Dedicated To Distraction - Pastor Brad DeLong

I feel praise Rising here we're not going to stop it I want you to give him all the glory all the praise you got he's worthy of it whatever it looks like for you clapped hands lifted hands leaping give him all the praise He's Worthy it hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah this isn't my text but a moment ago the book of Isaiah chapter 42 verse eight came to my mind says I'm I am the Lord beside me there is no other he says I will not share my glory with any other if you came for any other reason then to worship him give your life to him we ought to change it

nothing else is worthy no one else is worthy would you lift your hands right now and live like you believe it we worship you Jesus we give you glory Jes you're worthy of it all day and night we will praise you especially this night we will praise you clap your hands together thank God for his presence so thankful he showed up tonight so thankful you showed up tonight give yourselves a hand before you got here there were about 300 high schoolers they were gathered out on our church lot they were in a parade yeah headed to the local high school for homecoming

homecoming to to cheer on a football team but you didn't go there you came here and the one you're worshiping he's worthy of your praise more than the football team I'm thankful you're here night since you're here we might as well worship God together thanks to all the pastors all the youth leaders for coming bringing these students thanks to brother and sister clark the leader of Spanish evangelism Ministries so thankful they put this together and thanks to the walmers wmer for all their work thanks in advance for translating even though I talk too fast

and thank you that you all came you might have seen my ugly face on social media and you came Anyway come on now so glad you're here and we're here to worship him we're here to get closer to him we're going to do that through his word book of Ezra chapter one and then chapter n Ezra 1 and 2 EAS thus says Cyrus King of Persia all the kingdoms of the Earth the Lord God Of Heaven has given to me he's commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah and for the most part they're successful they build the temple they finish it in chapter six they

did great work for the kingdom but the work wasn't finished because they were expected to continue to serve the Lord and give their life to him after the service was over and after the temple was built and after the songs were sung they were supposed to serve God chapter n tells us that they eventually failed says when these things were done the leaders so they're living like everyone else they're living like the people of the world verse two says for they've taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons so that the holy seed is mixed

with the people of the land indeed the hand of the leaders and rulers has been in this trespass it's here in this chapter find Ezra the man of God carrying his garments because the people fell into distraction they lost sight of their mission they lost sight of their identity and they were derailed because of distraction tonight from this text I want to preach from this title dedicated to distraction I believe the Lord is here and he sees you and he knows what has your heart and he will share his glory with no other's calling us back would you lift hands

right now ask for God's help Jesus we need your help tonight need your word tonight I pray you'd open our ears open our hearts help us to hear the word we need to change help us to change if we need to lay aside some weight help us to lay it aside help us to give you our hearts completely in the name of Jesus we pray amen amen you can be seated we live in an age of distraction it's everywhere you can't go anywhere without some kind of distraction Studies have shown that individuals especially those who are younger that's a joke those who like to uh engage

in media those who use a phone they are more and more distracted on a daily basis this is shown by the fact that our attention spans they're shorter and shorter our ability to focus on one thing it's been compromised in fact we read recently in a staff devotion that the average iPhone user um touches their phone 2,67 times a day a day anyone have an iPhone iPhone raise your hand 2,617 times those some of you checked it even since service started some of you might be looking at it now now your neighbor say put it away we're distracted we have distracted pedestrians

they're on their phone on the road cities have made text walking Lanes real it's a real thing because people can't get their eyes off a phone I almost ran into two people two weeks ago because they were on their phone I hope I wasn't on mine even in places where focus is encouraged like church church or or the dinner table we still find it difficult to focus on who's speaking focus on the word to focus on those around us I heard recently restaurants like Chick-fil-A chickfila they put boxes on their tables and they bribe people with ice cream I know that

one ah ice cream they bribe them with ice cream if they put their phone in the Box just to talk to one another just to spend time with one another we are in an age of distraction drivers are failing to pay attention on the roads couples can't pay attention over for dinner and technology fails to help us it's everywhere it's being used as a powerful agent to disrupt our attention and our awareness there was an article published several years ago talked about this very thing countries and governments they're using distraction to their advantage it's been documented

after major noteworthy events these governments use fake news they flood social media they flood media in general in order to distract the article said this governments have decided that the ability to distract is one of the most powerful weapons of social media any media for that matter one of the most powerful weapons they can use it's one of the most powerful weapons our enemy can use distraction is being used as a tool is a weapon for governments and countries around the world and I would contend distraction it's being used as a weapon against the people

