It is important to keep your heart in a position of being yielded and open to God. In this teaching, I will discuss that when we get our hearts so closed on a specific direction or on a specific decision that we become hardened to receiving and obeying God's perfect will, and He permits us to do what we want. We want to avoid having a hardened heart because we want to experience God's best for our lives and that is His perfect will. I will review with you the difference between the perfect will of God and the permissible will of God, how we develop a hardened heart towards God, and how to avoid it so that we can live in God's perfect will.

I remember I heard a minister say that if people focused long enough, they might just fulfill their destinies. This statement became imprinted on my brain as I watched my struggle to stay focused on what I wanted to accomplish; even at points, being so distracted, that I forgot certain goals I wanted to achieve. We live in a world that basically goes against people being focused. There is so much information we are trained to believe we need, multiple entertainment options that we must choose from, unlimited places to see, a variety of conversations we must have, and multiple tasks that require completion in not enough time. In the midst of all this activity and busyness, fulfillment escapes many of us because we weren’t focused on what were suppose to accomplish with the time given to us. In this teaching, I will discuss how to overcome a culture of distractions by identifying, what I believe, are the two different categories of distractions, and giving you some key biblical principles to overcome them so that you can stay focused and walk in the fulfillment of your destiny.

It is never easy on anyone to learn that they have been deceived. In a real world with real consequences, very few of us will laugh when we find out the trick was on us. The emotional and psychological effects people experience as a result of being deceived can be so devastating that it negatively alters their personality and perspective on life. Judas is known as the apostle who betrayed Jesus; however, Judas’ story did not end with his betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Through his story, we will learn how to successfully recover from falling prey to deception.

Deception is a powerful yet subtle tactic that lures people away from their destiny. We usually can always notice that a person is deceived at the point when deception is full blown; however, deception begins when we embrace the small, subtle lies that are feed to us. If we don't resist these minor deceptive thought patterns, eventually, we will find ourselves embracing and living by beliefs, philosophies, or doctrines that have the potential to recklessly and destructively detour us in life. The purpose of this teaching is to discuss rooting out deception before you reach the point of truly being deceived.