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?
Fellow young people, where are we facing distractions in trying to choose to do the right things in our lives. Rodney, Mark, and Lena all had to decide how they would handle their distractions. They did not ask for the distractions, they just came into their lives. If they make the wrong decision, it could hurt them and the people that loved them.
You see, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching how we handle the distractions that come into our lives. Satan gets happy when we almost choose to do right, because he knows it breaks the heart of God when we choose to and disobey God. God always wants what is best for us. It might seem like we are giving up something we deserve to have. But God does know what is best. Have you ever done something where you got what you wanted, but wished you never would have gotten it?
For many of us, we want to do right. Our problem is that distractions will cause us to almost do the right thing. But almost doing the right thing is not the same as doing the right thing. For instance, would you like for your friend to almost pay you the money back you loaned to him or to have him completely pay you back the money. Personally I prefer to be completely paid back. Distractions make us think, it’s not really that bad. Distractions can cause us to think its okay not to completely do the right thing so long as try a little bit.
We want you to meet a young man by the name of Saul. He had a problem throughout his life of handling distractions. He was chosen to become the first king of Israel. God began to use him in some great ways. His first battle as the king involved the Ammonites. Saul led the people into battle and God gave them a great victory. The people were convinced that Saul was a wonderful choice to be the king.
Before Saul became king, the people of Israel were under the military rule of the Philistines. The Philistines attempted to keep God’s people down by keeping them from having weapons and limiting their food supply.
Once Saul became king, a fight with the Philistines was certainly going to have to happen. In 1 Samuel 13, in order to get some weapons, Saul’s son Jonathan attacked a Philistine camp in order to take their weapons. Since Saul’s army had defeated the Ammonites they were ready to take on the big boys, the Philistines.
Once the Philistines heard about the attack, they began to gather their army at a place called Micmash. Saul called for the men of Israel to come out and to prepare for the battle by meeting him at Gilgal where they had crowned him as king.
Now the men of Israel almost choose to do the right thing. They came out in force to stand with their king. You know it is kind of easy to do the right thing, when you’re with other Christians and everything around you is okay. There is some safety in numbers. It is a lot easier to handle distractions when you have other people around you telling you something you’re about to do is wrong. Having the right kind of friends can keep us from some distractions.
Satan knows if he can just get us alone by ourselves or in with the wrong group of friends, we will make bad choices much more often. Bad friends can be a big distraction. What they may want for our lives, may not be what is best for us in the long run. It is up to us to decide that we want to make something of our lives.
Our parents will not always be there in person when we have to say no to some things. But we should remember them in order to help us say no. We might get laughed at, we might have others make fun of us, we might even lose some so called friends, but we have the reward of knowing, we are doing what is best for us. We will be allowing Christ to make us youthful NUTS who never underestimate the spirit to make us winners in life.
LaDawn
Remember how the soldiers came to Saul had done the right thing by showing up for battle. Once on the battlefield, they found a huge distraction. The Philistines came out in full force to fight. They had three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and so many armed soldiers you could not count all of theme.
When the men of Israel saw the awesome size of the Philistine army they started to get scared. They did not have any chariots and not all of them even had weapons. They were scared and wanted to run.
The big boys were a little bigger than they had imagined. They saw their situation, and it did not look good. They started to leave King Saul by hiding in caves, the woods, behind rocks, in wells in the ground, and some of them went way across the valley and the river. They wanted to make sure the Philistines did not find them when it came time to do battle.
King Saul was watching his army shrink daily, and they were shaking with fear. The soldiers’ running away was a distraction for Saul. Samuel had told Saul what to do, but Saul was being distracted. Now Samuel, who was God’s prophet and priest had told Saul before he became king, " Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do. "
The words of Samuel seemed quite specific. Wait for seven days. Day one, day two , day three. It seems as though half of the Israelite army has gone and no sign of Samuel.
Day four, day five , day six. It looks like they’re down to a third of their original size and no Samuel. Everybody is getting scared. Day seven comes and Samuel still has not arrived.
What would you do if you were Saul and everything around you was not working or happening like you wanted it to happen? Would you continue to trust in the Lord? Would you take manners into your own hands? Would you have an alternative plan in mind?
The little distraction was now something really big. The Bible tells us what to do when times get hard. It says, " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Sometimes as young people, we want what we want now. For us, waiting a few months is like waiting for years. It seems like it takes forever to get a car, your license or to graduate. It’s sometimes hard to believe God is going to give us something when others already seem to have what they wanted.