of God as well it's being used against the church it's not crazy to say distraction is one of of the primary instruments that our flesh and the enemy uses against the children of God and uses against us tonight one of the prevailing problems and detrimental devices of our age it's a weapon and divine of distraction it's ramped up all the more these haven't helped us at all but distraction didn't start with us distraction has derailed the people of God from the beginning you saw it in our opening scripture all throughout the Bible distraction has been a struggle

it's crippled the people of God from the beginning even our Heroes David David Solomon Salomon Samson sson Moses Moses Paul PA Father Abraham they fell to distraction one writer I read said this David was distracted by Pleasure Abraham distracted by fear Paul distracted by pain we give our distractions names but at the end of the day when so at the end of the day distraction is anything that that pulls our attention away from God it comes in many forms it's one of the primary weapons used against us James 1 says this says but each one is tempted when he's

drawn away when he's distracted by his own enticed and when that desire is conceived it gives birth to sin and When sin is full grown it brings forth death we were warned about it in the Bible um and we see it in our text see it in chapter one the Israelites started so great they they got back to Jerusalem they built that Temple everyone's excited like they went to youth congress they took on the world they got back from Exile camp and they're excited and they had a Passover for the first time in 70 years they knew who they were they had a calling on their

life some of you went to Camp recently or you went to youth congress youth congress and you never felt more sure of your call and who you are but then you see what happens just a few chapters later a distraction comes along just a few chapters in a few days a few months they're worse often when they got there they're worse often when they left Babylon and they're distracted and I want you to notice what happens they weren't just engaged with their distraction they didn't just dabble in distraction it wasn't just something they did every weekend it wasn't

just something they did at school they weren't just in engaged with him they married their distraction they made a covenant with their distraction we're going to read this text in Ezra 9 I want you to notice what it says for they have taken the daughters of the other people in the land for their sons so that the holy people they have married themselves with the people of the land and even their leaders LED them in that sin through a process of time they dedicated themselves to distraction more than to their God they married the very thing that sent them

into Exile they committed themselves to distraction and after reading that I realize we often find ourselves the same place whether we know it or not many times we're not just engaged with distractions we're married to them we make long-term commitments and we make them to distraction we have subscriptions to our distractions we pay $20 a month for our distractions we pay a high price for our distractions we give dozens of hours a week hundreds of hours a month to distraction we can't leave our distractions in the Next Room without feeling disconnected without

feeling incomplete anyone ever done this where is it I did it earlier I'm preaching to myself we allow our distractions to cause us to miss time with God to skip times at church to forgo times of prayer to live without reading his word we're often more concerned about reading a text message or that comment section then we are the word of god without considering the cost we dedicate ourselves to distraction temporal things things that won't matter things that won't matter in eternity hear me even things like education extracurricular activities things that

are good things that are wonderful they can be a distraction they can take priority they can take God's place they can take God's glory I'm all for excellence in solid work ethic and an academic achievement but when those things become more important in him when they become more important than God they are a distraction when this is more important than God a distraction when social media is more important than the word it's a distraction when school activities take the place of church activities or they pull me away from Jesus they are a distraction when

anything else calls for My Worship my devotion and it pulls away from my relationship with God it's a distraction tonight I've come to help somebody that's battling distraction remind you tonight no one else is worthy like he is nothing else deserves your worship Jesus Christ nothing is more important than your time with him no distraction deserves your time and your devotion and your dedication no distraction deserves your attention more than what you give to Jesus it's time we lay down some distractions we picked up a cross it's time we lay aside every

weight and the sin that keeps us and we run with patience the race that's before us looking under Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who laid it all aside for you and for me it's time we stopped allowing distractions to delay the call of God some of you have a call on your life some of you have been in service recently and God's called you but there's distractions that are keeping you from the call of God I'm telling you you've got to lay those aside are not wor it they don't deserve your time that relationship doesn't deserve your time that person

doesn't deserve your time that thing you want so bad it may not deserve your time we've got to lay aside weights we've got to get back to him this is what happened in chapter n and then the next chapter chapter 10 it says that Ezra found out what happened and the next thing we know he sitting on the ground in Brokenness he's weeping he's repenting he's even pulling hair out of his own beard this was serious it was eternal notice what happens next the man of God starts to repent and something powerful happens I know we don't like to talk about repentance

