May I Have Your Attention Please?

Well, good afternoon. Thank you for that beautiful special music. You have to do it, and then you have to arrange everything, too. You're a busy guy. All right. That was beautiful. Beautiful. Is that better? All right. You can hear me now, hopefully. All right. May I have your attention, please? Now, if there was ever a phrase that describes a scarce resource today, it is your undivided attention. So I hope I have it. At least for a moment. Now, the media consultant and filmmaker Phil Cook is actually described as quoted as saying, The most valuable commodity of the 21st century will be our undivided attention. Now, that may kind of sound surprising, right? But we live at a different age and time now than our ancestors. Monotasking is a term used to describe doing one thing at a time. Now, that's just how we used to be, okay? We just used to work and do our work and focus and get it done, and we didn't need to have a term called monotasking because that's what we just did. But today, we tend to feel a lot of pressure either because we're working a couple of jobs or because we've got emails coming at us and we've got texts and we've got different notifications on our phone and so forth. And so into our vocabulary comes this word, multitasking. Now, that's the word most of us are used to hearing, right? Multitasking. And in fact, for a long time, people thought that multitasking was just going to solve all of our problems because we had all these things and if we could just, you know, we could like, you know, we could go jogging and we could speak Spanish with our friend and practice our Spanish while we jog. And then we'd also be talking with a friend so we'd be getting like some sort of meaningful relationship and we might even talk about something that we needed to get covered, right? And so we're like, wow, think of all the things I could do at one time, right? But actually, science actually shows us now that multitasking is actually very detrimental to our brain. It actually really just causes a lot of stress on the brain and monotasking is actually the way to go.

And in fact, the technology around us and all the things coming at us has actually led us to a point now where our attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter. According to research from Microsoft Corporation that was published in Time Magazine in May of 2015, our attention spans have dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds since the year 2000.

So in the last 19 years, our attention spans have dropped. Now this was in 2015, so that way I guess that was 15 years.

They've dropped from 12 seconds down to 8 seconds. Now just to give you some perspective on that, they've actually done studies to determine what the attention span of a goldfish is, okay?

And the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. So you can keep the attention of a goldfish for 9 seconds, but you can't keep the attention of a human being for 9 seconds, right? We have the attention span that is shorter than that of a goldfish. And that's, it's hardly due to sort of what's come at us in terms of all the technology.

Do I still have your attention?

So today I'd like to talk about an important biblical concept of maintaining our attention.

Our attention. And you'll actually see that the Bible talks a lot about paying attention.

Paying attention, monotasking, our ability to focus on what matters so that no one would take our crown.

I want to talk about paying attention, and then I want to talk about three biblical principles that are described in terms of how we can pay better attention to the things that matter. And when I'm done here, I hope that we can walk away with a sense of urgency for our calling. Because God wants to get our attention, and we'll see here as we go through this, that we are accountable for the things that we know.

So let's start in Hebrews 2. Let's go over to Hebrews 2, and we're going to see in Hebrews 2 how paying attention is critical to our ability to be in God's kingdom.

Hebrews 2. And we're going to read verses 1 through 4. We're going to dive into this passage because there's a lot in here that goes to this subject.

Hebrews 2 and verse 1 says, So the word earnest heed is translated by some translations, pay attention.

In fact, the New International Version, if you have that version, says that we may pay careful attention to the things we've heard so that we do not drift away.

In fact, in the margin of my New King James Bible, it actually uses the term all the more careful attention.

So the writer here in Hebrews says we've got to pay attention to the things that we have heard lest we drift away.

Now this word, earnest heed, is the word in Greek, pro-ce-sho, P-R-O-S-E-C-H-O, and it's used throughout the New Testament.

It's actually used pretty extensively. It's translated, in this case, earnest heed, or heed.

Earnest heed would be pay close attention, or heed would be attention.

It's translated as beware, as in beware the leaven of the Pharisees. It's the same word.

It's translated as be on guard. It's translated as give over to.

And we'll see the Bible is full of this admonition.

