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I was watching
the Utah Jazz in a basketball game that meant
the winner going to the championship finals and
playing the Chicago Bulls. I watched Karl
Malone, a power forward for the Jazz,
intentionally fouled. He walked to the foul line
to shoot the free throw. The game was on the
line as hundreds of people in the bleachers
behind the goal were waving, yelling, and
shaking long white animal balloons as a
DISTRACTION to Karl.
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Life can be that
way sometimes. Something or someone will foul
your life (not a game) when it is on the line.
You will be fouled and sometimes it will seem
intentional. You really need to make the shot to
get to the championship, but hundreds of
distractions are trying to stop you. You have a
goal to make, but staying focused on the
important thing – the Lord, families, finances,
school, exercise programs, diets, etc. is tough.
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Probably the
thing that we are distracted concerning the most
is the Lord and the kingdom. With life waving,
yelling, and fouling us, how are we supposed to
focus on church and God’s kingdom?
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Nonetheless, to
play in the championship of life, somehow you
MUST “shut out” the balloons, the fouls, and all
the DISTRACTION and make the shot. Life
depends on it. Life’s benefits depend upon it.
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1
Corinthians 7:35 And this I speak FOR YOUR
OWN PROFIT; not that I may cast a snare upon
you, but for that which is comely, and that ye
may attend upon the Lord without DISTRACTION.
[NIV - undivided devotion]
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(NLT)
1 Corinthians 7:35 I am saying this FOR YOUR
BENEFIT, not to place restrictions on you. I
want you to do whatever will help you serve the
Lord best, WITH AS FEW DISTRACTIONS AS
POSSIBLE.
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It is FOR
YOUR OWN PROFIT and FOR YOUR BENEFIT
that you need to serve the Lord with as few
DISTRACTIONS as possible (NLT). I like that
translation. King James’ says without
DISTRACTION. A life without DISTRACTIONS,
or serving the Lord without DISTRACTIONS,
just is not going to happen. Distractions come.
Fouls come and balloons come, but we can
minimize them and focus through them.
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To prove my
point about distractions and the kingdom, let me
ask you a question. How many of us have ever
been praying, with a right heart, when something
distracted you? I mean you really wanted to
pray, you wanted to enjoy your time with the
Lord, when suddenly, from nowhere, came a
DISTRACTION – the phone rang, or a crazy
thought came through your mind, or something
weird happened, etc. The balloons began waving.
Your time of prayer was to benefit you and
benefit those for whom you were praying, but a
DISTRACTION unfocused you and pulled you
away.
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Has this ever
happened to you concerning your faithfulness and
attending church? Perhaps you made your mind up
that you were not going to miss another Sunday.
You were going to church and serve the Lord no
matter what! But, something happened that
changed all that – you were tired, got sick,
argued with your spouse, got fouled, etc. The
balloons were waving! A DISTRACTION
changed your plans and you found yourself
missing church… again.
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Has a similar
thing ever happened concerning your giving to
the kingdom? You said something like, “I promise
you Lord, I am going to begin tithing NEXT
week.” However, as sure as the sun will come up
tomorrow, the car broke down, or the
refrigerator went out, or the baby became sick
and you had to pay the bills. It fouled you and
the balloons were waving.
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I want us to see
that a DISTRACTION is planned by the
enemy to take us out of the kingdom. I want us
to also see that DISTRACTIONS are
universal! Every person in the Bible experienced
the normal distractions of life and distractions
intended to take them out of the kingdom. The
serpent purposefully distracted Eve with
forbidden fruit. Eve distracted Adam. Wine
distracted Noah. Giving her husband what he
wanted distracted Sarah from her purpose. Hagar
and Ishmael distracted Abraham. Sodom distracted
Lot.
Looking back distracted Lot’s wife. A little
hunger and a pot of beans distracted Esau.
Jacob’s own deception distracted him. Dreams
distracted Joseph. Anger distracted Moses.
Rebellious children distracted Eli. Women
distracted Samson. Jezebel distracted Elijah.
David distracted King Saul. His own father
distracted Jonathan. Bathsheba distracted David.
Wives and concubines distracted Solomon. Waves
and wind distracted Peter. A my-way-or-no-way
attitude distracted Paul. “Many things”
distracted Martha. Wealth distracted the rich
young ruler. False religion distracted the
Pharisees.
