Fast Forward

Have you ever been distracted? Accused of not paying attention? Look at some of these fine examples...

It seems an epidemic has encompassed our culture. Distracted drivers. Have you ever passed someone shaving, putting on make-up, texting, eating, etc. while driving? Listen to these stats:

• Almost 50% of all drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 are texting while driving.

• Teens say that texting is their number one driver distraction.

• 4 out of every 5 accidents (80%) are attributed to distracted drivers. In contrast, drunk drivers account for roughly 1 out of 3 (33%) of all accidents nationally.

• Texting while driving is about 6 times more likely to result in an accident than driving while intoxicated.

I was a distracted driver on my Honda 50 motorcycle when I was about 13 or so. I had an itch in between my shoulder blades.

Being distracted can be dangerous or in this case funny:

VIDEO - "Distracted Ferrari Driver" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPk7GdzKmrQ

The opposite of being distracted is paying attention. Part of paying attention is to have fast forward thinking. Think about what happens if you continue down this road. This applies to every area of our lives. How much wiser we would be to have "Fast Forward" thinking.

 When tempted to chase the money of a "better" job even though it would mean being away from your family more or not being able to go to church... Fast Forward

 When tempted to flirt with a co-worker... Fast Forward

 When tempted to fill your weekend with entertainment and skip worshipping with your family... Fast Forward

 When tempted to chase the "American Dream" and put it all on plastic... Fast Forward

 When tempted to shelve your spiritual life .... Fast Forward

 When tempted to do harm to yourself or someone else. Fast Forward

I want to take you to my texts for today.

Prov. 22:3 & Prov. 27:12 both say, "The prudent see danger and take refuge. The simple keep going and suffer for it."

The NLT puts it this way, "A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

And the Message, "A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered."

The Pope Version says “The prudent fast forwards their thinking and takes action; The dumb just ignores that thought and gets slammed.”

The main thought I want you to capture from this sermon is this: Our direction determines our destination.

You want to head to the Mall of America but you get on I-39 South. You are not getting to the Mall. It doesn't matter how many people you call, it doesn't matter if you have a prayer meeting before you go. You are not getting to the Mall of America by getting on I-39 South. You are going the wrong direction! Direction determines your destination. The proverb says that the prudent see danger, they see they are going the wrong direction and they do something. They take action. They risk embarrassment. They stop and ask for directions, they double check the address in the GPS, they listen to their wife, etc. However, the simple, the dumb, the stupid, the ungodly, keep going. They see danger but they keep going. They believe that if they just keep going they will be okay and get where they want to go. They suffer the consequences.

If our direction puts us on a path that determines our destination, what effects our direction?

Something gets our attention. We say it like this: Something grabbed my attention, captured my attention. I was going this way and something turned my focus.

Where your attention and focus is is going to determine our direction, and ultimately going to determine our destination.

Something ever grabbed your attention?

 Was it a car that just wrapped you around its tailpipe? You just had to have it. So what if it had 200,000 miles on it. It would look awesome wrapped around you. So, you might have to push it occasionally, big deal. You had to have it.

 That piece of sporting equipment that was going to make all the difference for your game. The driver, the putter, the new racquet, the new bat, the new bike, etc.

 The Harley that your neighbor just bought, all chromed out and beautiful

 The beautiful people in internet ads that pop up on your screen and tell you what you want to hear. They are looking for you... Riiiiggghhhhtttt!

 The house that you really couldn't afford, but if you make sacrifices and both work really hard, you can make it. You might have to work weekends, you might have to travel. You might not be able to spend much time with the family, but you will have the house.