Focus On The Fine Print

and the praise team has set me up so wonderfully because we're here to focus on him we're here to focus on the fact that though i may have some terrible headlines in my life today though there may be some large bold print that the enemy has tried to write on my life or ride on the life of my loved ones i'm here to focus on the god who is greater the god who is stronger the god who is higher than any other would you lift him a little bit higher with your praise right now jesus we lift your name we exalt your power above the power of everything going on in our lives and in the world today we exalt you we point to you today jesus we focus on you in jesus name thank you praise team for setting the stage for preparing our hearts in praises it not only invites the presence of the lord but praise prepares the soil of our hearts to receive the seed of the word of god and i believe i believe that god shows up to church with a purpose in mind he responds to praise with a purpose in mind and so if you need him for any purpose today he's here to accomplish something for you today you don't have to leave without that purpose being fulfilled today

i'll turn your attention to second corinthians chapter four verses seven through nine and i'll also read verses 17 and 18. from second corinthians chapter four but we have this treasure in earthen vessels i'm thankful for the treasure that we have today the treasure of his spirit the treasure of of his revelation of who god is the treasure of the gospel of jesus christ we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of god and not of us that we focus on the power of god and not on us because reality is we are hard-pressed on every side yet we are not crushed we are perplexed but we're not in despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed he completes the thought in verse 17 for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory

it seems like a heavy weight now the headline of your life or the the chaos that is in your life the struggle the trial seems like a heavy weight but in comparison to what it is working for us that weight exceeds the weight of any chaos and any trouble we are in while we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are just temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal paul what do you mean we don't look at the things which are seen you just said we're hard pressed on every side that we're perplexed that we're persecuted and that we're struck down

well there's a difference between seeing those things and focusing on the fine print the headline says that we're hard-pressed on every side but the fine print says but we're not crushed the headline of your life and the chaos that's there may be perplexing you but you do not have to live in despair you may be persecuted by the trouble in the trial but you are not forsaken in that trouble or trial there is a fine print for every headline the enemy is trying to right in your life today

if you want to receive that message and if you want to express your faith i'm just going to invite you to lift your hands and pray god i pray that you would strengthen us through the power of your word i pray that you would speak to every situation let the arrow of your word give light and let it hit every every target of darkness i pray that the arrow of hope would meet every target of despair today and i pray the gift of faith would operate i pray that the word of wisdom would operate in this house i pray that the word of knowledge and the word of prophecy would operate in this house those are the gifts that you have given us for the perfecting of the saints and for the exhorting and the help and the strength of the body of christ and lord we're going to give you praise one time before you're seated would you just exalt him another time god we worship you we praise you we know that you're in control and that you're in charge of everything that we go through lord we give you praise today in jesus name amen

and i'm going to preach this title focus on the fine print and you can be seated focus on the fine print probably all of us at some point or another have checked the i agree box without reading the terms of service or the terms of agreement aka the fine print in fact in a deloitte survey of 2000 u.s consumers about 91 of people admitted to accepting terms and service conditions without actually reading them i won't ask the guilty to raise your hands mine would be the first over the years there have been numerous cases where ignoring the fine print turned into a major problem for one or both parties

but one teacher from georgia found out that there are major perks to reading the fine print there's problems when you don't read it but there are perks if you do donna andrews is a high school teacher in georgia and she booked her vacation to london she also did what any self-respecting home economics teacher would she found a sensible travel insurance policy and she read the policy summary to the very end and that's where she discovered that it pays to read the fine print literally she says imagine my surprise when at the bottom of the seventh page seven pages of fine print y'all at the bottom of the seventh page i read the words pays to read the next paragraph then explained that she'd won a contest through a travel insurance site as the first person to read her policy to the end andrews would receive a ten thousand dollar prize this pays to read contest was an effort by square mouth to improve travel insurance literacy by encouraging customers to review the entire policy squaremouth estimates that less than one percent of travelers who buy travel insurance read all of the policy information in this case it literally paid to read the fine print