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My point is,
distractions come, and are universal to
everyone. Some distractions are minor bumps, but
some distractions are serious distractions, with
the intentions to remove us from our garden of
abundant life and destroy us.
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We are all aware
of the temptations that Jesus experienced.
Let’s recall the situation. Jesus went into the
wilderness to fast and pray. Guess who “Popped
up”? The devil. This is interesting.
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Matthew 4:3-9 The TEMPTER came to him
and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “IT
IS WRITTEN: 'Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God.”’ Then the DEVIL took him
to the holy city and had him stand on the
highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son
of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it
is written: ‘“He will command his angels
concerning you, and they will lift you up in
their hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.”’ Jesus answered him, “IT
IS ALSO WRITTEN: ‘Do not put the Lord your
God to the test.”’ Again, the devil took him to
a very high mountain and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All
this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow
down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away
from me, Satan! For IT IS WRITTEN:
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him
only.”’
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Notice the
TEMPTER in verse 3 changed into, or actually
was, the DEVIL in verse 5. What
was the purpose of the tempter and the
devil? It was to provide a DISTRACTION
for Jesus from his real goal and purpose in
life. The DISTRACTION would take him from
the kingdom and ultimately destroy him. If the
TEMPTER/DEVIL came to Jesus in an attempt
to remove his focus, we would be fools to think
that he will not come to us. Allow me to give
you a scary thought. Have you ever wondered how
many times the tempter devil has ALREADY
come to you and caused you to miss your best
life and perhaps even your destiny? How much
further along in life could each of us be had we
not allowed a DISTRACTION to work on us?
Hear me please. Distractions come, fouls come,
and they are POWERFUL.
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I knew a
very good church-going girl in high school who
was/is extremely intelligent. She was a shoe-in
for an academic scholarship to a good college.
There was no limit to what she could have
become, but she met a boy and they began dating.
She really liked the boy and he began pressuring
her to have sex. Eventually, she did and she
became pregnant. Because of the type person she
was, she dropped out of school, forgot about
college, and raised her baby. She experienced a
foul and the balloons were waving!
DISTRACTION! How many thousands of times has
that story been repeated?
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I knew a
man who had a beautiful wife and three great
children. He had a great business, beautiful
house, and opportunities to have a life beyond
most of our wildest dreams. However, he became
addicted to pornography and as porn does, one
layer of weirdness led to a higher layer of
weirdness. The next thing he knew, one of his
“ladies”, he met on the internet, sent his naked
picture to everyone who knew him. Before long,
his beautiful wife was gone. His great children
were gone. His great business was gone. His
money was gone. He lost everything. The enemy
fouled him and the balloons were waving!
DISTRACTION!
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The Bible tells
us the story about two sisters in Luke chapter
10. One sister’s name was Martha and the other’s
name was Mary. Martha opened their house to the
Lord and to his disciples. Jesus began teaching
and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening
intently. Yet, that was not the case with
Martha.
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Luke
10:40 But Martha was DISTRACTED by all
the preparations that had to be made. She came
to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care
that my sister has left me to do the work by
myself? Tell her to help me!"
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Can you relate
to that? Does the Lord care that things are
distracting us from him? We make many
preparations for life, but often in making
life’s preparations, we miss what is truly
important. Sometimes, doing preparations
seems like the correct thing to do. Are they
really? Martha wanted the meal to be perfect!
She wanted the house to be just right. That
sounds like a “right” thing to do for the Lord.
But, actually all of that was only a
DISTRACTION. Here is what Jesus said to
Martha.
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Luke
10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered,
“you are worried and upset about MANY THINGS,
BUT ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED. Mary has
chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her.”
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(NLT) Luke 10:41-42 But the Lord said to her,
“My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these
details! There is REALLY ONLY ONE THING WORTH
BEING CONCERNED ABOUT. MARY HAS
DISCOVERED IT - and I won't take it away
from her.”
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There are many
good points to this story. Let’s talk about a
few of them.
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(1) Many
things worried and upset Martha.
