DISTRACTIONS

Intro:

We're living in a year where it seems as if whatever COULD go wrong, has gone wrong or will soon go wrong right in front of our eyes and there’s very little you or I can do about it...

Between he Covid pandemic, the lock downs and the restrictions on where we can go, what we can do, and who we can do things with...we seem to be teetering on the edge of insanity.

To make matters worse, throw in an election that was so heated and divided - and closely contested that many people find themselves unable or unwilling to accept the final vote tallies.

We've had more named tropical storms this year than any in recent memory. And if that weren't enough, we've also had uncontrollable wild fires on the west coast, earthquakes and hurricaines and other natural disasters

We’ve also experienced our fair share of shortages - whether it be toilet paper, cleaning products, hand sanitizer or meat. And according to experts there are more shortages heading our way in the days, weeks and months to come...

Since all this began, we've been talking about the fact that God has plans for His people and His church for this time. We've repeatedly communicated the fact that God desires to use current events to wake up his children, to shake them from their comfort and complacency and to stir their hearts back towards him. We’ve said that God has interrupted church as we know it so that He can breathe new life and vitality into His church, while tearing down and stripping it of its man-centered trappings.

But there's flip side to all this...Because the Lord isn't the only One with purposes and plans for all this chaos...the enemy of our soul, the accuser of the brethren, the original fallen angel and deceitful serpent from the Garden of Eden also has plans, dreams and desires for the church and God's people this year.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of scripture know that the devil roams around like a lion seeking someone to devour. In fact his sole aim is to steal, rob, kill and destroy. And he will do it to anyone, at any time, especially if they are a child of the Most High, and if he thinks his plans will deter, detour or destroy the future God has for them.

And so this is what I want us to focus our attention on this morning

If ever we were living in a season of distraction, it is right now.

If ever we were living in an age where it is difficult simply to concentrate, or to find truth or discover common sense...that time is right now.

And the toll the past 8 months has taken on people is noting to sneer or laugh at. Anxiety is through the roof. Mental health is eclipsing epidemic proportions. Marriages are in distress. Family relations are strained, and people seem more ready than ever before to give up on their God-given dreams and pursuits.

The Title of my message this mornings is “THE DEVASTATING COST OF DISTRACTION”

I want to share with you how I believe the enemy is using things like busyness, worry and fear, depression and politics to whip us into a mental and emotional frenzy to the point that we become so pre-occupied with those things that we lose our zeal and our passion for the Lord.

Let’s start with the most common distraction of them all: Busyness.

Distracted by Busyness

We are all busy. There are billion things, it seems, that vie for our attention each and every moment of the day. We have personal agendas, work agendas, family agendas, financial agendas…not to mention all the agendas that countless others have for us...who feel their agenda is more important for us than our own.

We live in a perpetual state of busyness.

It’s become a cultural badge of honor in our society.

When you ask people how the’yre doing or how their day is going, often time the response you get is “I’m busy”

But, as most of us know, there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between being BUSY and being PRODUCTIVE.

We can be busy doing a lot of things, yet still neglect the things that are truly important

We can chase rabbit holes and minute details and still find ourselves behind on the matters that deserve our highest level of attention.

And our spiritual walk with Christ is a prime example of this

It’s bad enough that many churches - including our own - have not been able to meet in person

It’s bad enough that we’ve had to rely on technology and zoom to find some semblence of Christian community

Statistics reveal that online engagement is down, giving is down, and spiritual engagement is at an all time low

And the question we must ask oursleves is WHY?

We know the anectotdal reasons, as we’ve stated them just a moment ago

but what is the real reason for this decline?

After all, we will make time for whatever we feel is MOST impotant in our lives

THere is a story in the Gospel of Luke (10:38-42) which tells about a dinner party that two sisters - Martha and Mary - were throwing for Jesus and His disciples. It was an honor to have the Lord in their home. A such Martha and Mary were busy preparing the food, cleaning the house and making sure that everything was tidy, in order rand ready for a wonderful evening.

However, once the guest of honor arrived, Mary seemed to disappear. Her assistance in the kitchen abruptly stopped, leaving Martha to take care of the meal preparations all by herself.

Mary, it turn out, decided to just plop down and sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him teach.

