[00:00:00] It's hard to remember our birthdays, they all run together, but chances are everyone of us in here, remember our 16th birthday because it's when we turn 16 that we are allowed to drive. Now that's a big momentous event, but they don't just give you the keys and the license and say, Hey, go ahead and drive.

[00:01:12] They make you take some classes. If your parent taught, there's still like videos you have to watch. Or they used to do at least where you could take some classes at school. Ages ago when I turned 16 I went to a driving school and that's where they taught me how to drive. And as part of that, what they tried to do is they tried to make you aware as a driver of the dangers that can come along with driving.

[00:01:35] And when I was a kid, what they tried to point out was the dangers of impaired driving. So you'd have to watch all these videos that would show all these vehicles that were in these horrible wrecks that people died in, and they would say that's the result of people either doing drugs or drinking alcohol while they drive and and it was to scare you to, to the dangers of impaired driving. As I thought about it, like today, nowadays I'm sure for the kids that go through those classes, they still teach 'em about impaired driving. But there's something that's actually a little bit more dangerous probably, and maybe even happens a little bit more frequently than impaired driving.

[00:02:14] And that is something called. Distracted driving. And when you drive in a distracted way it can be deadly just like instantaneously. And I was gonna show you guys a video of it was like I googled distracted driving and I wanted you guys to get that image in your head. I was gonna show you some videos of it, but man, Brutal and it's graphic because you just look away for a second and and you can get in a world of hurt, when I was young, there wasn't really distracted driving because the only thing you could be distracted by is maybe the person that was in the car with ya, maybe the Big Mac you're eating, or if you're a woman, maybe it's put on the makeup.

[00:03:00] But that was the realm of the distractions. But nowadays we. The phone. And we can talk on it while we drive. We can text on it, we can read emails, we can do Instagram, Snapchat, we can watch movies on it. And if you've ever been driving down the road, very frequently you'll see people driving.

[00:03:26] They're not even like looking at the road. Even the GPS on this can be dangerous. I have to be honest with you. Like about three and a half years ago, I was driving in another state, in a city that I wasn't familiar with and I was trying to make it to the airport. And I didn't know how much farther I had before I make a turn.

[00:03:44] So I literally just looked down at my phone to see how much farther before I needed to make a right. And in that two or three seconds I was looking down, the cars in front of me stopped and I hit the person in front of me. Distracted. Driving is a problem so much. So in 2020 3,142 Americans died as a result.

[00:04:07] Distracted driving. There's no debating that. Distracted driving is far worse than not distracted driving. In fact, if you take anything, it's always far better to not be distracted than to be distracted. I'm not talking to you about distracted driving today, but I am finishing out. The sermon series called Weak Links.

[00:04:26] And during this sermon series I've talked to you about just certain things that can really interfere in terms of our relationship with God. And I talked to you about the danger of depression and despair of anger and of resentment. We talked about a lack of patience. We talked about pride. This morning I wanna talk to you about the dangers of distracted spirituality.

[00:04:49] And here's what I want you to understand in the same way, It's dangerous and deadly to drive distracted, like it is dangerous and even deadly to be distracted spiritually because I, on one hand, there's so much dysfunction that we bring into our lives because we become distracted spiritually. The Bible says that if we follow God's will and his ways and his commands, there's blessings for that.

[00:05:17] And when we get distracted spiritually, we're gonna miss out on those blessings. But also when we get distracted spiritually, it's not only missing out on the blessings we might miss out on heaven altogether. Now, Satan's number one goal and you need to understand this. His number one goal is to keep us distracted.

[00:05:40] Look at second Corinthians chapter 11. But I'm afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpents cunning that your minds may somehow be led astray. How does our mind, how do our minds become led astray? By being distracted. That your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

[00:06:06] Now, if Paul starts this out saying in the same way that Eve was deceived. Now not only was Eve deceived, but Eve was ultimately distracted. And what's crazy about that situation is there's really only one way Satan could have distracted. Eve. Eve was able to do, Adam and Eve were able to do anything they wanted, they were created perfect.