We need to see the picture. Right there was the
Lord, who has the words of life, but Martha
allowed MANY THINGS to distract her. What
distracts you from the word of life? What
DISTRACTION comes stopping you from reading
your Bible, or coming to listen to biblical
teaching? We are exactly like Martha and can
probably answer, “Many things” – many fouls and
many balloons. We allow the television, the
children, our jobs, fatigue, telephone, company,
spouse, and on and on to distract us. What is it
that is really worth being concerned about?
Allow me to ask you a question. Have you ever
had a time when you prioritized reading and
listening to teaching about the word of God? Did
your life go better then than it did/does when
you do not prioritize the word of God? My life
does. I make much better decisions. I make the
basket. The balloons are still there, but I
focus far better. Jesus said, “It is written.”
You can make the hoop if you prioritize God’s
word.
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(2)
ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED. Is that
true? Jesus was exaggerating! Right? It is true
and, no, Jesus was not exaggerating. The Bible
answers every question we have about life and
life’s fouls and balloons. The solutions you
need to anything about life is in the Bible.
ONE THING IS NEEDED to get us through any
DISTRACTION.
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(3)
Distractions affect others. The
room was full of people. Jesus was there with
the apostles. I would give anything to have been
there to listen to Jesus and those men simply
talk. Mary and Martha had probably invited
friends. It was then Martha vocalized her
resentment toward Mary’s lack of assistance. It
was a DISTRACTION to everyone in hearing
distance. When we allow a distraction to affect
us, others are always distracted. When I come to
teach, I am well prepared. As you know, we have
a great nursery and children’s ministry, but a
few weeks ago, I was teaching, and for some
strange reason, several of our little ones were
in the sanctuary. Some of them became restless
and began crying. It so distracted me that I
could barely concentrate. Everyone in the room
experienced DISTRACTION. The balloons
were waving. I seriously focused to get through
it and people told me later that lesson was the
best lesson of that particular series. We can
focus through a distraction if we are prepared
with the word.
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(4) Allow
people to tell us that we are distracted.
Jesus told Martha,
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Luke
10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “YOU
ARE WORRIED AND UPSET ABOUT MANY THINGS, but
only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what
is better, and it will not be taken away from
her.”
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Jesus
specifically told Martha that she was
experiencing a DISTRACTION. If someone
told you something like that when you were
trying your best to do something for the Lord,
how would you respond? The Bible does not tell
the immediate response that Martha had to Jesus,
but we do know that she did not allow it to
offend her. Later we read about Martha’s
literally rushing out to meet Jesus.
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John
11:20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that
Jesus was coming, went and met him…
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Martha received
instruction that many things distracted her. How
about you? What are the many things
distracting you? Can you handle it when someone
tells you that some “thing” or some person is a
distraction to you? If you will not, then it
could take you out of your garden of the best
life you can experience.
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I want to end by
telling you a story that I read about baseball.
It’s about Yogi Berra, a catcher for the New
York Yankees, and Hank Aaron who is the home run
king and became an Atlanta Brave. The teams were
playing in the World Series. Yogi had a way of
constantly distracting the batters of the
opposing team by talking to them as they batted.
When Hank came to the plate, Yogi tried to
distract him by saying, “Henry, you’re holding
the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you
can read the trademark.” Aaron did not say a
word. When the next pitch came, Hank hit it into
the left-field bleachers. After rounding the
bases and tagging home plate, Aaron looked at
Yogi Berra and said, “I didn’t come up here to
read.”
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Hank did NOT
come up to read and now holds the record of the
most homeruns hit in baseball using no steroids.
What did you COME UP here to do? What
fouls have and are you experiencing? What
balloons are waving, and shaking behind your
goal? Life is on the line. It is for your profit
to serve the Lord with as few distractions as
possible. Do not allow anything to get you off
focus on faithfulness, or prayer, or reading
God’s word, or giving to the kingdom. Read your
Bible and say “it is written” to any
distraction. Sit at good teaching as Mary did.
Get a hold of the one thing needed. Do not allow
your distractions to distract others. Listen to
people when they tell you that you are
distracted. What did you come here to do? Was it
to read the label, or hit a home run? Was it to
make the shot and go on to the championship
games, or be distracted by the balloons?
By-the-way, back to my original story. Karl
Malone made the shot, and they went to the
championship games. Can you make the shot?
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