Now, if we go to verse 2 and 3, we'll see this concept really developed.

Because what we're going to see here is verse 1 is one sentence. What we just read was a single sentence. But verses 2 to 4 is one continuous question. If you look at the end of verse 4, there's a question mark. And this is the beginning of a question.

For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Now, the word reward in the King James Version is interesting because we don't often think about getting a reward, right, for doing something bad. So, you know, if you're speeding and the police officer comes and says, I'm going to give you a reward, here's your ticket, right? That's your reward for speeding. But that's actually kind of how it's used. Again, in the margin, my Bible uses the term retribution or penalty. So that's really a better discussion of verse 2. If the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

So, instead of paying attention now, the author is going to contrast paying attention with a word called neglect. That's the kind of the opposite of paying attention, right? If you don't pay attention to something, you neglect it. Now, the word neglect, we often use the term and, you know, we might say, well, I neglected my health when I was young and now I'm paying the price.

That's kind of how we tend to use the term neglect. I neglected my kids when I was younger and I wish I had spent more time with them, right? That's something that we might use neglect in that sense. Neglect means that you really just didn't focus like you should have on that. And that thing became neglected, and therefore there was some kind of consequence that comes with that.

And now this gets to something that's really interesting in verse 2 and 3, that you don't... the word isn't here, but it's completely implied, and that is the concept of accountability. It's a concept of accountability. It says if the word spoken through angels, that is, it's just something that, you know, this is not something that some man said. This was a messenger from God that came. And if this message is right, and that when we transgress or disobey, we're going to have a penalty, then how can we escape the penalty if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who hurt him? God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. In other words, how many ways does this need to be asked? It was spoken by angels. It was inspired through God's Holy Spirit that his will might be exercised and done. How can we get away from what might happen if we neglect what we've heard? In other words, we're accountable. We're accountable for what we've heard. And if we step back and consider just that meta point, really what he's talking about here is accountability. We will be held to account for what we've heard. Now, this word accountability is kind of an interesting term. Merriam-Whibster defines accountability as an obligation or a willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions. We have to give account for our actions.

And so this is a big question. Will we or will we not escape? That's the question in verse 2. Verse 1 says, therefore we must give heed to the things we've heard lest we drift away. And the second part then is, is it going to happen? Are we going to drift away or are we not going to drift away? Are we going to pay attention or are we going to neglect what we've heard? This is the question that is before us. This is the question that God's people have to ask themselves. Are we paying attention to the things that we've heard that God has shared with us? Again, you know, God is not working with the whole world right now. This is our theology. We understand that. We understand that if God wanted to work with the whole world right now, He would not have put an angel with a flaming sword around the tree of life. Right? That's not how you save the world. You don't put an angel with this sword around the tree of life and then say, well, why isn't anybody coming here? Well, I'm scared to death, right? There's an angel with a flaming sword who's guarding the tree of life. And that tree of life is not given until we see at the end of the book of Revelation. But God's people have an opportunity for salvation. Those first fruits who God is calling. And we are held accountable for what we've heard. And accountability is something that we cannot ignore around us because there's a general societal trend towards a lack of accountability. In Forbes magazine, on September 7th, there's an article entitled, Has Accountability Died in Our Culture? And that's from September 7th by Kathy Caprino. And she writes, and I'm going to quote now, If we look around us today, we see signs that true accountability seems to be a dying trait. In both young and old professionals alike, accountability is clearly waning. And she goes on to write, and I'm quoting, When there is a lack of responsibility and clear expectations, human nature's pride, fears, and natural tendency to cut corners and pursue self-serving behaviors come into play. Leading to dishonorable behaviors, we're seeing this trend worldwide. I'm not reading the Bible. I'm reading Forbes. It's Forbes magazine. We're seeing this trend worldwide. And this worldwide trend, we cannot ignore as it affects our lives. We cannot ignore that. We are not immune to that. Neglect, or not paying attention, whether it's our health, or our families, or our salvation, will result in a penalty in retribution. That's what Hebrews 2, 1-4 is saying. Do I still have your attention? Let's look at an example of the consequences of not paying attention. Let's go to 2 Samuel 6, verse 1. 2 Samuel 6, verse 1. And it's hard to stay focused. Of course, we can joke about falling asleep in a sermon, or feeling like your mind is wandering, and that's a certain one aspect of attention. But what we're really talking about here is not losing sight tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. on what it is God wants us to be looking at and examining in our lives.