there are perks to reading the fine print but it is usually overlooked perhaps for a variety of reasons number one fine print is less noticeable print it's usually smaller than the more obvious larger print that it accompanies the larger print or headline if you will usually advertises or partially describes a commercial product or service marketers have used the larger print to their advantage it's noticeable it's eye-catching it sounds reasonable however fine print is often used to provide clarity further explanation and exceptions to the stated reality the big and bold print is used to catch your eye to make bold claims allowing the customer consumer to believe that the offer made in large bold print is the truth and all there is to the truth but the truth is found in the fine print all of the facts are not readily revealed in the bold print or the headline to fully disclose all of the facts as they are required to do fine print is used the reality is sometimes the fine print reverses the claim made in bold print it may say the exact opposite of what the large headline says the large bold print can be used to mislead the consumer about an item's price value or condition while the fine print states the actual truth good or bad about the item or service unfortunately the bold headlines pronounced over us by life or the enemy of our souls steals our attention and the focus and then in

comparison to god's word and his promises and his truth those things look like fine print there's a large and bold headline over your life today it may be a problem that you are facing it may be a diagnosis most recent to you but whatever the large bold headline today my encouragement to you is focus on the fine print god has some fine print for each and every problem that you are facing today it's written in his word the fine print of his promises the fine print of his truths are written but when we look at the bold large headlines of our problems in comparison sometimes god's word and his truth seem so very minuscule they look like fine print but when the headlines claim our attention perhaps by default we just check i agree without remembering to read god's fine print the facts about practical fine print are also true spiritually number one fine print is less noticeable there's bold and there's large print of chaos in your life and that catches our attention and steals our focus from the word of god and the truths of god eric would you put up there that other title slide i almost used this as my title today chaos rules i didn't want to get carted away to jail in case that was a possibility and i didn't want you to miss what's in the fine print there and sometimes on the screen we can chaos rules asterisk meaning there's some fine print there but god is in control chaos is what catches our attention it's what demands probably most of our focus and most of our time

but i'm rising today to say do not forget to read the fine print of god's promises there is a word for you today there is a promise for your problem today focus on the fine print it's easier to look at the headlining problem i'll give you that we're human it's easier to look at the looming storm in the billowing clouds but i tell you today what the enemy is saying about us is not all that's being said about us what the enemy is saying about your life or the life of your loved one what life is declaring over you today is not all that's being declared over you today there is a god who loves you who has said i will never leave you i will never forsake you he has said i'm the healer of all of your diseases he has said i can do exceeding abundantly above all that you would ask or think there's some fine print for you today if you'll choose to see it and focus on it god has some things to say about your headlines god has some things to say and i want to hear what god says about my life i don't want to just listen to the enemy i don't want to just listen to naysayers or the negative things but today i'm calling us the spirit is calling us focus on the fine print focus on what god is saying about the church focus on what god is saying about you and about your circumstance so what does he have to say what does he have to say about me if god's got something to say in the midst of what i'm facing what is it what does he have to say about me about my suffering about our world what does god say about our world what does god say about coven 19 what does god have to say about the chaos in the capitol what does god have to say about sin and what does god have to say about the church people in politics and world leaders and unbelievers in society in general in our culture all make very bold claims and headlines about those things are suffering the condition of our world covid chaos in the capital people they make bold claims and headlines about those things but

as the church we must focus on the fine print in order to be the church in 2021 which is our theme this year in order to be the church we've got to have the answer that god has we can't just react to everything that we hear on social media we can't just react to the headlines that come across our literal news feed we can't just react to that we've got to say what does god say about this i'm going to enter this conversation centered in the word of god centered in the principles and the truths of god's word not just react out of my emotion what does god say about it let's focus on the fine print as mentioned with practical fine print spiritual fine print this is true as well choosing to ignore it can turn into a major problem for one or both parties firstly i'll talk about how it can be a problem for us just checking i agree to the headlines without reading the fine print of god's word can turn into a detriment and a major problem for us because we'll begin to believe something contrary to what god is saying we'll believe the voices that are in our world will believe the truths that are being perpetuated in our world will believe that contrary to what god is saying and contrary to his truth and because our behaviors follow our beliefs we then begin to reason with and act upon the lies that we've begun to believe

there's a danger when we don't focus on the fine print there's a danger to us to our souls to our ministries to our effectiveness in the kingdom of god when we don't focus on the fine print of his word when we just skip over and say you know what i'm just gonna go with the headline that chaos rules that seems to be what's true it's at least the largest thing in my life right now but no there's a word from god for you there's direction from the word of god there's clarity there is further explanation to what's happening in the fine print there's a danger for us if we don't focus on that fine print but there's not only a danger for us i'm here declaring there's also a danger for our enemy when he forgets that god has spoken a word when he forgets that god is ultimately in control the bible says no weapon formed against you shall prosper

