Staying Focused on God's Mission Amid Distractions

Devotional

Day 1: Staying Focused on God's Mission

Description: In the journey of life, we often encounter numerous distractions that can lead us away from our divine purpose. The story of the Israelites and the Gibeonites illustrates how even seemingly good opportunities can divert us from God's greater plan. The Israelites were deceived by the Gibeonites, who appeared as weary travelers in need of help, causing them to lose sight of their mission. This serves as a reminder that we must remain vigilant and ensure that our activities align with God's purpose for our lives. Our primary mission is to love God, love others, and make disciples, as Jesus clearly outlined. As we navigate our daily lives, we must stay focused on this mission, avoiding distractions that may seem beneficial but ultimately lead us astray. [34:46]

Joshua 9:14-15 (ESV): "So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them."

Reflection: What are some "good" distractions in your life that might be diverting you from God's mission? How can you refocus your priorities to align with His purpose today?

Day 2: Seeking God's Guidance in All Things

Description: Mistakes are an inevitable part of life, but they serve as important reminders of the necessity of seeking God's guidance in all decisions. The Israelites' failure to consult God before making a covenant with the Gibeonites highlights the importance of bringing everything before Him. When we rely solely on our understanding, we risk being led astray by appearances and missing God's direction. By seeking His guidance, we align ourselves with His wisdom and purpose, ensuring that our actions contribute to His greater plan. It is through prayer and discernment that we can navigate life's challenges and make decisions that honor God. [43:09]

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Reflection: Think of a recent decision you made without seeking God's guidance. How might the outcome have been different if you had consulted Him first? What steps can you take to ensure you seek His guidance in future decisions?

Day 3: God's Mission Rests on His Shoulders

Description: God's mission is not dependent on our strength or perfection; it is sustained by His power and grace. Even when we make mistakes, God continues to work through us, advancing His kingdom. This truth offers comfort and assurance, reminding us that we are not alone in fulfilling His mission. Our role is to be faithful and obedient, trusting that God will accomplish His purposes through us. When we falter, we can rely on His strength to carry us forward, knowing that His plans are greater than our failures. God's mission is ultimately His, and He invites us to participate in it through His power. [44:25]

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV): "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you feel inadequate or weak? How can you rely on God's strength and grace to fulfill His mission through you?

Day 4: Recognizing the Enemy's Distractions

Description: The enemy often uses distractions to deter us from fulfilling God's mission. These distractions may appear as innocent opportunities or fears of inadequacy, but they can lead us away from our divine purpose. We are called to remain vigilant, recognizing that these distractions are tactics used to prevent us from realizing our potential in Christ. By staying focused on God's mission and trusting in His power, we can overcome these obstacles and fulfill our calling. The enemy trembles at the thought of us stepping into our God-given mission, and we must be aware of his schemes to distract us. [48:11]

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV): "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Reflection: What distractions are currently hindering you from fully engaging in God's mission? How can you remain vigilant and focused on His purpose for your life?

Day 5: Embracing the Invitation to Christ

Description: For those who have not yet embraced a relationship with Jesus, there is an invitation to experience the fullness of life in Him. The enemy fears losing souls to Christ, but God is always victorious. As believers, we are encouraged to remain steadfast, knowing that God has already overcome every obstacle we face. Embracing a relationship with Jesus means stepping into a life of purpose, love, and victory. It is an invitation to experience the transformative power of His grace and to participate in His mission to advance His kingdom. [52:10]

Colossians 2:13-15 (ESV): "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."

Reflection: If you have not yet embraced a relationship with Jesus, what is holding you back? For those who have, how can you invite others to experience the fullness of life in Christ today?

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Sermon Summary

In today's message, we explored the theme of staying focused on God's mission amidst the distractions of life. Drawing from personal experiences and the story of the Israelites and the Gibeonites, we examined how easily we can be sidetracked by seemingly good opportunities that divert us from our true purpose. The Israelites, tasked with a divine mission to conquer cities, were deceived by the Gibeonites, who presented themselves as weary travelers in need of help. This story serves as a powerful reminder that even good things can distract us from God's greater plan.

We often find ourselves overwhelmed by the busyness of life, juggling work, family, and personal interests. While these are not inherently bad, they can lead us away from our primary mission: to love God, love others, and make disciples. Jesus clearly outlined this mission, emphasizing the importance of loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbors as ourselves. As we navigate our daily lives, we must remain vigilant, ensuring that our activities align with this divine purpose.