But let's look at an example here of accountability, of consequences. And this is a little bit of a shocking example if you read it for the first time. And even after you read it a couple times, you just kind of step back and go, Wow, what happened here? 2 Samuel 6, verse 1. Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal-Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name, the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherub. Now this is a really big deal, and we may not appreciate that because we're jumping right into the story here, but most scholars will point out that this is a pivotal moment in King David's reign. King David had established Jerusalem as his capital. We call it today the City of David. And we understand that Jerusalem, even today, has huge political and social influence in the world. And so David had established his capital, his political seat of power, in Jerusalem. And now what he's going to do is he's going to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

And so he's going to take this political capital, and now he's going to make it the center of religious life for the nation of Israel. This Ark of the Covenant that had been for 20 years in this other location, that to a large degree had been sort of untouched because everything that happened when it had been captured by the Philistines, and then everything that went on with the Philistines, and then it was returned. And people like, be careful with this. This is God's presence here. And generally people are pretty nervous to go near it. They don't want to disturb it. And David is going to now bring it to Jerusalem, and he's going to install this now in Jerusalem in a proper place.

And eventually, of course, the Temple is going to be built and so forth. So this is a really big deal. 30,000 people, 30,000, you should say, of choice men of Israel. And verse 3, then, they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abenadab, which was on the hill, and Uzzah and Ahiyo, the sons of Abenadab, drove the new cart. Now, pay attention, because that's not what they were supposed to do. That's whether David knew that, not clear, whether the priests knew that, maybe, maybe not.

But verse 3 tells us they did not do this the way that they were instructed to do it. And we'll talk about that in a moment. And they brought out of the house of Abenadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahiyo went before the ark. And then David, and all the house of Israel, played music before the Lord, and all kinds of instruments made of fur, wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on systrums, and on cymbals.

This is quite a magnificent thing. This is the king ordering the ark of the covenant. You can almost imagine if people are like, wow, King David's going to move the ark. So, let's go see, because this is the ark we're talking about. He's going to move this. And there's all of these choice people, and there's all of these festivities, and so forth.

And there's a parallel account of this in Chronicles that we can read in 1 Chronicles 13. And this is going to be this special moment when this ark is brought up to Jerusalem. But look what happened. Verse 6. And when they came to Neshan's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error, and he died there by the ark of God.

Wow! What happened? This man with all the right intentions, right? He was just trying to stay the ark. He didn't want to fall over. All the right intentions he put out his hand on the ark, and God struck him. Killed him right there. And the way the writer describes it, they want to make sure you're clear, you know? That they struck him for his error, and he died. It's like killed right on the spot. Have you ever heard the phrase, the road to hell is paved with good intentions?

And this guy had the best intentions. Let's see David's reaction in verse 8. And David became angry. Yeah, imagine. Imagine how this reflected on David. David's there. The festivities are going on. Everybody's having a great time. You know, it's like imagine, you know, during special music, or it's a great potluck, we're having a great activity, and suddenly, boom! Somebody's dead. I mean, it's embarrassing. It's shocking. It's, you know, what happened? Why did this happen? You know, and so he's angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah, and he called the name of the place, Para Uzzah, to this day.

And not only was he angry, it says, verse 9, he was afraid. David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me? I mean, he took it personally, like, God's sending me a message.

Me. He's sending me, David, a message that I'm not doing something right here. How can he bring this ark to me? He's not going to allow me to bring the ark up to Jerusalem. Clear? So he's angry, and he's afraid. He doesn't know what to do. Something has happened. Frankly, he's dumbfounded.