[00:06:25] In a perfect world, there was just one rule. And that one rule was, don't eat up the knowledge of the tree of Good and evil. Satan distracted Eve with a piece of. , and I promise that if you eat it, you'll become more like God, knowing the difference between good and evil. And Satan was successful at distracting Eve, even though there's only really one distraction for her now, in our day and age, I'm here to tell you we have more distractions at any point throughout all of human history, and I want you to follow with me for a second because honestly I'm gonna use the word the time period, 1900.

[00:07:07] And when I say 1900, yes, I'm might be referring more to 1880 or 1925. I'm just saying 1900. Okay. But before 1900, there wasn't a ton. To distract people. There's things, but it was a simple world from the dawn of humanity to about 1900. It's not until that time that, like you just worked during the day and then when the sun went down, like you, you went to bed.

[00:07:36] If Satan was gonna distract you, he'd have to distract you with your job. May, maybe no rain coming to the field that you're working. He would have to distract you through relationship. He would have to distract you in your health. From 1900 to the dawn of humanity that, and maybe a few others is the realm in which Satan could really distract us.

[00:08:00] But at 1900 it all changes. That's when like the light bulbs begin to become mass produced. And where you used to like when dark, you go to bed before 1900, after 1900, all of a sudden, like you could keep things lit. And now in our day and age, things are open all night long. And the distractions are continuous because we have light and we can make light even when it's dark.

[00:08:23] Around that same time you have the invention of the television. Now, it didn't become popular and functional until a few years later. But think about the distractions that come from television around the same time as when the radio became common. Think about all the distractions that come as a result of the radio, the telephone at the same.

[00:08:45] So listen, before 1900 from the dawn of humanity, there's just like life, but then all of a sudden you've got radio, television, light, telephone and think about all the distractions that come with it. Not to mention like in our current day and age with computer and the distractions that can come through that, the internet and once again, the cell phone.

[00:09:07] Satan has so many different ways in which he can distract us. From being active in our relationship with. One of my favorite books is a book by CS Lewis, and it's called The Screw Tape Letters. And in it like his point is that Satan's always trying to distract us. Like we begin to have this like really profound theological thought and suddenly like our stomach starts growling and we start thinking about how hungry we are and we forget what we were thinking and that that idea that we were just on the verge of.

[00:09:45] That like you would come and sit here today and that Satan would try to want you to be in a spot where there's someone in front of you that really ticked you off two weeks ago and now you can't pay attention to anything that's coming outta my mouth. 'cause you're looking at the head of the person who ticked you off two weeks ago.

[00:10:00] And Satan is always like doing these different things to distract us because in the end, like if, did you ever see the cartoon movie? We're like the dogs. They're onto something and someone just has to yell, squirrel, and everyone's huh. That's how we are.

[00:10:19] And that's what Satan tries to do, is he's just constantly trying to distract us to interfere in terms of our relationship with God. Now, I want you to see this from a biblical perspective, because, As I began to work on this message, I was just overwhelmed with the amount of Bible passages that really warn us against being distracted from our relationship with God.

[00:10:41] And the first story I wanna share with you this morning is a story that I don't think I've ever preached on before, because frankly I don't like it. And it's a story of Marion Martha. Now some of y'all love that story. I can't stand it. And I can't stand it because I'm like, I'm a Martha and I'm not a Marion.

[00:10:58] Martha is not the one that like, gets the kudos from Jesus. Mary's the one who does. But it fits with what I'm preaching today. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna share the story with you. It's from Luke 10 38 to 42. Now, as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where there was a woman named Martha who opened her home to.

[00:11:23] She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's fee and Mary was listening to what the Lord was saying, but Martha was, look at distracted. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made, and she came to him, that is to Jesus, and asked, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work myself?

[00:11:48] Tell her to help me. Martha, the Lord answered. You're worried and you're upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed, only one Mary has chosen. What is better? And it will not be taken away from her. I have to tell you, like I said I'm not a fan of this text. The Lord comes with his disciples.