Martha was flabbergasted by this turn of events. How could her sister desert her in a moment like this? There was still food to prepare, dishes to plate, and final touches to be attended to before this meal could even take place

Yet her good for nothing sister stopped helping. Earlier she was going back and forth between tmingling with the guests and preparing the meal…but over time she became ore enamored with the conversations taking place in the living room than she was with the food cooking on the stove in the kitchen.

Martha had reached her breaking point. She was not going to sit and do all the work by herself so she reaches out to Jesus to get him to pull her sister away from the conversations and back into the kitchen where she belonged.

Jesus' reply took her completely by surprise. "Martha, Martha, you are distracted by many things...but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the latter and it won't be taken from her."

IN all her busyness, she lost sight of what she was there to do...to spend time with Jesus!

I wonder if thiscould apply to those of us gathered here this morning as well…???

In our busyness, have lost sigh of what it MOST important?

In our endeavors to complete our never ending check off lists, have we neglected to check the mot important box of them all? THE JESUS BOX?

Distracted by fear and worry

Another great distraction that is sweeping over people’s hearts and minds is FEAR and WORRY.

Fear of the unknown:

What if I get Covid?

What if I am hospitalized?

What if there are not enough beds in the ICU?

What will happen to the economy under a new president?

What if I lose my job?

What if I get sick and fall into poor health?

What if, what if, what if

Fear and worry should be declared as national pasttimes in our country. We all spend so much time worrying about so many thanings - even though we know that the vast majority of our worries will never actually occur.

So many people I know are caight up in this vicious cycoe of fear and worry.

And I don’t want to trivilaize it because there are truly things taking place in our lives, our country ad our world that are worrisome and can easily induce fear.

But as children of the most High we have not been called to live by fear and worrry - we have been called to live by faith.

Faith - not feelings - should guide our deicisons, our thoughts and our futures.

Life is not determined by chance. THere is a divine order present in all things. Our creator God, in His infinite wisdom, love and care for us, has planned our futures out for us - and they are not plans ofr harm but for good and for God’s glory to be revealed.

There’s an old saying that is worhty of repeating...”Can’t help worrying? That’s okay becuase worrying can’t help you either.”

Scripture admonishes against worry.

It tells us not to waste our time worrying about tomorrow or being fearful of what is to come.

Matthew 6: 25 tells us “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life - what you will eat or drink, or about your bodywhat you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing/”

It goes on to say “and Which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life>

Philipians 4:6 tells us to “not be anxious about anything. instead, in every situation, through prayer and petitition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.”

We were created to containers of FAITH and not containers of worry.

1 will lift us up

the other will drag us down

1 will bring us peace and confidence in even the most difficult times

the other will cause us to crumble into a pool of tears and sadness

2 Kings 6:15-17 -Elisha's servant was fearful of what his eyes could see to the point that he was blinded to see what God was actually doing!

Sometimes we find ourselves easily overcome by what we see in the natural. Obstacles road block, hindrances, The fear these things inflict upon us can literally take our breath away.

Elisha's attendant works up one morning to discover that he and Elisha were surrounded by an enemy army. Commons sense alerted him that this was a very bad scenario. There were not any good outcomes. There were horses and chariots and soldiers too numerous to count.

So what do you do when you are outnumbered, outwitted, outmaneuvered and clearly in trouble...?

YOU LOOK TO THE LORD FOR HELP!

Elisha wasn't worried in the slightest. He didn't lose any sleep that night, not did he fill with fear at the report of his servant.

Why? Because he knew God was fighting for him and that God was enough.

"Then Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so that he can see.' The lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw that the hill was full of horses

If only your blinded eyes could be opened to see how very much God is FOR YOU, you woudn’t waste another moment of everything that is against you.

You may have problems, you may have issues and struggles but MORE THAN THAT - YOU have a heavenly father who has a limitless arms of angel forces that he can summon to protect, provide and care for you at a moment’s notice.

Distracted by discouragement and depression

Wow! There is a lot of this going on right now.

Discouragement and depression are like tentacles of an octo[us that wrap around us and choke out the life within us.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest

Psalm 34 “the Lord is near the broken hearted; he delivers those who are discouraged”

1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your cares on Him because he cares for you”

John 16”33 “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.”

1 Kings 19:3 Elijah went through a season of depression

“I’ve had enough Lord, take my life I am ready to die. Then he ladi down and went to sleep”

Distracted by Politics

Jonah 4 -