that's for us that's not for our enemy so if he doesn't read that fine print there's trouble in his future because god's got me god's got my back he's fighting for me the fine print that paul declares in second corinthians 2 says god always causes us to triumph in christ i don't care what your situation may be saying to you today i don't care what the enemy of your soul may be headlining across your life today the fine prince said god always causes us to triumph there's a victory in my future there's victory in my path because god said there is and so there's trouble for my enemy trying to come against me there's trouble for the the lack of need or the lack of provision that i have there's trouble for that because the fine print says my god's gonna supply all of my need according to his riches in glory there's trouble for the enemy manifesting itself as a disease or a sickness today whether it's cancer or covet or bronchitis or diabetes whatever it may be there is trouble for that enemy that may be coming against us today because the fine prince says in psalm 103 i'm the lord who heals all of your diseases he heals all of our diseases that doesn't just apply to everything before coven 19. i declare it applies to covet 19 as well because he said all of your diseases and all just means all

so i'm going to put my faith in the fine print today and believe that you know what coven 19 may be huge it may be insurmountable for our health care system but it's not insurmountable for our god he is the god who heals all of our diseases truth is found in the fine print if we'll focus on the right things we'll see that there's a higher truth behind the reality that we see there's a higher truth beyond the reality that we see

the fact is that sometimes the fine print reverses the claim made in bold print it's true practically hopefully you've not gotten into trouble because of that but it's also true spiritually that the fine print of god's word can reverse the claim and the declaration of the enemy god's word can reverse that claim god's fine print can expose the lies that the enemy would try to convince you of and i believe he's tried he's trying he's currently trying in some of your lives today maybe even since the service began whispering in your ear making a claim putting a headline in your life but you're here today where we're focusing on the god who is greater the god who is stronger the god who's higher than any other we're here declaring that he is jehovah jireh our

provider jehovah rapha our healer jehovah shema the lord who is with us and the fine print reverses that claim that the enemy is making over your life the lie that he's whispering into your ear don't focus on the headline today focus on the fine print because the fine print oftentimes will reverse that message and the fine print spells out restrictions and limitations for the things that are against you we sang it a while ago and if our god is for us then who could ever stop us and if our god is with us what can stand against there's headlines and there's trials that try to stand against you but the fine prince says what can stand against the power of the name of jesus i'm going to choose to focus on the fine print i'm going to choose to focus on the god who is greater than my situation oh would you praise him right now let faith develop in your spirit and respond to that in the name of jesus

how we're gonna focus on your fine print you're not trying to deceive us you're not trying to pull one over on us in the fine print you're declaring truth in the fine print you're declaring that you're always with us you never leave us his fine print provides clarity and the uncertainty that we are in and we are in some uncertain times his fine print provides further explanation for our suffering and how it can work for our good his his fine print defines the exceptions to the rules that the enemy of our soul would lie to us about so baby today your headline reads no hope maybe your headline reads send too much too far gone lost my job incurable disease financial ruin broken marriage strained relationships lonely victim abused those may be the reality of our lives they may be the headlines but read the fine print see what god has to say about your circumstance see things from his perspective when the headlines of our lives read discouragement deception distrust fear frustration we are not without a word from god we are never without a word from god we may not like the word that the enemy or life has pronounced over us but do not ever just hook line and sink or click i agree to that because there's always a word from god and that word from god defines your situation it can provide clarity and the uncertainty of your life the the fine print of god's word is what we've got to focus on today because we're never without there's a word for you today in this house there's a word for you this week as you pray and as you fast as you read his word there's a word for you there's a word of clarity there's a word of direction for you there's a word of hope and there's a word that will strengthen and sustain you there's a word that will minister to you in your despair this week there's always a word from god and one headline that we often fall for is the bold claim that says that sin is final i've done too much i can't be forgiven

but i would encourage you to read the fine print in first john chapter 1 verse 9 and it says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness the enemy would like to keep you trapped into thinking that you've done too much that this sin is not forgivable that you can never live for god in an overcoming way but i'm here declaring the fine print of the word of god that says if we confess and forsake our sin the lord will be faithful and just to forgive us of our sin there's forgiveness for your sins today the fine prince says god is a forgiving god and it doesn't just work for sin it works for every situation that we face in psalm 116 verses 3 through 7 we find the psalmist in a situation with some pretty bold headlines attempting to steal his focus the headline in verse 3 he said the snares of death encompassed me the pangs of shale laid hold on me i suffered distress and anguish those are some pretty big headlines over the life of the psalmist the pains of death surrounded me was pain that was present in the life of the psalmist at this point the headlines would have him to believe that he was in a place of no return that that word shale is a is a word for hell or for the grave or sometimes translated as a place of no return place where the dead abide so the headlines of your life may be causing you to believe that you're in a place of no return that you're in a tragedy that you won't recover from or that you've been put away and forgotten no longer remembered by a loving god and savior

