Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, Cornerstone Church, 21 September 2025

Exodus 33:16- Exodus 33:16 reads, "How else will anyone know that you are pleased with us and with your people if you don’t go with us? What else will distinguish us and your people from all the other people on the earth 

Proverbs 4:25- "Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you". 

Hebrews 12:1-2- "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" 

Luke 9:51- As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem". 

• Keep your focus on Christ – Don’t take refuge in your flesh. The Holy Spirit says keep your focus on Christ Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Miracle Worker, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Bread of Life. The One who said ‘those who look to me, their faces are radiant’. Just desire HIS presence, pay attention only to Him. If you do then he will send a solution to your issue.
• Keep all your attention only on Jesus. He will send your answer, your solution upon your issue. If you focus on Jesus, you will never be put to shame, you will never be disappointed. 

THREE KINDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DESTINED TO FAIL 

1. The unteachable person- He cannot be made to understand anything. 2. The undecided person- he who traverses between two points of view always. The Book of James says, do not be double minded. They can never decide. 
2. The unfocused person- The person who cannot focus.

• Some people don’t have focus. Some people have wrong focus. You come to church but no focus on the Word, you cannot see Jesus but you will find some fault and leave. However, keep the right focus on Christ Jesus. 
• Jesus decided to go to Jerusalem and He kept His focus only on that. The Book of Hebrews says, ‘keep your focus only on Jesus’, set your eyes on Jesus alone the Perfecter of your faith. 

Look unto the path ahead of you. The best days are ahead. Do not look back. 

• There is a saying that even the waters of the Niagara Falls cannot drive even an engine if it is not channelled. Can you catch two rats at one go? Look at the Sports men and women, can you play cricket, football, basketball all at once? Virat Kohli focused only on Cricket and that his explains his success in the sport. Focus on one thing! 
• We have heard of Professor of Math or Professor of Chemistry, we haven’t heard professor of Math and Chemistry! They excelled in one subject.

If you get distracted with too many things, you will not be able to grow high in any area. 

• Get focused now. Focus on the calling of God. Focus on the things that God has kept and planned for you. If you surrender to that, God will send an anointing kept for you. God’s Holy angels will help you. Pray in the Spirit.
• Imagine a tiger that sniffed a deer in the forest and while on its way to catch the deer, it sniffed a rabbit and while on its way to catch the rabbit, it sniffed a rat. The tiger lost its focus and caught nothing at the end. 
• If you focus on that which you stepped out for, what your calling is, and if you are ready to run looking unto Jesus you will be victorious! 

Understand who your Master is. Get ready to run looking to Jesus. Don't have multiplicity of focus. 

I heard a testimony of a pastor- he had saved up, got visa and went you meet Kenneth Hagen who was at that time 93 years old. Kenneth Hagen said I will be preaching to you about the A B C D of faith. This pastor was disappointed that he had to come all the way only to listen to the ABC of faith. He asked the Lord about this and the Lord responded saying He had given Kenneth Hagen the command to preach faith and he did that till he was 93 years old with complete focus. And that’s how his consistently revealed his greatness. One day you are a prophet one day an apostle another dan evangelist and another day a teacher. No, you stay focused on what you were called to be.

• May every demonic power that distracts you be broken away from your life. WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSING ON? 

A> FOCUS ON WHAT GOD HAS SPOKEN

Philippians 3:17- 18- Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

• I forget what lies behind and run ahead keeping the focus on the high purpose of my calling. 
• Peter said, humble thyself in the sight of God and He will lift you up. • In the Old Testament Noah built the ark for 120 years! He never got tired. Many of us get tired of ministry, get tired of jobs. Noah was a father, a husband. But he kept the focus on that which God had told him to do. Because he did that, God Himself provided and took care of his family. 

Focus only on what God has spoken.

• Abraham’s focus was on the Promise of God. In Genesis 15, we hear for the first time that Abraham saw a vision from God. In Genesis 12, may be God dropped a thought into Abraham’s mind. 
• When you are sitting in God’s presence, sometimes it may be a thought, sometimes a dream, a vision, or sometimes a prophetic word or something it may be the indwelling Presence of God that jumps into your spirit.
• God told Abraham I will bless you. Go into the Land that I will show you. I will bless your generations. I will bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you and many will be blessed through you.
• Joseph focused on the dreams that God had given him. Therefore, he overcame all the challenges he faced in his life. He saw the sheaves bowing down before his sheave in his dream. This dream was his motivation. Hold on to your dream from God.

What has the Lord told you? What are you focusing on? 

• David loved the Presence of God. Worship. He says, I’d rather be a door keeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. That’s’ why the Lord said that I will rebuild the house of David because it will be a tent of worship. Whether he was in the cave or in the wilderness or in the palace, he was a worshipper.

When you come into church, remember that it is not an institution or a club. This is a place where God transforms you. Ask for an encounter with God when you come here. This is the House of God. I am not in the church to see a performance. I am here to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is the House of God.

• There are many voices that are coming into your head. The voice of the devil that accuses, that makes you guilty, that condemns you, that brings fear into your heart, that discourages you may be loud YET, let your praise unto God be louder!

SHOUT TO JESUS WITH YOUR PRAISE! 