Why would God do such a thing? You know, who am I dealing with? How can I interact with a being that would do something like this? And so David did what every one of us would do when we have a setback. He would stop, right? He would reevaluate his plans. He would have a cooling-off period. He would like, okay, I've got to figure out what happened here. And so we see that in verse 10. And so David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite.

He took it aside. Now, what actually happened here? Why did this poor man get struck down with his good intention of wanting to study the ark? Well, we're not going to take the time, but if you write down Numbers 4, verse 15, and you can put that in your margin, it's actually in the margin of my Bible, Numbers 4, 15 makes it clear, God was very clear that the ark was to be carried by men.

It was not to be placed on a cart. It was to be hand-carried. And not just hand-carried, it was to be hand-carried by the descendants of a particular family, the family of Kohath. That's how the ark was to be transported. It was to be carried. It was not to be put on a cart and drugged behind animals. It was to be hand-carried. And they didn't do that. As we read in verse 3, they put it on a cart. God was very clear.

Now, could you imagine somebody saying, well, yeah, you know, but we can put it on a cart. I mean, it could get tiring to carry after a while, and we can't find those descendants of Kohath, and they're busy, they can't get here. You can imagine somebody could be saying something like that. Why? It's not that big of a deal. I mean, the point is, we honor God, you know, we obey Him, but, you know, little things like that don't really matter.

God was making it clear that that was not how He was expected to be obeyed. He was precise in His instructions in Numbers 4, verse 15. And they did not follow His instructions. And when the time came and the ark was to be studied, He struck somebody down. David had to pay attention. He could not neglect the instructions that God had given Him regarding how to carry the ark and how to treat His presence.

Our good intentions, our honest intentions to serve God, must be combined with paying attention to God's instructions. Otherwise, we'll deceive ourselves that our good intentions are sufficient for salvation. We know that nothing is sufficient for salvation except Jesus Christ's sacrifice, right? It's not us doing all sorts of good things that make that possible. And why did Christ have to die? Because man sinned. I mean, you think about accountability. God takes accountability very, very seriously.

He takes it so seriously that He allowed one of Himself, God and Jesus Christ, we talked about how they were together in the beginning, how they made this promise before the foundation of the world, one would have to die. One would have to die to pay the penalty. That's accountability. God holds us accountable, and He holds Himself accountable. And that's when good behavior begins. That's when conversion begins, when we hold ourselves accountable for our behavior, for following God's instructions.

Our good intentions, frankly, are a wonderful beginning. They're a wonderful beginning, but they must be matched with submission to God's instructions. And so I'd like to review three principles of how we can turn good intentions into paying attention to God's instruction and specific actions that we can take. Because I think this story is very powerful to show just how seriously God takes His instructions. And before we go there, I just want to finish the story here.

And it says in verse 11, the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edim, the Gittite, three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edim and all his household. Then it was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edim and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.

So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edim to the city of David with gladness. Verse 13, and so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, then they sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. And so now it's clear that when now they're going to actually carry the ark, and they got the right people, and they carried the ark up there.

They didn't put it on a cart. And David danced before the Lord, and then we know the rest of the story. And we can read about that. We can read a parallel account of this in 1 Corinthians 13. I encourage you to do that, of just how seriously God takes his instructions. So let's look at three principles here that hopefully will bring out how we can pay attention, how we can pay attention and learn from what God has told us. Let's go over to 2 Peter 1, verse 19. 2 Peter 1.

2 Peter 1. The first principle I want to share about paying attention is that we need to listen to God's servants. Now that's kind of weird because I'm telling you that, right? I'm saying listen to me, but it's not just me, okay? There's lots of God's servants in this room. There's lots of instruction, and we'll bring this out. But the first principle is we need to listen to God's servants. Let's look at 2 Peter 1, verse 19. It says, We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. There's that word again, heed. Attention, which you would do well to pay attention to. Now this prophetic word, this concept of prophecy, is the sense of inspired preaching.