[00:12:13] You open the house to him. You would think that, like you're gonna offer some hospitality. They're probably hungry. They're probably thirsty. And so Martha kicks it into gear and she's trying to like, provide for this whole bunch of them doing all the work. And the sister's just sitting there like listening to Jesus talk and she's upset.

[00:12:32] I'd be upset about it too. Yeah, sometimes we get so busy and we get so distracted by some noble things, but in the end it's just more important to sit at the feet of Jesus. Now we're not able to sit at the feet of Jesus, but we do have God's word, don't we? The Bible and every time we open it and read it it's like sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing what God has to say to us.

[00:13:05] But think about like the distractions that get in the way of us being able to do that. Sometimes they're like, they're very noble type distractions. Just like Martha's trying to provide food and drink for the Lord and his discipl. . But the important thing is that we wouldn't be distracted from reading God's word or listening to a devotion or listening to a podcast, some religious podcast where we're hearing the word of God.

[00:13:38] I think pastors and committed Christians can fall into this trap that we become like Martha. That, as a pastor, like I, I'm busy to try to, oh, is everything going okay? How can I help over this? Oh, someone's about to. Okay, let me, and we're just always doing, trying to do the Lord's work that we don't sit there and take time to listen to the Lord.

[00:14:04] And maybe you're that way and you're just really involved in different organizations trying to help people. And we're giving, giving, giving, but we're not sitting there and. Listening and then eventually, like our spiritual well will run dry. Why? Because we've become so distracted. We don't take time to hear the Lord speak.

[00:14:26] And once again, it doesn't matter how noble that is. It doesn't matter if it's feeding the Lord and the disciples himself. It's more important to sit as his feet and to. There's another passage that goes right along with us. It's a story about this guy, this homeowner that is offering like this banquet in, in his house.

[00:14:46] It sounds more like a mansion, he's he got a big banquet room but people won't come to the banquet. It's really a story about God in heaven, but let me read it to you. Look at Luke 1415 to 24. Now, when those, one of those at the table with Jesus heard this, He said to Jesus, blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.

[00:15:12] And Jesus replied, there's a certain man, he was preparing a great banquet and he invited many guests. And at that time of the banquet, he sent his servants to tell those who had been invited, come out, everything's ready. But they all began to make excuse. The first said, yeah, I just, I'm sorry, I just bought a field.

[00:15:36] I, I've gotta go and check it out. Please. Excuse me. I won't be able to make the banquet. Another said I've just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to, to give it a whirl, to try it out to see how good they're doing it. Plowing or whatever. Please excuse me. And still, another said, I just got married.

[00:16:00] Listen I can't come. Now the servant comes back and reports to his master that who's the owner of the house and the master, the owner of the house becomes very angry and he orders a servant. Go out quickly into the streets, go into the alleys, into the town. I want you to bring in the poor. I want you to bring in the crippled.

[00:16:18] I want you to bring in the blind. I want you to bring in the lame, sir. The servant said what you've ordered has already been done, but there's still. And the master told his servant then go out into the roads and into the country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. Before I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get to taste my banquet.

[00:16:48] Why won't the ones who are invited get to taste the banquet 'cause they're too distracted to come. And they're not distracted with stupid things like surfing the internet, right? They didn't have it back then, but even that they're not distracted with stupid things. One just bought some land and he, he wants to check it out.

[00:17:08] Another huge investment with five yo of oxen and he wanted to check it out. The other one just got married. The, these are like worthy excuses for missing like a party or a banquet,

[00:17:22] but the master of the house. That is God is angry. Why? Because in the end, it doesn't matter how noble the cause. God doesn't want any distractions to come before him. He doesn't want us to put anything before him.

[00:17:49] Let me ask you.

[00:17:53] What's distracting you from God? What's distracting us from putting God first in our lives financially? Do you like to just go out to eat? Did you spend too much on your car? Do you spend too much on your house and your mortgage? There, there's a lot of different things that can get in the way from making God the priority of our lives.

