Distracted!
Are You Listening?
We live in a time with more distractions then ever
• And we love it that way… keep me entertained/ quietness = boredom in many people’s minds
• Let there be a few moments of silence and out comes our little distraction boxes (phones)
• Google/Alexa/Siri, Entertain me. (Girl prays thanks for the food to Alexa)
• (distractions) Have you spoken to someone lately, and you are wondering the whole time, “Are you Listening”?
• The answer is probably yes, they are listening but to what voices and how many?
• Attention Deficit Disorder, could much of it be of our own making?
Do you listen? Good, (we all are) but who is the speaker?
There is a saying, "Knowledge Speaks, but Wisdom Listens"
but if we want to be wise and listen, then who we listen to is vital!
Shouldn’t that voice be the voice of all knowledge?
• The same voice who spoke all that we know into existence.
• Spoke throughout the Old Testament and spoke the very laws in place that our legal system is based on.
• Then personally sent His Son to speak and demonstrate in the flesh, His compassion and love for us.
• Followed by the Holy Spirit to be that indwelling voice that guides us.
God has had a lot to say over the thousands of years of man's existence.
• He is still speaking to us today, but we have to take care in who has our ear.
• As demonstrated very early in human existence, listening to the wrong voice can be disastrous.
After all, when humans lived in perfect, Eve let one lying voice distract her from the truth of the one who created it all for them.
• Adam let a distracted person distract him from the very one he walked in the garden with.
• The one voice he could trust. (casting doubt on that truth)
Today we have false voices screaming for our attention from every possible direction and device.
How do we cut through the thousands of distractions and focus on the one true voice of wisdom?
John 10:27 (NIV)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
#1 What Voice? (Can you hear Him now?)
Today we live in a world with thousands of voices screaming for our attention. Everyone of them trying to communicate a message.
• If Adam and Eve listened to the wrong voice when there was only two, what chance do we have?
• What voice do I pull out of the crowd?
(Voice for the candy bar illustration)
Years ago in a Children's church of over 100 kids, I wanted to illustrate this. I chose several kids that I knew had a close friend there. They were then blindfolded and their friend given a candy bar that would be theirs if the could get to their friend through the crowd by simply following their voice. When I said go everyone was to talk. Yet even with all of the distracting voices, every child was able to follow the voice of their friend to the prize!
You can always make out the voice of the one you have the closest relationship with!
• I’m often asked, how do I hear God’s voice
• Spend time with him. It truly is that simple!
• Fail to do so, and one or more of the voices of distraction will get your attention.
(Key Statement) Wrong affections drown out the voice of God
(God is speaking) Trust me, the crowd usually misses it…
John 10:24-26 (NIV)
The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
The road that leads to Heaven is narrow because there is only one voice out of the thousands that is giving correct directions on how to navigate the road of life.
(I’m going with the one who built it.)
• I pick on Kim (my wife) because she likes to argue with the GPS, “Why is it sending us this way?”
• She is constantly trying to peek ahead to make sure it is doing its job right.
• GPS may not be perfect but many times it has insight that we do not.
• Have you ever wandered off on your own, only to find out the reason it chose that route the hard way?
We can laugh at those stories because they only lead to us being lost short term
But if we argue with The Voice, we could be Eternally lost at the wrong destination!
#2 Where Voice? (Destination is key)
Where is the final destination of that voice you are following?
(GPS usually wrong when it has the wrong destination)
John 10:27-28 (NIV)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
It is easy today to find a voice that will lead you where you want to go and help you feel good about it.
• A life pursuit that may not be direct sin but that doesn’t lead you to God’s direction for your life.
• Have a pet “limitation”, “shortcoming”, “inconsistency” (we don’t like the word sin) you can find someone that will assure you it is okay.
• After all you were made that way, so how can God hold that against you…
Paul addressed this issue…
2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Wrong affections drown out the voice of God
Be careful what voices you allow to speak into your life. (where that voice is leading)
• What you are listening to may lead to physical and ultimately spiritual destruction.
• If the voice you hear is not matching up with what God has already said in His Word, you are tuning into the wrong voice.
o God is more concerned about your purity than your prosperity,
o Your holiness more than your health
o Your position in Him, rather than your position in society.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Where will your prevailing voice leave you once its route is finished with you?
(tragic stories make the headlines every day)
#3 When Voice? (Momentary or Eternal?)
Not just where but When is the focus?
Are you listening for momentary Happiness or Long-term Joy?
Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
1 Timothy 5:6 (NKJV)
But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
Happiness is something people will go to great lengths in pursuit of.
• The entertainment industry invests billions because people will spend billions more for a few minutes of happiness
• People will walk away from spouses, children, jobs and commitments, leaving destruction in their wake with no reason other than the words, “I’m not happy!”
Wrong affections drown out the voice of God
Many settling for periods of fleeting happiness (voice of the day), when true Joy is what they are really looking for!
Happiness is based more on circumstances
• Celebrations
• Winning or losing
• Health
• Compliments or criticism
Why settle, God created us with the capacity to be filled with Joy.
1 Peter 1:8 (NIV)
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
• The Bible mentions "joy" or "rejoicing" 330 times.
• But it only mentions "happiness" 26 times.
• Happiness depends upon what happens to you. So if all the circumstances are right, then you can be happy.
• But joy comes from inside. Joy can be there even in the midst of difficult times
I believe that’s because God’s people were meant to be a joyful people.
Thousands of distracting voices will scream at you that they know the way to happiness…
One voice says follow me and I’ll lead you into fullness of Joy!
#4 Why Voice? (Your Priorities)
The best way to cut through all the distractions clamoring for you attention is to answer one question. Why should I listen to that voice?
John 10:5 (NIV)
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."
Why are you letting that voice speak into your life?
• Are you looking for an excuse to do what you wanted to do anyway? (itching ear)
• Are you looking for acceptance?
• Are you genuinely looking for truth?
• Happiness or true Joy?
• All you can pull out of this life? (forget eternity)
• Or a fulfilling life here and Eternal Joy there!
Your Why Voice, will determine your Who Voice, which will determine your Where!
Inventory the voices and distractions you are letting influence your life the most
• Friends, Peer pressure, Media, Music…
• If your life isn’t leading you to where you want to go, maybe its time to change the Who you are listening to…
Matthew 15:14 (NIV)
Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
John 10:27 (NIV)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Right affections clear up the voice of God
You can know that voice.
• It is the voice you were meant to follow.
• You can learn to pull that voice out of the crowd
• It is the voice of the one that laid down His life to save yours (lost and longing for a voice)
• Everything you truly desire down deep waits for you to learn to follow the voice!