that's the headline but the fine print in verse 5 says gracious is the lord and righteous our god is merciful the lord preserves the simple when i was brought low he saved me so return o my soul to your rest for the lord has dealt bountifully with you the pains of death the feeling like i'm never going to recover from this then i'm in the place of no return that there is no hope for my situation that's the headline but focus on the fine print god is there even in the midst of all of that he can preserve you he is righteous he is gracious and he is merciful there may be some things that are true about my situation and how i feel about my situation but there are some things that remain true about god no matter what's going on in my life that's focusing on the fine print to say i'm not ignoring the reality the psalmist didn't ignore the reality he said i feel pretty bad the pains of death and the pangs of shield are around me they're encompassing me they're surrounding me he's not ignoring the reality but he's choosing to focus on the truth that is higher than the reality and that's what we're preaching today focus on the fine print focus on the fact that god will never leave you that he's with you that he's got a purpose for you in psalm 3 david he shares a headline that was threatening to overtake his focus his headline read this lord how they have increased who trouble me many are they who rise up against me many are they not just a few not just i could probably handle this so no big deal they've increased there's many and then there's many again in verse two who say of me there is no help for him in god sila sometimes we just read right over selah because it's not an english word we have no idea what it means

perhaps sila is kind of like the fine print it's the fine print of this verse because see law is essentially because we're talking about songs see law is just a praise break david's saying musicians you go ahead and play singers stop singing and just focus on god just focus on what you've just said but also focus on what god can do in what you've just said so don't skip the selah it's the fine print where yes you can admit the reality in your life yes you can admit that all these things may be against you but don't forget to read the fine print that says none of these things move me and i am more than a conqueror in all of these things because of christ so david says salah i'm going to point my eyes back to the lord i'm going to take a break just a second from talking about all the rubbish that's happening in my life and i'm going to focus on god because he goes on in verse 3 to say but you oh lord they've increased they are rising up against me but you o lord are a shield for me you are my glory you are the one who lifts my head whatever's got your head bowed low today

i'm just telling you god is the lifter of your head if you'll read the fine print if you'll focus on the fine print he can lift your head out of the despair that you find yourself in verse four more fine print i cried to the lord with my voice and he heard me from his holy hill salah there it is again i cried to the lord with my voice where was he he was in this place this context where he felt oppressed where he felt things crowding in against him uh the problems and the struggles and the enemies were increasing day by day that's where he was but he said i cried to the lord with my voice even in that moment and he heard me from his holy hill god hears you today he hears the cries that you are crying out to him from the middle of your turmoil from the middle of your storm your problems have not deafened god they have not muffled your cries god hears you and he will respond to you if you believe that would you clap your hands would you praise him for it god i thank you that's right that's praise right there we're just going to choose a salah moment right now we're going to focus on you jesus we're going to turn our attention to you and what you are doing thank you jesus thank you jesus and in a very literal sense this week headlines began to read trouble and chaos if you read the headlines this week you would think that chaos rules the day i checked on some of the headlines what were the headlines this week i checked here's just three and it's enough attack on the capitol as inauguration nears concern of more violence grows impeachment again these are headlines this week and we can't ignore them they're there it would be easy for us to get distracted and reactionary to those headlines

but this message today is a call for us to focus on the fine print what is the fine print for this week in times like these it's the text that we read and other scriptures in his word the text that we read said we're hard pressed on every side yet we're not crushed we are perplexed and we are perplexed about all that's going on in our world and particularly our country but i'm not reactionary to that uncertainty i'm not reacting as the church the body of christ we cannot react to the uncertainty because we're not in despair we know that god is in control we know that we are his people we're the sheep of his pasture we know that we're his church we know that the church has thrived in times of opposition we know that he saw this day well in advance of when we saw it and if he saw it coming he didn't leave us unprepared for the times that we live in he has prepared us so i encourage you today don't just react to what you see on facebook the headlines that are there don't just react to what you see on cnn or any of these other news outlets