So this prophetic word, obviously if you have a prophetic word and it says that there's going to be 1260 days of tribulation, and there's going to be a time, time, and half a time, that's a prophetic word. That's a prophecy. That's inspired speaking. But inspired speaking doesn't have to be about future events. It can be about current events as well. It can be about the Word of God. And so what's really described here is a inspired speaking on the part of Peter and some of the other individuals regarding God's Word, saying, verse 20, Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

And so we have an opportunity to hear inspired preaching and in-home Bible studies, like we have one tomorrow. We have an opportunity to hear it in church. We have an opportunity to hear it at the Feast of Tabernacles on Holy Days. The point here is that we need to put ourselves into these environments so that our priorities can be challenged, so they can be adjusted, so that the way we view things can be challenged.

If we kind of go into our little world and this is how we do things and this is what we're going to do, then our priorities are not challenged. Our way of thinking is not challenged. I think this is why we have a command to have a holy convocation. We have a holy convocation on the Sabbath day because it says in Leviticus 23 that we should have a holy convocation on the Sabbath day. That's why we meet here. We follow that command.

That's why also I think the writer of Hebrews and Hebrews 10 says, Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing. We need to come together and we need to listen. Part of why we have sermon chat afterwards is because we have an opportunity to ask questions and have a dialogue around that. This process, though, is not passive. Right now it's a little passive. I'm talking, you're listening. We'll have a little interaction a little bit later. It's not just showing up in church and listening. This process is active. So what is getting in the way of loving God and loving our neighbor?

That's the question that we should be asking. So when we come to church, we're coming after a week of asking questions of ourselves. What am I supposed to get out of the service today? What am I supposed to be learning in Sabbath services today? What am I going to learn from this Bible study? What am I going to learn from going to the feast?

What is God trying to tell me? What is He trying to get across to me? And then what symptoms do we see during the week of how our lives need to be changing?

And this process can be in a group setting or it can be one-on-one. Let's go to Acts 16, verse 14, and let's see this perhaps in a one-on-one setting. Acts 16, verse 14. So we can be in church, we can listen, we can participate in a Bible study, an interactive Bible study. We obviously go to the feast, we hear the word spoken there. But look in Acts 16, verse 14, and let's see an example here with Lydia, which was probably one-on-one. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. We're going back to hearing and listening. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God.

Now, notice something that Luke writes about Lydia. He says, the Lord opened her heart to take heed the things spoken by Paul. Now, here's this word, take heed. It's the same word in Hebrews. It was the same word in Peter, in 2 Peter, to pay attention to the words or the things spoken by Paul. Now, Paul might have been preaching in this kind of setting, or she might have been sitting down one-on-one and having conversations, asking questions, asking, Paul, what do you think about this? I've got this business and I've got to have it open on the Sabbath.

Can I have it open on the Sabbath? No, you can't. Why not? Because are you setting that day apart to sanctify that day as the fourth commandment? Well, I guess I'm not. Okay, I'm going to close my business. She could have been in the dialogue. It could have been in a different number of ways. The point is that God opened her heart to pay attention to the things that Paul was saying. And as I said, these things could be done in a number of ways, but she listened.

So my question for you, for me, is do I see counsel? Do I see counsel when I'm faced with something, or do I withdraw? Some people go towards issues, some people flee. It's called fight and flight. You've probably heard that expression. When we're under pressure, we're under stress. We can stand and fight, or we can flee. And that's our typical natural human behavior. But God wants us, as I described on the Day of Pentecost, he wants us to seek the counsel from him, from his spirit. That's why we've been given a comforter, a counselor, an advocate. So he's looking for us to seek counsel, and we need to be listening to that counsel.

And if we're not listening and paying attention, we're neglecting the counsel. For years, I worked in corporate America, and in corporate America you have something called the annual performance review. How many people go through the annual performance review? Yeah, many of you, right? Oh, how you dread the annual performance review. Okay, we're going to go through my accomplishments, we're going to go through my strengths areas, we're going to go through my development areas, right? We're going to write this down, we're going to have this thing. And really, it's a challenging process.

