We didn’t lose our offensive ability or our defensive skill. We didn’t lose our coach; he didn’t lose his genius. We lost that game because we lost something else. Sometimes, you can lose in one area because you’re losing in another. Might I tell you that the area where you might be losing may not be the area you’re actually losing in? The area where loss shows up is not always where we’re actually losing. I believe we lost that game because we lost our focus. It got tense; it got tight; it was crunch time. It is much more difficult, listen to me, to execute under pressure than it is to execute in seasons and circumstances where everything is cool, calm, and copacetic. I’ll say it again: it is much more difficult to execute under pressure than it is to execute in seasons and circumstances where everything is cool, calm, and copacetic. I don’t know what colloquialisms you use based on where your geography is in this world, but I’m just a country boy who grew up in Kill, Mississippi, and we would say it like this: pressure busts a pipe. We lost focus, and here’s the principle I want to throw out for this preaching presentation, family: there are places where we are losing where we could be winning, not because we don’t have the talent, skill, acumen, or ability. There are places where we are losing where we could be winning because we don’t have the focus. Sometimes, the difference between a breakdown and a breakthrough is focus. There are times when we don’t lose not because we aren’t good enough, but because we are not focused enough. The enemy understands this. That enemy, who is a thief, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He is strategically devising ways to rob us of the life that God intended for us by robbing us of our focus. Oh my God! How do you progress when you’re focused? How do you advance when you focus? What do you produce when you focus? Watch this: your talent is at the mercy of your focus. Your skill is at the mercy of your focus. Come here, Christians! Come here, Charismatics! Neocharismatics, your anointing is at the mercy of your focus! Did you hear what I just said, family? I think it’s incredibly important for us to wrap our heads around this in the context of this quest to live a life where we bend but do not break when we reach our breaking points. Here it is, and it’s an axiom for my note-takers: an unbreakable life requires unbreakable focus. An unbreakable life requires unbreakable focus. This passage we just read, I love this passage. This passage, ladies and gentlemen, is a powerful picture of what I’m articulating now. This particular passage exposes us to an incident in the life of… I won’t reteach this; I did a whole series.