• Esther's focus was on the deliverance of the Jews from the enemies. She says, ‘If I perish I perish’. She fasted, she prayed, she took a risk and faced the King. She focused only on that.
• John the Baptist came to prepare God's way. His focus was there. He said, I must decrease and He should increase.
• Paul’s focus was that the gospel reaches where it had to reach. Today the Holy Spirit is releasing certain direction and burdens upon your life.

Looking unto Jesus for your victory, for your healing, for your deliverance. Never take your eyes off Jesus.

B> FOCUS ON RUNNING FORWARD

Focus on Running forward. Can you run faster forward or backward? 

C> FOCUS ON THE REWARD THAT GOD HAS KEPT FOR YOU

• Jesus for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross. MOSES saw the reward and forsook the pleasures of Egypt. 
• There is a reward for your holy living. Nobody may be watching but God is! The fishermen left everything to follow and they asked what Jesus cast their net. • Everybody is leading their life in immorality but you are leading your life clean. Expect a reward! You are standing with a clear conscience. There is a reward for holiness. • Don’t look at the crowd and think they are all doing what they want and are all seeming to be fine. They may be fine now but slowly the consequence of their sin will overtake them. Nobody can sin in secret. There is also a consequence for the righteousness you have in Jesus.

Focus on Christ, Focus on Running Forward, Focus on the Reward

• In the Book of Hebrews, it is written that they saw the city that was built by the very Hands of God Himself. They saw that and left their homes and dwelt in tents. Their considered the city of God as their reward and they stepped out. In the US you get paid hourly for work. In india you get daily wages. In some offices, there are bonuses 

and increments, in some works there are fringe benefits. We seek after these things and you think there is no reward if you walk upright according to GOD’s Word?! There is a reward.

God speaks and God lives. 

THERE ARE THINGS THAT DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR FOCUS 

1. Continuous battles-You see battles hitting you one after the other. All you can see one problem after another problem. The one who sees Christ in all battles in a victorious person. Today I speak that over your life. May you experience the victory of Jesus over your life.
2. Wounds, hurts and offenses-The tiger and the lions when they go hunting. They don’t attack a strong deer, they look for a wounded deer so it become possible to catch it. They are lazy they don’t want to work too hard to get a prey. Once they spot a wounded deer, they realise they can stalk that one because it can’t run that fast. Or they will look for a weak deer. The people in church hurt me, they wounded me with their words- you have to overcome it. You keep licking you wounds by licking them every week by going for counselling every weak. Still holding on to something that happened in 2017. Don’t keep licking your wounds. Forgive and surrender to Jesus Allow the love of God to fill you. There is one who was wounded for our transgressions, i.e., Jesus Christ on the Cross. 
3. The one without a goal or aim in life- A person who has not inspiration for a goal or aim. One day a crow was sitting perched on a tree and a rabbit was watching it envying how it was just relaxing on a tree doing nothing. And decided that it would also relax and do nothing. In a minute a fox came an caught it, you can sit back doing nothing and relaxing only after you reach a certain height! There are aimless people who do nothing in life. If you have a vision, you have a mission. I receive mine! 

Let every power that distracts you be broken.

• Hebrews 12 talks about the sin that ensnares you, that sin is a distraction. Troubles that burden you, that’s a distraction. You can run a race with all this. imagine Hussain Bolt going for a race in suit and boot and carry bags. He won’t reach the finish line fast. Surrender all your burdens and sins to Jesus. Let go of sin. Grace! Grace! Humble yourself before God and surrender that to Christ.
• Moses was in Egypt for 40 years. He met his wife and married. At the age of 80 he had an encounter with God. This made me think- God tells Moses ‘I heard the cry of my children and I have decided to deliver them’. I would have said, ‘God you are at the wrong address. I am in the wilderness and desert and Pharoah is are in Egypt’. But God needs you! You need to be a tabernacle that is focused on Christ.
• At the age of 80, Moses received a command and set out to fulfil it. In the next 90 days after he received the command from God, HE led the children of Israel out of Egypt. 

The Holy Spirit says: in the next 90 days, God will bring you out of your trouble and into a freedom you have never imagined! God will give you His direction.

In these 90 days, stay focused on Christ, on the promise of God, and on His prophetic word. 

• Joseph received his vision at the age of 17, and at 30 he saw its fulfilment. He stayed focused on that dream. In one night, his destiny changed: he was brought to the palace, married into the royal family, wore royal garments, and carried a royal name. God speaks and God lives—the new name of Joseph came with a royal chariot and a royal ring. 
• If you cling to the dreams God has placed in your life, He is faithful to bring them to pass. Things that should have taken Joseph years happened overnight. You too will rise higher if you stay focused on the calling God has placed over your life. 
• God can move in a way that shifts your season in a second. He can honour you and change your situation in no time. 
• Don’t run after things you think will build your future—let God do that. Stay focused on the Lord and His calling upon your life. 

Psalm 84:5–7: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They shall go from strength unto strength until they see your face in Zion.” 

• Your strength is in the Lord. He will turn even your tears into a place of blessing. • The one who is focused and is fixed on the Lord will go from strength unto strength. As we grow older we expect that our strength will decrease but actually if you are fixed on the Lord, you will go from strength to strength.
• Moses was 120 years old but his eyes were not dim and his strength was intact. • Abraham had a child at 100 years and even at that age he left to war against 3 countries to save Lot. The disciples of Jesus, the worshippers of Jesus, their strength never decreased. If your strength and focus is on Christ, your strength will not decrease! Receive it in Jesus Name He will renew your youth like an Eagles.