Part of why it's challenging, of course, is you have to remember all these things, and you have to keep track of what you did, and you have to sit down and do this, like, okay, these are the things I think I'm good at, and these are the things I'm not very good at. But you know, it's actually a very good exercise.

It's a very good exercise, because it reminds us of what we're accountable for, right? We're accountable to deliver something on the job, and somebody's going to come up and say, okay, I think you've been doing well in this area, and I think you can improve in this area. And then you're accountable to your manager, you're having a dialogue about your performance. And that's a good thing. What I find interesting about doing performance reviews, and I received them and I gave them, was that when it came to the development areas, and I had people work for me for many years, year after year after year, it was the same development area.

And in fact, it was very rare that there was actual improvement in those development areas. And I always wondered about this. What is this? Do people not get it? And then I was like the same. I haven't been to the same development areas year after year. I'm like, well, it's not just them, it's me, too. It's very rare, because change is hard. Change is very, very hard. And we have to address those development areas. We have to address them. We have to accept that we are accountable to convert, to be converted, which means we are going to subject ourselves, we're going to submit ourselves to God's will, to God's patience, to God's mercy, to God's law, and we're going to make changes in our lives.

And those changes are going to come based on what we're taught, what we read, what we understand. And literally, I've had to fire people from their positions because they did not listen to what I told them and my boss told them and their co-workers told them and the people who worked for them told them. They just wouldn't listen. And that's really a difficult thing. I've literally had a security guard who would stand outside my office, call the person in, told them they were being let go, told them they were going to be escorted out of the building and they could pick up, you know, their box of things would be there for them to pick up outside the security area.

That's a very, very hard message to give and to receive. And that's what Hebrews 2 is talking about relative salvation. God, if he has to, will do that with us. He doesn't want to do that with us. But that's what he's saying. Don't neglect. Pay attention. Don't think you've got this thing down. Pay attention. I'm telling you something important. Now, you know, they used to call this fire and brimstone sturmies, right? I'm not doing that. I'm not yelling. I'm not pounding, right? We're looking at this.

We're talking about this rationally. But there may be things in our character, there may be things that we're doing, behaviors that we're exhibiting, that are going to cause us to lose out on our salvation. We need to look at those things. And there are certainly things that we're doing that are probably causing grief to our neighbor, right? Love God. Love our neighbor. There's probably things that we're doing that are causing grief to our neighbor, causing grief to our family members. We take ourselves everywhere we go. There's things we need to change about ourselves. Paying attention, seeking counsel, listening to counsel, making changes.

This is submission to the process of conversion. You can't stay the same. I can't stay the same. This is what God is looking for. Listening to inspired speaking. The second principle I'd like to share about paying attention is to pray to understand God's direction. Pray to understand God's direction. Now, some might argue, wow, that's strange. Why'd you put that second? Why'd you put that first? Right? We heard Mr. D'Andrade talk about that, right?

But I think a lot of times prayer needs to come in response to what we've heard through preaching or counsel, what we've heard from family members. We certainly follow the outline of the sample prayer, right? Our God in heaven, how would be thy name, right? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. We certainly follow that. We understand that that's a good principle and that we were taught by Jesus to pray that way. But we should pray that God opens our hearts to hear His instructions.

To hear His instruction, either from those who are in positions of inspired preaching or from family members or friends. We've often read the passage in John 16, 13 that says God's Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. And as we begin each day, we need to be asking God that His Holy Spirit would guide us to pay attention to the important things, the things that matter. Let's go to Isaiah 55, verse 6. This is a great passage to understand when we think about prayer, we think about asking God for direction to pay attention to the things that matter.

Because a lot of times we will pay attention to the things that interest us. That's what we pay attention to. Ooh, that's cool. Right? We pay attention to those things. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. This is prayer.