Mistakes are inevitable, as demonstrated by the Israelites' failure to consult God before making a covenant with the Gibeonites. However, these missteps remind us of the importance of seeking God's guidance in all things. God's mission does not rest on our shoulders alone; it is sustained by His power and grace. Even when we falter, God continues to work through us, advancing His kingdom.

The enemy often uses distractions to deter us from fulfilling God's mission. These distractions may appear as innocent opportunities or fears of inadequacy. Yet, we are called to have faith in a God who is greater than our fears and limitations. The enemy trembles at the thought of us realizing our potential in Christ and stepping into our God-given mission.

For those who have not yet embraced a relationship with Jesus, there is an invitation to experience the fullness of life in Him. The enemy fears losing souls to Christ, but God is always victorious. As believers, we are encouraged to remain steadfast, knowing that God has already overcome every obstacle we face.

Key Takeaways

1. Distractions from God's Mission: Good things can distract us from God's greater plan. Like the Israelites, we must remain focused on our divine mission, ensuring that our activities align with God's purpose for our lives. [34:46]
2. The Importance of Seeking God's Guidance: Mistakes remind us to bring everything before God. The Israelites' failure to consult God serves as a lesson in the necessity of seeking His guidance in all decisions. [43:09]
3. God's Mission Rests on His Shoulders: God's mission is sustained by His power, not ours. Even when we make mistakes, God continues to work through us, advancing His kingdom. [44:25]
4. The Enemy's Distractions: The enemy uses distractions to deter us from God's mission. We must remain vigilant, recognizing that these distractions often come in the form of good opportunities or fears of inadequacy. [48:11]
5. Invitation to Embrace Christ: For those without a relationship with Jesus, there is an invitation to experience the fullness of life in Him. God is always victorious, and the enemy fears losing souls to Christ. [52:10]
** [52:10]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:30] - Introduction and Personal Story
[05:45] - The Israelites' Mission
[10:15] - The Deception of the Gibeonites
[15:30] - Losing Sight of God's Mission
[20:00] - The Distractions of Good Things
[25:00] - The Importance of God's Guidance
[30:00] - God's Mission and Our Mistakes
[35:00] - The Enemy's Distractions
[40:00] - Faith in God's Victory
[45:00] - Invitation to Embrace Christ
[50:00] - Closing Prayer and Call to Action

Bible Study Guide

Observation Questions

What was the mission God gave to the Israelites, and how did the Gibeonites' deception distract them from it? [31:25]
How did the Israelites respond to the Gibeonites' plea, and what mistake did they make in their decision-making process? [43:09]
According to the sermon, what are the three components of the mission Jesus gave to His followers? [38:00]
What are some examples of "good things" mentioned in the sermon that can distract us from God's mission? [35:59]

Interpretation Questions

How does the story of the Israelites and the Gibeonites illustrate the importance of seeking God's guidance in our decisions? [43:09]
In what ways can good opportunities become distractions from God's greater plan for our lives? [34:46]
How does the sermon suggest we should view our daily activities and relationships in light of the mission to love God, love others, and make disciples? [39:46]
What role does faith play in overcoming the distractions and fears that deter us from fulfilling God's mission? [48:55]

Application Questions

Reflect on a time when you were sidetracked by a seemingly good opportunity. How did it affect your focus on God's mission for you? [34:46]
What are some practical steps you can take to ensure you seek God's guidance in your daily decisions? [43:09]
Identify one area of your life where you feel overwhelmed by busyness. How can you realign this area with the mission to love God, love others, and make disciples? [35:59]
Consider the people you interact with regularly. How can you intentionally view these relationships as opportunities for discipleship? [39:46]
What fears or feelings of inadequacy do you face when considering your role in God's mission? How can you rely on God's strength to overcome these challenges? [48:55]
If you are not currently in a relationship with Jesus, what steps can you take to explore this invitation to experience the fullness of life in Him? [52:10]
How can you remind yourself daily that God's mission rests on His shoulders and not yours, especially when you make mistakes? [44:25]