No doubt Saul said to himself, "I have trusted in the Lord and nothing has happened so far." Do you know it’s possible to get so afraid of what might happen, that we fail to see the blessing in nothing having happened. Saul could see his men were deserting him and the vast army of the Philistines was getting larger. He thought God wasn’t doing anything.
But he didn’t see the men around him who were afraid, yet they were willing to die fighting by his side. He didn’t see the Philistine army could attack at any moment, but they never did. Just because you or I think, God has done nothing does not mean He has done nothing or is doing nothing. We might not have the clothes we would like, but we do have clothes. We might not be in the crowd at school, but we do have friends. We might not be a starter on the team, but we are on the team. We might not have the boyfriend we wanted, but we not worried about being pregnant. We are more blessed than we might think. It’s a blessing to have people in our lives who do love and care about us.
Think about Jesus for just a moment. The people who looked at Jesus being crucified thought God was doing nothing when He did not come and take Jesus down from the cross. They thought God was doing nothing, when they put Jesus in the tomb, and sealed it with cement and put guards in front of it. While God was accused of doing nothing. God was making it possible for us to be saved.
God’s love was being showed for everybody here today, as He allowed His Son’s life to pay for our sins. God was giving us victory over death by sending Jesus to conquer death and hell. God was doing all of this while people were thinking, God was doing nothing.
Before you go run after a distraction and do something you ought not to do, don’t say its because God is not doing anything for you. , God may be about to make you in a winner in your life. Just what you need might be about to happen. But if you choose to follow that distraction, you may lose what God wants to give to you.
Saul had to make a choice with his distraction of fear. When he saw more men leaving on the seventh day, he chose to disobey Samuel’s words and go ahead and offer the sacrifices which only Samuel was to offer. Only priests could offer sacrifices to the Lord. Saul thought if the men saw him offer sacrifices they would quit leaving him.
Saul almost waited long enough for Samuel to arrive. Distractions keep us from doing what is totally right. No sooner than Saul had just finished offering the sacrifices, Samuel arrived on the scene. Saul almost was faithful to God.
He had waited the seven days, but he had not waited through the seventh day. If we just keep saying no to distractions, we can become what God wants us to be. King Saul was so close, but he didn’t quite make it.
Samuel said, "Brother what have you done. I told you I’d surely be here in seven days. You know a king is not a priest and only priest offer sacrifices. How can you lead the people of God, if the people of God see God is not leading you."
Saul says, " Wait a minute and here my side. But I almost waited for you. When I saw the men were getting scared and leaving, and you were not here by the seventh day, and the Philistine army was getting larger and larger I had to come up with a plan.
I was worried the Philistine army would attack us before we had the chance to offer a sacrifice to God. Since I wanted God to be on our side and grant us His favor, I felt I just had to offer the burnt offering. Something just came over me. I mean I really didn’t see any other way."
Just because we do not see another way, does not mean God does not have another way in mind. The way may be harder. It may take longer to get there. It might cause us to lose some friends. It may mean doing some things we don’t want to do. It may even mean changing our behavior. But God has a right way for us to do what needs to be done. There is not a right way to do wrong. Saul was convinced he was doing the right thing, but he was wrong.
Samuel looked at Saul and said, "brother you’ve acted very foolishly. You didn’t keep the commands of the Lord. This was a test for you and you blew it. If you would have passed this test, you and your kingdom over Israel would have been established forever. Instead God has already chosen somebody else to give the kingdom to. A person who will not just almost do right, but one who is after the Lord’s own heart.
It cost Saul for more than he ever dreamed it would God does not come down and announce to us, the decision you make today with this distraction will change your life forever. But it still happens. Even as young people, what we do today will affect whether or not we graduate from high school, what college we can attend, and whether or not our children will have us around when they grow up. We the youth of today will determine what the youth of tomorrow will have, and we are determining it right now.
Where are we today? What distraction is worth missing heaven? What distraction is worth messing up our lives over? Are we truly giving our lives to live for Jesus Christ or are we still going after distractions. God knows every distraction that each one of us here is facing. Are we allowing God to help us make the right choices, or are we making excuses like King Saul.
As young people, we may fall down, but we can get back up again because God wants us to make it in life. Distractions are going to keep coming, but we are told to fix our eyes on Jesus. Just like the guy shooting at the basket in the final two seconds needs to concentrate on the basket in order to make the shot, we may need to ignore a lot of distractions around us, to be true winners for Christ, our families, and ourselves. Amen.