Verse 7. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man His thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on Him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not Your thoughts, nor are Your ways my ways, says the Lord. Whatever natural tendencies we have, whatever ways of thinking we have developed, if they have not been examined against the instruction in the book, in this book here, that they should be considered suspect.

They should be considered suspect. Have I critically examined this way of thinking that I have about this subject in light of God's Word? Have I prayed for guidance on this topic or not? Paul said to examine yourself. He says, examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. And by beginning our day with prayer, we invite God's Spirit to open our hearts about what's important. Now, am I saying something dramatically new that you've never heard know? This is so basic. But fundamentally, we have to bring this back to why. Why are we doing it? Because God wants us to pay attention to things He wants to tell us. And if we're not asking Him for guidance, then we're not going to get it. We're not asking for guidance. We're not going to get it. Many times, and this happens to me, I know it happens to all of us, we can become slaves to what's called the tyranny of the urgent. The tyranny of the urgent. A focus on something just because somebody's making a lot of noise about it. You've got to do this. This is important. Okay, I'll go do that. The tyranny of the urgent. But from the time we wake up, we are going to be pulled in so many directions. Our phone is going to have something for us, right? You know, we're going to realize we didn't empty the dishwasher when we went to bed last night. So we want to take our dishes and put them in the... Oh, I've got to do that. Oh, I've got to do this. And so we're pulled in these directions and suddenly we get out the door and oh, do we have enough gas? Oh, I thought I should...oh, can I make it to work in time? We get to work maybe a couple minutes later. Maybe we're on time, but we were supposed to be there 30 minutes early. Right? We're pulled in all these different directions.

And being able to engage in what is most important in our life when we wake up in the morning requires thoughtful attention. And prayer is part of that.

I'd like to read something from the Journal of Management published in March 12, 2019. And it's something called Morning Reattachment to Work. This is actually studied. Morning Reattachment to Work. This is by Sabine Sonnetag. I'm going to quote here. In line with the idea that mornings are particularly important for setting the tone for the day, Sonnetag and Kuhln have argued that when employees actively reattach to work in the morning, they are more engaged during the day at work.

Reattachment refers to rebuilding a mental connection to work, for instance, by thinking about specific tasks or by mentally simulating the workday before actually starting work. Reattachment typically occurs while transitioning from the non-work to the work role and is largely under employees control.

Now, this study was intended to understand how we as individuals go from basically non-work, like we're sleeping, and then we're up and we drive, and then, okay, now we're working. That's what this study was about.

Because what they noticed was that employees often had a hard time getting started in the morning. And then you kind of ramp up. And how can you get the most productivity out of your day right from the beginning? But I think it's interesting that they talk about this mental sort of simulation, right? And it is a good thing to begin the day asking, God, give us this day our daily bread. And just giving over to God a few things that you're concerned about that day. God, I'm a little concerned about this meeting I have at 9 o'clock. Or I'm a little concerned about this test that I've got this afternoon. Or I'm a little concerned about so-and-so coming over to my house to, you know, because we're going to have this discussion. Just, there's a little mental connection looking ahead. God, please be with me through that process.

And so there's actual studies that talk about a mental simulation that helps you reattach and engage and be productive in the things that you should be productive in. Because a lot of times we might start our day by, you know, they call it kind of, you know, petering around the place, I'm going to go water the plants and I'm going to go get my coffee and I'm going to... And it's how do we sort of get into the day?

I think prayer is an important part of this transition and it allows us to gain perspective on whatever is most important and focus on that that is most important.

And it's about asking that his kingdom would come. Because when we ask that God's kingdom come, then we realize all our little issues, they're really less important than God's kingdom.

These are really the big things. And that is what would be done. This is really what matters. And our little worries, they come much later.

Now, I don't want to leave this point without looking at a critical scripture in Proverbs 3 verse 5.

Many people have looked at the scripture and we heard about how we need to read the Proverbs, read a chapter. So I'm skipping ahead to day three, Mr. Dandrade.

We're in Proverbs 3 now. Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 8, I just hope that this can be a memory verse for all of us.