[00:18:23] What about time-wise? What is distracting you from your relationship with God? Time-wise? Sometimes it's noble. Sometimes it's I gotta drop my kids off at school or the daycare, then I gotta pick 'em up after work and take 'em to dance practice or their soccer practice and I gotta fix dinner and like we're on the go go.

[00:18:44] It seems noble, but God doesn't want anything to distract us from him. Having the first of. Our time and of our lives. Maybe it's going out with your friends on Saturday night and you stay out late to the point that you can't get up, early in the morning. What's distracting us spiritually?

[00:19:05] What's keeping us from sitting at the foot of Jesus? Honestly I think like this is a big part of it. I wonder how many of you this morning, like just in the time that service has been going for the last 40 minutes, I wonder how many times you've checked the.

[00:19:23] Or like when you go to a Bible study or something like that, how often you find and listen, I've done it myself. If the Bible study's dragging a little bit I guess as long as I'm not leading it no. I might have it under the table like, oh, I just got a message. Gotta see who that is. Maybe I'll try to answer it, or something like that.

[00:19:42] How much time are you spending on Facebook, on Instagram, on your social medias? Are you spending on just. Doing whatever you do on your phone or on the television or whatever it is that's occupying your time and getting in the way of you being able to focus on your relationship with God.

[00:20:05] God wants to be first. Good. I wanna read to you a passage that I've always struggled with, but I have to tell you, like just this week for the first time, I'm not struggling with it. And it's because of this passage about the banquet. Because once again, if you consider that like God's invited people to the banquet, but people are too busy to come to it and to receive heaven, that's pretty offensive.

[00:20:36] And so is then if you understand that what Jesus says here in Luke 9 57 to 62, now as they were walking along the road, a man said to him, Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus replied, foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man doesn't even have a place to lay his head. And then he says to another man, come follow me.

[00:21:02] But that person replies let me go first and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. And still another said I'll follow you Lord, but first let me go and say goodbye to my family.

[00:21:22] And Jesus replied, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of. The, these seem like valid excuses in the parable of a bank with those seem like valid excuses. But ultimately, what does God want from us in the first commandment is that there would be nothing that comes before him.

[00:21:42] Scripture says, Jesus says, love the Lord your God. With all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your, my. And when we're putting these other things before him then that's, those are distractions. Those are spiritual distractions that, that

[00:22:02] God wants us to focus on Him first and foremost, and not the distractions of life.

[00:22:15] Another passage that I think fits right into this, and it's a powerful passage, also comes from Luke, like I said, like these are all Luke passages, but Luke really emphasizes putting God first in your life. Luke 12:34. I know you've heard this before 'cause I've preached on it a dozen times for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you wanna know where the distractions of your life are, just look at your bank account. Look at your credit card account, because where your treasure is, where you put your money, that's where your heart is. Now, some of you might not know where your money's going, and you're like I don't know where my treasure's going with them.

[00:22:56] Maybe you don't know where your heart is but honestly, if you would look at your credit card statement, your bank statement, you'll see where your heart is and where your treasure is and where your distractions are. For some of us, it is just our possessions, right? We just, when something comes out, we want it.

[00:23:10] And if I want something I'm gonna get it. So our possessions is where our treasure goes. It's where our heart is, and those are the things that get in the. our relationship with God. For some of us, maybe it's just going out with our friends, and if we look at our credit card, man, we go out two and three times a week and that adds up for, for others, maybe it's expensive clothes or jewelry.

[00:23:31] For others it's our car payment or my, our house payment. But like we say, God is a priority of our lives but when we look at where our treasure is, then there's all these things that come before God. So how can we say he has our heart when all these other things come before him? I think in our minds, we think it, but it's just not reality.

[00:23:57] It would be like you saying to me, Hey, pastor Greg I baked a cake for you and I'd be honored if you come over after church and have some. And I'm like, wow that's really nice. All right. After late service, I've gotta wrap things up. It might take me 30 or 45 minutes, but I'll be right over there.

[00:24:19] And when I come over to your house you sit me down at the table and you bring a platter that's got that like little topper you put on, you pull it out in front of me and there's this much like an eighth of a slice left of what was a cake with a bunch of crumbs.