Sermon Clips

Awesome. Thank you, Lindsay. Yes. That was, uh, that was a lot of verses. Uh, and I asked to have someone else read it. So it didn't take from my time up here. Uh, I'm kidding. Um, and all the parasites and stuff that she talked about. Uh, it's a joke. Uh, my name is Lewis. Uh, it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to, um, preach here on a Sunday. Um, very thankful for it. But for those of you who don't know me, uh, I get the distinct privilege of serving on our leadership team here. Uh, I also have the joy of serving in our youth ministry as well. Uh, and it is, it is truly a pleasure to, um, come and share the word with you. I'm humbled by it. Uh, quite frankly, it's been a busy season for my family and I, we just, uh, we've been, uh, we've been, uh, we've been, uh, we've been we moved recently and we also had a baby, uh, recently as well. Our fourth boy. Um, so pray for us. Uh, we have a lot going on. In fact, we moved into our house August 8th and, um, our baby was due October 19th. And so we set out to make a home, you know, we wanted to like move into this new house and make it perfect for the baby and put our pictures up and hang all the fans because the tax bracket that I'm in, our houses don't come with fans. And so we had to put fans into our house and light fixtures. And, uh, and so we'd set out to do it. We were on a good track one weekend after another, we were putting things up and getting things in order. And then we had this crazy wild hair, like things were going so well that we decided, Hey, let's do something different. Let's, let's make the downstairs of our house. Let's just put shiplap up. Uh, let's change the baseboards too. And while we're at it, let's go ahead and reframe the windows and doors because that's, it's not good enough the way it is. [00:27:49] (102 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And so, you know, my wife and I being the, um, not very handy people that we are, we thought, okay, that's fine. We, we got this. We'll just go to the store, whichever one, the home Depot, I guess, grab some stuff. And over the course of a weekend, put it up. How hard could it be? Right. Anyone else been there before? Uh, yeah. Uh, severely overestimated the, the, the, the magnitude of this project. And so thanks to a friend who, um, did 99 % of the work. Um, I mean, I was at work and he'd be at my house, putting stuff up and the help from some other friends. Um, we finally got it done, but it took weekend after weekend, after weekend, uh, weekdays, countless of hours. Um, baby came home downstairs. Looks awesome. [00:30:14] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

The rest of the house, you know, we still have picture frames on the floor and they're ready to go, but nothing's put up. And some of our, two of our kids rooms don't even have a fan yet. Sorry, Liam. Uh, he's, he's not even here, but I feel bad for him. He has a box fan in there and he does fine, but we're working on it. You know, we're trying to, we're getting things in order. We lost sight really of what we needed to do. We, what we needed to do was get the basics done. We wanted to get the things done that we saw that, that were really important, but we lost sight of that mission. Um, and we got sidetracked with this project downstairs. The project wasn't bad though. I wouldn't say, I think the project adds, um, a great appeal to our house. We love it. We think it looks beautiful. Um, but it, but it certainly kept us from, um, doing what we set out to do for the entirety of the house. And we see that here with the Israelites. They do the exact same thing. They, they're set out, um, by God on a mission to take these cities. And by take, we mean destroy them, kill the people, take the stuff, uh, uh, destroy the material possessions, take some of it as plunder, take some of it as offerings, but really destroy. [00:31:21] (68 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And, uh, to summarize what happened there and all of those verses, the Israelites came out, they, uh, they were on their way to destroy these cities and a nearby city, the Gibeonites came, um, and they put on a show. They, they, I guess they majored in theater and, um, brought out some men who look like they were from a far off place. Uh, if you didn't catch it, they were, they said worn out so many times, their clothes were worn out, their sandals were worn out, their wineskins were worn out. The bread was dry and crumbly. I mean, their hair was was probably disheveled, no gel. I mean, they were done. They looked like they had come from miles and miles and miles and miles away. [00:31:25] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

So they come to the Israelites, looking all beat and battered, looking like a project. And they asked the Israelites, hey, take us in, help us out. Please don't destroy us. We're from far off. Don't just look at us. We're a mess. Don't destroy us. And the Israelites, they had a moment. They were like, well, how do we know? [00:32:26] (21 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