all that much no one gets up and runs the aisles maybe not ideal for a Friday night youth rally but your repentance is powerful when you decide to turn away from whatever is distracting you and you turn to him and you walk with him it's powerful it can change your life tonight anyone ever experienced that that repentance changed your life the Bible says the Angels Rejoice one person one sinner repents Ezra repents and the people begin to realize what they had done just like someone in the room is tonight they looked up from their distraction and they realized

they had to get back to God they had traded what was eternal for what was temporal and now it was time for repentance chapter 10 says this and verse two one of the men said we've sinned against our we've taken Pagan wives from the peoples of the land yet now there is hope in Israel despite of this I want to talk to someone real quick before we move any further it doesn't matter how long it's been it doesn't matter how much you've committed to it you may have a coach or a teacher or someone else in your life that's going to be upset when you walk away from

that distraction but I'd rather it be them that's upset at you and that's distant from you Jesus it doesn't matter how long it's been you can get back to him there is still hope for you you can lay it down you can walk with him again says in verse three now therefore let's make a covenant with our God put away the distractions according to the advice of my master and those who tremble at the command of God let it be done according to the law arise for this matter is your responsibility we are with you be a good CH courage and do it they had a moment in the

presence of God when they realized we're distracted we're distant from God I'm not as close to him as I want to be I made covenants with other others I've committed more to others and they repented because of it they were cut off from God but they returned to him again they put away the distractions now it took time it might take some time to break those habits it may take some time to to cut those things off but that's what true repentance looks like it's not just turning to him it's turning away from something else when you repent tonight it's not just

coming to meet him at an altar and then leave in the same way you came sometimes we bring our distractions to church with us and we go to the Altar and we lay him down I'm sorry God help me Lord use me for your kingdom and then we pick him up and we walk back out again that's not true repentance we got to leave the pumpkin we have to leave the distraction on the Altar and give it to him and walk out of here different we can't waste our time on Friday night we've got to change we've got to be better we've got to be closer to him we need to leave some things

just like the children of Israel we've got to be more dedicated to our god than we are to distraction I want the musicians to come just before we open this Altar for a time of prayer I want to share one last story with you that I believe demonstrates what we're going to do tonight I took my son to the store the other day I was walking with the shopping cart he didn't want to get in the cart he ran around beside me he's sitting right over there being a good boy said Son you need to walk right beside me don't run off you need to stay with Dad at one point

though we made it to the toy and he forgot everything I said he saw an airplane toy he ran over to look at it saw a toy with all kinds of colors pushing all the buttons getting his germs all over it he saw the dinosaurs he was mesmerized he wanted those dinosaurs and then he saw the monster trucks and he forgot I existed he had no clue I was there anymore in fact I started to walk away a little bit he didn't know I was leaving he was mesmerized by the colors and the plastic and the packaging I looked at the price tag $27 for eight monster trucks foras come

on I love that that's the interpretation it costs too much took a couple times and caused for me to get his attention but I needed him to walk with me again at one point he realized I wasn't nearby and he looked up from that distraction he started looking for dad again I called out to him Wesley Wesley Wesley Wesley I'm over here he's looking eventually he came over and saw me ran back to my side again and we walked again together this is what's happening here tonight some of us are distracted we're fixated on something that in the end it's worth nothing

but somehow it still costs too much the price for your distraction it's our time our devotion our Attention our dedication eventually our eternity and what we get in return it's just plastic it's worthless like those eight monster trucks it's not going to matter in the end costs too much and seeing that we're distracted Our Father who we should be walking with today he loves us so much that he has not left us he has not left you to your distraction he's still near by watching he's still waiting on you and in his Mercy in his grace he's calling out to you

tonight he's saying son daughter I'm over here you're distracted walk with me again it costs too much it's not worth what you're given it it's not worthy of your praise you're distracted drawn away distant from me and like my son did in that store he's waiting on you to look up from that phone that device that distraction and realize how distant you are from him and he's ready to call you back he's ready to help you to walk again if you want to walk with the Lord you don't repent and return to him I'm going invite you to stand right now if you want to walk

with him in any way I'm going to open this altar right now and I just want to invite you to come if you want to walk with God you turn to him step out of where you are right now would you come and find a place to pray and call on the father and make sure that you're close to him again would you come and walk by his side again lay down some distractions lay down some weights get your eyes off those distra action back on to the father again he's been waiting on you he's here tonight he wants your worship he wants your devotion and he's worthy of it let's give

it to him