Distractions 2014 You Cheated on Me, You Didn’t Trust Me, You Sinned, You Cut Yourself Off From Me, And Although You Are Still Alive, You Are Slowly Dying. So You Look For Other Things To Fill The Void, But Nothing Works, It Just Kills You Faster And It Separates Us More And More. 3 weeks ago I mentioned to you 5 things that can distract us from God; I mentioned; money, media, church, relationships and routines; Tonight I would like to share 5 more; But before I do that want to remind you of the video that we saw 3 last time. The video in which we were reminded that we are all shattered plates, we are all broken and most importantly these 10 distractions that we are learning cause us to be broken; And only through the blood of your savior Jesus Christ we are restored. Things that separate us from God

6. Work Luke 10:38-42 We can have great motives behind our work but sometimes we let work become more important than “listening to Jesus” Work, this can be a big distraction from God for many of us; especially since we are raised in a Romanian culture with such a strong work background. If we learned one thing form our parents we learned that they are hard workers, right? But when I mean that work can be a distraction, I’m not referring to just a job. It mean everything from a job, to leading a youth group or bible study, or anything; Its so easy to get caught up in our duties; But most important thing is that we do everything for the Lord; Lets read Luke 10:38-42 We can have great motives behind our work, but sometimes we let work become more important than listing to Jesus. And this is what Jesus was trying to tell Martha; Don’t let work be a distraction to you; Mary was at Jesus’ feet trying to listen to Him while Martha was being distracted by her work;

7. Our Hobbies Everyone has hobbies, I have many of them; Some of them are, watching sports, exercising; swimming; I love playing basketball when I get some time; A dangerous thing about hobbies is that they can consume a lot of our time. However, hobbies can provide great opportunities if we use them for Gods purposes. For example, we can play sports with people to develop relationships, and create opportunities for bible conversations; Ex: We can play sports with others to develop relationships, and create opportunities for bible conversations

8. Blessings This is a very easy distraction to fall into. It can be so easy to pray for a specific thing over and over again, but forget about spending time with God. We can very easily start treating God like a vending machine; Right? And we just go to Him when we want something, but we don’t follow him with the rest of our lives. Do you remember the verse in Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about seeking his kingdom first? Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and al these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 Its not first seek all other things, and then if you get around to it, seek his kingdom Desiring a blessing from God more than desiring God himself

9. Our pastors, youth leaders Its not our pastors or our church leaders responsibility to feed us all we need to be spiritual healthy Do you think our pastors or our church leaders can be a distraction for us? I think they can definitely be one. What I am referring to is that we can easily be dependent upon our leaders. This can be a really deadly interference in our walk with God. Its not our pastors or our church leaders responsibility to feed us all we need to be spiritual healthy, we need to work at it ourselves as well A lot of people fall into this habit of only getting teaching, or reading the bible on a Sunday morning, or Saturday night, whenever there is service. This could be like only eating once a week; I don’t know about you but if I don’t eat everyday, my body becomes really weak. If we did this, we would be horribly malnourished; And sadly, this is the case for many of us spiritually.

10. Ourselves The last on on my list of distractions and possibly the most likely to distract us is “Ourselves”; We are, by nature, sinful, and if we live by our nature, we will not get close to God. That why we need to die to ourselves and live in Christ. Just like Paul tell us in Romans 6:11; But no matter what we do, there will be a constant battle with ourselves between the spirit and the flesh; Romans 7:15-21; So what Paul is trying to tell us that we there is always a constant battle with ourselves between the spirit and the flesh… That’s why we need to constantly allow God to search our heart and purify it: “Psalm 139:23-24 But no matter what we do, there will be a constant battle with ourselves between the spirit and the flesh

Summary – Distractions 2014 Money Media Church/Religion Relationships Routine 6. Work 7. Hobbies 8. Blessings 9. Pastors/Youth Leaders 10. Ourselves "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" 1 Tim 6:10 2. "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3), Anything that comes between you and God Anything that takes His place as number one in our hearts is an idol. 3. Pretending to be perfect; Making us feel that we are right with God 4. Remember, God calls us to love one another (1 John 3:11), so when we do, it is an act of obedience to him. But don’t forget about God in the process. 5. Routines – does God have a place in your daily schedule??? 6. Work - We can have great motives behind our work, but sometimes we let work become more important than listening to Jesus 7. Hobbies – Our hobbies can be shared with others to create relationships and develop opportunities to share the gospel 8. Blessings – Desiring blessings from God more than desiring God himself 9. New Life Pastors/Church Leaders - Its not our pastors or our church leaders responsibility to feed us all we need to be spiritual healthy; we need to work on it ourselves as well 10. Ourselves – Understand that we are of sinful nature and we need to get rid of ourselves and allow God to take control I pray that God will help us this year as well. I pray that we do our part and allow God to work in our lives and not create these 10 barriers between God and us. God Bless You!