[00:24:39] Now how am I supposed to look at that and think, wow, that was made for me. There's probably even fork marks in it. Like people are just eating away at it on there, right? We like to say, Hey, God, you're number one in my life. Hey God, you're the priority. There's no distractions, but all we're doing is giving 'em our leftovers,

[00:25:03] where your treasure is there, you'll see what's important to your. And not only our treasure shows what's important to our hearts, but our time does because money and time is what we invest in the things that we want.

[00:25:20] Where? Where's our time? Most of our time spent at work. And why do we spend so much time at work? Because we like to spend our money on these other things that were a treasure goes. But when you get off work, where do you spend your.

[00:25:38] Is it once again on your kids? Is it on your spouse? Is it hang out with your friends? Is it on your phone? It doesn't matter how noble the cause. If you're gonna say God is a priority in your life, you ought to be able to objectively see not only in your finances, in your time, that in fact God is the priority of your life.

[00:26:02] And then there's all these parables in the Bible about the end of the world. And here's a constant theme amongst all the parables, is that they all basically warn us to not be distracted by what God has told us to do while we wait for his return. The first one I'm gonna read to you comes from Luke.

[00:26:21] It's actually found in Matthew as well. But I wanna read this one to you from Luke, and then I wanna reference a few more parables that's found in Matthew. But Jesus says this from Luke, chapter 1235 to 46. Be dressed, be ready for service. Keep your lamps burning like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they will immediately open the door for him.

[00:26:51] Like God, when he comes and knocks, like when he returns he doesn't want you to be sitting there at the steakhouse having a steak of your life and saying, man, I'll never have a steak like this again. Hey, he's got, I'll be right out. Let me just take these last couple bites. When he knocks. He wants you to be there immediately to open the door for him.

[00:27:11] It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will dress himself to serve. He will have with them, he will have them to recline at the table and will come to wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds him ready even if he comes, even if it's in the middle of the night, even if it's first thing at daybreak.

[00:27:35] But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would never have allowed the house to be broken into. You. See, if you know when the thief's coming, you'll be prepared. You'll be ready. But we don't know when it's gonna happen, so we become distracted and then the thief's able to come.

[00:27:53] You also must be. Because the son of man will come in an hour when you're not expecting him. Peter asked, Lord are you tell this parable to us or is it really for everyone? And the Lord answered, who then is the faithful and the wise manager whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them food, their food allowance at the proper.

[00:28:20] It will be good for that servant whom the master finds him doing so when he returns for truly, I tell you, he will put him in charge of all of his possessions. But suppose a servant says himself, my master's a long time in coming and so he becomes distracted and he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women, and he begins to eat and drink and get drunk.

[00:28:47] The master of that servant will come on day when he doesn't expect him at an hour that he's not aware of, and he will cut him to pieces and assignment to place of the unbelievers. Listen, this is why I'm preaching this to you this morning, and this is why the last of my weak links is like we're told clearly in scripture like.

[00:29:02] We are managers that are put and trusted with things and we have to not be distracted. And for those who are not distracted and are doing so, when the Lord returns welcome, you receive eternal life. But to the ones who aren't doing it, to the ones who become distracted, they begin to eat and get drunk.

[00:29:17] They begin to act in ways that unbelievers act. It doesn't turn out. You get sent to hell. So once again, go back to the image. I'm showing you a video pretend of distracted driving. And they're brutal. Someone's looking down a bam in, in, in in a moment, right? You don't expect it.

[00:29:38] This is how it is spiritually when we become distracted. But it's not just earthly pain and death that we experience is it's eternal.

[00:29:50] And then if you go over to Matthew, like it starts late. Matthew 24 goes through Matthew 25. I think it ends there. Maybe it bleeds over in 26. But right there, brown Matthew 25. Jesus tells this story that Matthew records the story that Luke also records, but then there's like this series of additional parables that explain what the end of the world's gonna be like.

