LOCK-IN 2025 - “DONE WITH DISTRACTIONS”

“DONE WITH DISTRACTIONS”

INTRO

Good evening, it is great to see all of you and I am truly grateful and honored that you made it a priority to be here tonight.

I am excited you are here for two reasons:

You guys are pretty great… kinda awkward at times… but overall pretty great

We GET to and have the OPPORTUNITY to open God’s Word and learn something from our GOOD GOD

I LOVE OUR GOD

I love that we serve a God who saves us, speaks to us, and has plans for us…

I love that we serve a God who gives us TRUE JOY, real PEACE, and actual REST

I love that we serve a God who sees us at our WORST and stills says that he LOVES us

I love that we serve a God who did not just say that he LOVED us… PROVED it by sending his SON JESUS to DIE for someone like us…

This is why I get excited about hearing his voice… remember you value the voice that you listen to the most…

TRANISTION

But before we dive into the passage and the message, would you please pray with me…

PRAYER

3…2…1… initiate prayer

Oh Lord thank you for being so gracious to us… for giving us the gift of salvation… for forgiving us of our sins - not just one, not just a couple, but all of our sins… thank you for hearing our prayers and binding up our wounds… thank you for giving us strength because apart from you we are simple weak…

God would you grant us the ability to understand your Word and accurately apply it to our lives today…

Thank you that your Word is the TRUTH… that it is time does not affect its value, wisdom, or guidance…

Thank you God for you SON JESUS… it is in JESUS Name that we pray these things… AMEN!

TIME WASTED FACTS - IPHONE

On average, people send 4 - 6 hours on their phones daily

On average people check their phones 58 times per day

Americans spend around 12 years of their lives staring at their phone screens - based on the daily average phone usage time of 4 hours and 49 minutes

VIDEO GAMES

Americans spend 12.8 hours gaming each week across all platforms

People spend roughly 2.8 years of their lives playing video games based an average of 8.6 hours per week playing games

SPORTS

High School athletes spend typically 10-15 hours per week on sports during the season

College athletes average around 32 hours per week on athletics during the season and an additional 40 hours of academics

BIBLE FACTS

Reading your Bible 15 minutes a day, five days a week only takes 65 hours a year

About half of Americans (53 percent) have read relatively little of the Bible. One in 10 has read none of it, while 13 percent have read a few sentences. Thirty percent say they have read several passages or stories.

According to a report done in 2021, about 9% of Americans read the Bible daily

Even though Nine out of 10 households (87 percent) own a Bible and the average household has three Bibles

TRANSITION:

Tanner why are you telling us these random facts about Bibles, Sports, video games, and phones?

I am happy you asked… Turn to Psalm 119:37…

INTRO PASSAGE - Psalm 119:37

Psalm 119:37 (ESV)

Turn my eyes from looking at WORTHLESS things;

and give me life in your ways.

KEY WORD #1 - “WORTHLESS”

Meaning = “Valueless Thing; Something that has absolutely no value or use”

In other words, the writer is saying… HELP me God to Look for, Look at, and Love the things that LAST…

The writer is saying… My way only leads me to things that are worthless…

Friends… Worthless things only lead to a worthless life… and a worthless life is a wasted life…

The title of this message is called… “Done with Distractions”… Why?

POINT #1: DISTRACTIONS create DISTANCE… and distance drifts to DEPRAVITY… and depravity only DINES with DEATH…

I am not convinced that a lot of us are intentionally are just full steam ahead running after awful sinful things - 24/7…

I am convinced that our distractions can and have created a distance between us God… and the greater the distance the greater the depravity and sin…

And we stop being disciplined for God… rather we drift away from God… to where we ask ourselves… who is this God? what has Jesus actually done for me? and does my life look any different from when Jesus saved me?

Distractions only go out on dates with distance and death…

Question: Have you been so distracted that God that you have drifted away from God… leaving you feeling distant?

This is why we are diving into our main passage today and this leads us to our main passage…

MAIN PASSAGE - Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

The number one person that influences your thinking is you…

What you say to yourself… how you speak to yourself… what examine your mind and conclude happens in your mind… with YOU…

To “think about these thing” means to be in deep thought about them… to examine them from every angle and perspective… to chew on them… to be extensive and exhaustive in our approach… to comb over with a fine comb… to deeply analyze and THINK about them… and to determine whether or not what we think about worthy of our praise…

sometimes we are so distracted that we find it difficult to truly think about the things that matter most…

KEY WORD #2 - PRAISE

PRAISE = “Something Worthy of High Commendation” (appreciation, thanks, and congratulations)

I know you have heard the question before… what is it you treasure most in life? In fact, you may think to yourself… Yeah, actually I feel like I hear that often or a lot…

But what I love about this passage is not what do you treasure most… its… what do you find is worthy of your praise?

What is it about you or your life that are praising, lifting up, exalting above all else, and saying… this is worth living for… this is worth my time… this is worth my affection…. this is worth my praise…

What I am trying to say is… POINT 2: what you PRAISE POINTS to what you think has the most WORTH…

You can treasure something in your heart and I not be able to see it…

You can treasure something in secret or in silence… without anyone else knowing or hearing…

But a praise powerful and piercing… and will not go unnoticed or be silent…

What I am asking is… what has your life declared has been worthy of praise? what does your life point to as having the greatest amount of worth?

Or are you so distracted that you have become distant… and you no longer praise the one who is worthy… rather you praise the worthless… what about you? Are you DONE with DISTRACTIONS… or have you gotten comfortable drifting growing distant from God?

STORY/ILLUSTRATION #1 - PANAMA MISSION TRIP & TODAY

When I was in high school I remember going on a mission trip with my youth group…

we went to Panama and the goal was to reach connect with the people in Panama through service (repairing a bridge), sport (playing soccer), and sharing the gospel…

I will never forget arriving in Panama and going over to small little village… they took us on these little boats… which was terrifying because I could not swim and could not see the bottom of the water floor and what lurking in the mucky water…

played soccer…

Realized I had been distracted and distant from the Lord…

Fast Forward… today there many times where I allow myself to be distracted and distant from the Lord…

And I turn from what the things that wio