What is Distracting Your Worship?

Opening Scripture

Luke 10:38–42 NLT

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was distracted by the fact that she was doing all of these chores to make things perfect and yet she missed the opportunity to listen, receive, and worship.

Mary took the opportunity to just be in the presence of the Lord ready to receive anything that He was going to give.

Jesus response to Martha serves as a reminder and a wake up call to us to not concern ourselves with the small things but instead to keep our focus on Him.

The moment we take our focus off of Jesus we open ourselves up to the opportunity to miss out on the move of God

The moment that we take our focus off of Jesus we position ourselves in a place where we are surrounded by a bunch of distractions that hinder our ability to effectively worship the Lord.

The very thing that distracts us, the very thing that hinders our worship is the very thing that causes us to be frustrated and annoyed all the way up to the point of anger.

An Out of Tuned Heart

Matthew 15:8–9 NLT

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

To have a hardened heart is to have a heart that is out of tune with the will of God

When we attempt to worship God from a hardened heart (disobedient heart) it is foolish in the eyes of God

An out of tuned heart, a rebellious and sinful heart is a distraction from being able to worship God from a pure heart.

An out of tuned heart can even put us in a place where we try to teach man made thoughts as though they were commands from God.

Sin is meant to serve as a distraction to hinder us from coming fully into the presence of God

Notice the more you are in Sin the less time you spend in the presence of God

We can get our hearts back in tune when make the decision to Confess our Sins to God, Repent, and Get rooted in the word of God and lift up our praise with a purified heart.

You are never to far from God that He can’t find you and set you free!

Your obedience plus your praise has POWER to break the chains of Sin over your life!

Focus on Heaven!

Colossians 3:1–2 NLT

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

Because we have eternal life in Jesus we have the ability to focus our eyes on the Kingdom of God and everything that entails.

When we focus on God’s kingdom we position ourselves to be in places of righteousness

When we choose to flood our minds with presence of God through His word and Holy Spirit we position ourselves in a place where we can be transformed.

As we praise, as we worship from a purified heart we enter into true transformation

Worship is not just something we do its in the way we live

Our true worship comes from within our hearts and manifests in the way we live and act in life.

To Get rid of the distractions we simply keep our eyes focused on Jesus, hold ourselves accountable according to God’s word and Holy Spirit, and put His word to work in our lives!