don't just react to the headlines focus on the fine print what does god say about it how would he have me post about it we're persecuted but we're not forsaken that's that's the fine print for weeks like these and for times like these were struck down but we're not destroyed as i mentioned earlier when the headlines of our lives read discouragement and deception and distrust and fear and frustration we are not without a word from god and we are the church of the living god we should be speaking the fine print and not the headlines that the world is uttering musicians and singers you can come during general conference brother bernard shared a prophecy that he had received from brother daniel scott back in august of 2019 he told us at the time brother bernard did that he first didn't know what to make of this prophetic word because in august of 2019 the headlines didn't really seem to match up but

as we entered the hardships of 2020 it all then began to make sense god knew the fine print that we would need to hold on to as we lived through the headlines of this week and the coming days here is the fine print that he shared well in advance of the days for which it was needed that prophecy says my son i will send a devastation on the united states the like of which has never been experienced the devastation will come with destruction multiplied times over and the people will tremble i will do this to bring the nation to its knees even the kings of the earth shall be clothed in fear the entire population of the united states will then know the paths of treachery their leaders have traveled to destroy the faith of so many my people who are called by my name will be tried severely but my purpose will be to show myself to be their god even before i come to gather them to me but the end is not yet this will take place just prior to my return and i will use this devastation to cause many spiritual prodigals who have turned away from me to return and reconsecrate their lives to me and many who have left the love of righteousness in the gospel to realign their principles also i will bring multitudes to know me because at that time there will be a revelation that all men everywhere will know that i am the only lord god whatever the headlines read whatever the bold claims are saying i find some fine print in that prophecy he said i'm going to use this devastation to cause people to come back to me i'm gonna restore my relationship with some who have turned away and i'm gonna use this devastation god is using god is using this time that we are in he's working his purpose we may not always see it it may be minuscule it may be the fine print it may be smaller but god is using it and he's using the situations that are in your lives today he's using it he's working an ultimate purpose he has an ultimate plan

here's the catch we got to trust him we've got to focus on the fine print and we've got to trust him

i invite you to stand and we're going to sing that song still i will trust you because it says though the storm rages on and i can't find my way still i'm going to trust i'm going to trust that god you have a plan in my life i'm going to trust that your hand is upon me while they sing would you begin to pray right now lord i thank you for your word i thank you that you don't leave us without a word from you now that you've got a plan lord i pray that you'd help us to trust you today help us to trust you in the midst of these uncertain times when it seems like the country that we're living in is not the country that we were born in god i pray that you would help us to focus on the fine print help us to have the word of your word let us to have those words in our mouth not our reactions and not our emotions but i pray that you would help us to have your word in our mouths oh god let us be speaking peace i pray when everything else is speaking chaos i pray that we would be speaking peace as the church of the living god help us lord your promises are yes and your promises are amen they are sure they are secure we can trust in you today we can trust in your word help us oh god renew our faith and renew our trust if if we've lost our trust i pray that you would help us to renew that at this time in the name of jesus help us oh god help us learn thank you jesus why don't you declare this in the face of every headline i'm gonna listen to you lord to the chaos around me i'm gonna listen to you lord we're gonna trust you jesus is thank you jesus

just a moment ago i thought of prophet elijah running for his life running from queen jezebel thinking that the nation had just turned away from god and everything was horrible and everything was chaos and he goes to hear god's voice and god didn't speak loudly he expected to hear god in a whirlwind or an earthquake but no god just spoke a still small voice maybe we're just hoping that he'll speak this loudly just tell me what i need to do lord let the fine print or let the headline be your voice sometimes just like you did today maybe it was during this word or maybe it'll be tomorrow when you're reading the bible in your own time of personal devotion a little just speak a word to you and just remind you no i'm still in control i know that the the chaos has captured your attention but i'm going to get your attention through my word and maybe i won't speak with a booming voice but i'll just i'll just drop a word in your spirit to let you know i am still i feel like god has been speaking to some individuals today maybe it's just one thing you've been facing sickness and god's saying no i'm i'm still the healer just pick up the word and continue to read the fine print even when the headlines are loud continue to listen for my voice can we just thank him for his voice this morning thank you jesus even if it's not booming and loud and hey i thank you that your voice is still speaking and i thank you for the fine print today of your word it's telling us you are still in control despite what chaos of the enemy or even our own flesh would tell us you are in control thank you jesus

i just feel like the lord he just got our attention again today because it is so easy for all the headlines to capture our focus and we walk in on a sunday morning thinking what is going to happen next god reminds us he knows what's going to happen next he's in control thank the lord for his word today that has helped us and strengthened us