This is such a powerful scripture. Proverbs 3 verse 5 to 8, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It'll be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

This is such a powerful passage when you consider that God wants us to seek him. He wants us to ask him about things.

He wants us to not lean on our own understanding. And when we come into a situation and we have a certain way of approaching it, and that way has not been critically examined, we're leaning on our own understanding.

When I say critically examined, I'm not talking about, oh, I examined that in 2005. Check the box. This is something that we look at consistently and we grow in and understand.

The third principle I want to share about paying attention is that paying attention requires paying attention over the long term.

And that's a concept in Scripture called diligence.

Diligence. The third principle is that we must be diligent in listening and hearing what God wants to tell us. Diligence. Let's go to 2 Peter 1 verse 5. And diligence is a concept that's all over Scripture. I'm just going to go to a key passage here on diligence that fits with this.

2 Peter 1 verse 5. Diligence. It says here, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence. Now, when you read the word diligence, I hope you can begin to think paying attention over the long term.

That's what diligence is. Giving all diligence. Paying attention consistently day in and day out. Do these things. That's what Peter is admonishing us. He says, add to your faith virtue. To virtue knowledge. To knowledge self-control. To self-control perseverance. To perseverance godliness. To godliness brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness love.

That is a pretty intense to-do list. That's a pretty intense to-do list. But I challenge you to write it down as a to-do list.

Add to your faith virtue. To your virtue knowledge. To knowledge self-control. To self-control perseverance. To perseverance godliness. To godliness brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his sins.

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent. Here we go. He begins with diligence and he ends with diligence. Be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.

This is a consistent message from the book of Hebrews. It's the same message. Take heed. Pay attention. Do these things. Be diligent in doing these things. And if you do, you will not stumble. You will not fall.

Each of us has our cross to bear. It takes a while to get to that point to realize, because each of us think, oh man, I can't believe what has happened in my life. Everybody's got that story. Everybody comes to that moment.

Whether they're literally fleeing violence, we have people in the church who have fled violence, either on a massive country level through immigration, as we understand, or fleeing a violent household.

People have suffered enormous harm. We all have our cross to bear. And each of us has to confront the need to break through and learn what we need to learn to be sons of God in God's kingdom.

And unless we're prepared to make those changes, we are not going to be in his kingdom. Jesus warned his disciples in Luke 12 verse 1, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware. That's the same word for pay attention. It's the same word for take heed. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.

And his disciples were like, who brought the bread? They didn't get it. They didn't get it. And what he was trying to get across is, these Pharisees are full of pride.

And you can be full of pride too. Beware. Pay attention that you do not become prideful like these Pharisees because it's going to destroy you.

And how does pride destroy us? Because with pride we don't pay attention to what it is we're supposed to change. Because we think we're doing just fine.

I got this down, I'm working on this. Don't talk to me. That's what pride says. But humility says every day is a gift.

Every day I'm going to learn something. I don't know what I'm going to learn today. I'm going to ask God for his direction because I'm going to set myself mentally and emotionally the way I should begin the day with prayer.

I'm going to seek his will. I'm going to seek his kingdom. I'm going to ask that he would give me guidance through the day. And then you learn what you're supposed to learn that day.

I think that he, God, made it clear that our pride can lead us astray. And that's the biggest issue holding us back.

We cannot neglect. We cannot be distracted. By the way, that's another form of not paying attention.

We cannot afford to lose our crown by shrinking away from those things that we have been called to confront. When we neglect, we do not confront. We have to confront.

We will be held accountable for our actions. We will be held accountable if we shrink away. We will be held accountable if we neglect. We will be held accountable if we are distracted.

It is time for us, as God's people, to pay attention, to beware, to take heed, to take the most earnest heed, to be diligent in the instruction that we have received.

We have been, many of us, in God's Church for decades.

And we have an opportunity to teach, and we have an opportunity to lead, and we have an opportunity to make changes and to show true change and conversion as lights to the world.

I hope I kept your attention, and I hope that God has your attention.