How do we know that you're who you say you are? And the Gibeonites were like, well, clearly, this bread, see this bread? This bread was, it was fresh. And now it's not. See? See, it's not fresh anymore. See these sandals? They are really worn. Our hair, our clothes, everything is really worn. And the Israelites were like, okay, makes sense. We've got it. We'll take an oath. And they made the oath. And then they found out that the oath was based on lies. And that's where they find themselves throughout these verses here. So we're going to unpack that a little bit. We're going to see how that applies to our life. But first, let's take a moment and pray. [00:32:46] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Father, we are grateful for who you are. We're grateful that you see us and you love us despite what you see. [00:33:04] (8 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

I'm thankful that you call us on mission, every single one of us. [00:33:12] (5 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And you fuel and power that mission within us. I thank you for the churches around that are all of us. I thank you for the churches around that are all of us. I thank you for the churches around that are all of us. I thank you for the churches around that are all of us. And also, on mission for you, that stand on the truth of the gospel. [00:33:22] (10 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Father, we pray for those countries, those cities, those people groups that do not have the ability to do that. God, would you be with them? Would you encourage them in your word? Would you encourage them with your people? And would you encourage them with your spirit within them? Father, we pray for our time this morning. Just lift up this word, these passages that we would hear from you and we would leave here just completely stirred with new affections for you. We love you. In Jesus' name. Amen. [00:33:44] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

So the Israelites lost sight of their mission. They took a detour and they did it with something really interesting. They did it with a good thing. So they forgot to realize that God's mission is greater than their plans. They were on mission. They were doing the thing. [00:34:04] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And then a good opportunity came up, a seemingly good opportunity, right? I mean, people came to them. They looked disheveled. They looked worn. They looked like they needed help. And the Israelites gave them that help. It wasn't necessarily bad. [00:34:17] (14 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Changing out our baseboards wasn't bad. I mean, it felt bad in the moment, but it wasn't necessarily bad. It was a good thing. [00:34:24] (8 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

But we, my wife and I, and just like the Israelites, we got sidetracked and lost sight of the vision and the mission that God had for us with the good things. And so it's true that good things can distract us from God's greater plan. [00:34:46] (14 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

The Israelites were distracted from God's greater plan, which was to take all, all of those cities around them. They were distracted because of this, this good thing, seemingly good opportunity. And so we have to look at this and ask ourselves, how is it that this applies to me? [00:35:00] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Hopefully at home, we can look at this passage and figure out who we actually are in this story. Are we the Israelites being deceived or are we actually the Gibeonites? Are we manipulators in our lives? Let's not get there today, but let's see how this applies to us as Israelites. [00:35:18] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

We can get distracted with a lot of good things. [00:35:34] (4 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

We live in a society and a culture that makes it super easy. I have four kids. Each, well, not each of them, but three of them can be in sports all at once. We allow that. We don't allow it, but they can. There's a sport for every, my five -year -old can be in a sport. [00:35:38] (19 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Those are all good things, right? [00:35:57] (3 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Work, work's a great thing. I own a real estate title company with a couple other guys. [00:36:03] (5 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

I'll spare you the details because it's not really fun to talk about, but I own this company and I get to go to work every single day and I enjoy what I get to do from a business perspective. It's fun. It's a good thing, but it can also be a distraction. How are you today? What are the things in your life that distract you? Are you a parent that takes your kids around? [00:36:24] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

You've got lots going on. You have sports to be at, school events to be at. Cool. Do you work? [00:36:35] (8 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Find yourself at the office every day? Good. Do you like sports? Do you go out and play golf? Good for you. Not a sport I enjoy. [00:36:44] (11 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Where do you find yourself in those good things? [00:36:51] (5 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And are you distracted from God's mission? None of those are bad, but God's mission is super clear. We all have our mission. Each and every single one of us is called to be on mission for God. But what does that actually mean? Jesus himself actually describes what that mission is. In two different places, one, Jesus talks about the great commandments, right? He's asked, what is the greatest of commandments? [00:36:55] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And his response is, the greatest commandment, first and foremost, is to love God with everything you have. [00:37:14] (5 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

With all that you've got within you, love God. [00:37:18] (4 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And the second commandment is very similar to it. Love your neighbor as yourself. [00:37:23] (6 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Our first mission is to love God and love others. What's the other thing? On his way out, right? That's at the end of Jesus's ministry, personally, here on earth, he sends his disciples off with one charge. Go and make disciples. [00:37:29] (19 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip |

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Transcript

What was the most surprising thing in this sermon?

Were there any personal stories shared?