Distractions

Distractions Youth Day 6/8/2002

Proverbs 3:5-12 Hebrews 12:1-3 1 Samuel 13:1-6

Aaron

Our theme for Youth Day is Distractions. LaDawn and I will share this sermon together. I’ll start it and she will finish it. What is a distraction. A distraction is anything that takes our mind off of what we are suppose to be doing. A distraction can take place in a very short period of time, or it can be something that keeps coming back again and again. Distractions can keep us from being successful with our lives.

Imagine with me for a moment, that you are at a basketball game. There are two seconds left in the game. Your team is down by two points. You have just been fouled and you are on your way to the foul line. As you walk toward the basket, you know that if you make these two shots, chances are you will win the game. When you get the ball at the foul line, you have the chance to be a hero.

It would be dumb to believe that everyone there in the gym wants you to make those two shots. It would also be dumb to think, you can ask the referee to please ask everyone to be real quiet so that you can concentrate on making the shot. It just is not going to happen

The smart thing to do would be to know, as you go toward the foul line, that some people are going to do all that they can to distract you. Some will yell, some will boo, some will call you a name, and some will wave plastic sticks to get your attention. They know that if they can just distract you for a moment as you are shooting the ball, the ball may go around and around on the rim and then fall to the floor without going through the basket.

We are all going to be faced with having to make decisions to do the right thing. Sometimes the hardest thing about doing the right thing, is getting past the distractions. Look at Rodney. Rodney has decided that this weekend, he’s going to do what he is supposed to do. He is going to do all of his chores and cut the grass just like his dad had told him to do. On Saturday, he’s home by himself and he gets started on his chores.

A few of his friends come over to chill and want him to go with them down to the court to play some hoops. Rodney tells them he can’t go because he has chores to do. They begin to call him a mama’s boy and some other things that are not so nice to embarrass him into going. Rodney really had planned on doing the right thing, but his friends are now a distraction. What is he going to do? What would you do.

Mark was a teenager trying to live for God. He had been trying to win his friend Jamaal to the Lord. He begged his parents to let him spend the night so that he could really tell Jamaal about the Lord. Mark’s parents gave him permission to spend the night at Jamaal’s house. Jamaal’s older brother took them to rent a video.

They rented a great sci-fi movie and could not wait to see it. Once they popped in the video they realized this was not the movie they had rented. Instead they saw the title “Bunnies From Heaven” and the bunnies on the screen were not little rabbits and they were not on their way to heaven. The video was rated XXX. Jamaal, yells out “Wow this is great”. What should Mark say or do? He had come over to tell Jamaal about Christ but now this movie has come as a distraction. What would you do?

Lena had plans to go to college as soon as she graduated from high school. She was a good student and very active in the church youth group . The prom was coming up, and she really wanted to go. Nothing would have made her day more than to go to the Prom with Sean Davis. “SD” as he was called, was one of the most popular guys in the school.

What girl would not want to go the prom with him. Now SD had a reputation for being a “Player” but still the thought of being seen with him was really something.

Lena could not believe it when he actually asked her out to the prom. She thought she was as close to heaven as you can get without dying. Everything was fine until the week of the prom, when Sean made it clear they would be stopping by a motel after the dance. All of a sudden SD has become a major distraction for the plans and goals she has for her life. Lena had always wanted to be a virgin on her wedding night. What should she do? What would you do?