[00:30:10] And one of them is this parable of 10 Virgin. And with the 10 virgins, like five of them have oil in their lamps and they have little oil on the side. And the other five, they only have the oil in their lamps. And it's a long time in the, for the bride groom to come. But when the bride groom comes, the five that weren't distracted, the five that were prepared, they have the oil and lamps, which.

[00:30:35] Faith and their belief in God and their focus on God. They're prepared for when the bridegroom comes, but the others they've run out, they've been distracted, so they run off to, to try to get more oil from their lamps, but the bridegroom arrives and he brings the five that are already into the banquet and the doors shut.

[00:30:55] Now the five that, that, that got distracted, that weren't prepared, they come and they beat on the door. They even say Lord, let us. But they're locked out to hell forever. Why? Because they be became distracted while they were waiting for the Lord to return. And if that's not clear enough, then Jesus sells another parable and it's about these bags of gold.

[00:31:20] And one person has five bags of gold and another has two bags of gold and one's given one gold coin. And so the one bag that has five, one bag that has five gold coins in it, that person goes and he's not distracted while the master's gone. He puts his master's money to work. Now that putting the master's money to work was really Living out your faith and doing the things that the master called you to do.

[00:31:43] He takes those five coins and he doubles it while the master's gone. Now there's a guy that has a bag with two gold coins in it. He too he goes about doing what the master's told him to do and he takes those two gold coins and grows it to four. But there's that guy that has the one gold coin.

[00:31:58] He doesn't lose that. Gold coin, he just becomes distracted. He just digs a hole, sticks it in the ground. Figures. When the master returns, I'll just give it to him. The master returns and the person that earned got five and earned five More. Well done. Good and faithful servant, heaven's yours, the one who has given two and earned two more.

[00:32:15] Well done. Good and faithful Servant heaven is yours to the one who still had what was given but became distracted. Even What he had was taken away from him and he's cast out into hell. And if that's not clear enough, then Jesus immediately tells another parable. And it's the parable of the sheep and the goats that when of the son of man comes at the end of the world, he's gonna separate people like you, which separate chief from goats.

[00:32:40] And to some people, he is gonna come up to you and he's gonna say he's going to say, depart from me and go to hell. That's been prepared for you because I was hungry and you didn't give me anything to. I was thirsty and you didn't give me anything to drink. I was lonely and you didn't invite me in.

[00:32:57] I was imprisoned and you didn't come and visit me. And they're like, Lord, when didn't we do that? We never saw you like that. And Jesus will say whatever you didn't do for the least of these, you didn't do it for me. And why didn't they do it for them? Because they were just too distracted living life for themselves.

[00:33:14] But on the other hand, there's gonna be this whole other group and he's gonna say, come and enter into your master's happiness. Because when I was hungry, you did give me something to eat. When I was thirsty, you did give me something to drink. When I was lonely, you did invite me. And when I was sick, you did come and visit me, Lord, when did we do any of that?

[00:33:31] They're not even gonna realize that they were doing these you didn't do it for me, but whatever you did for the least of these you did 'em to me. They, they weren't distracted by the pleasures of life and their iPhones and all these different things that we have. And they were about doing the Lord's business while the Lord was gone.

[00:33:47] And his answer to them is, come and enter into heaven. This is a matter of life and death. Just like distracted, thriving is a matter of life and. So is distracted spirituality. How do we prevent from being distracted spiritually? You got to put God above all things. Once again, it's that first commandment.

[00:34:15] You shall have no other gods, no other anything before him. It goes back to Jesus words that, that love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind. And. God doesn't wanna be second to anything or anyone.

[00:34:38] How would you feel if your spouse was given more attention to the neighbor than to yourself? You wouldn't be happy about that, would you? How would you feel if like your teenage kids when they start to date, all they ever do is talk about their boyfriend or girlfriend's parents. In fact, they love their parents so much.

[00:34:52] They always want to eat there. They always wanna hang out there. How would you feel as a parent, if that's what your kids were saying to you? How would you feel if your boss was looking after her complimenting and taking care of all the other employees, but for you, they really had nothing. In all those situations, we would be quite upset.

[00:35:08] So is God. When we put the things of his creation and of this world before him. What is your greatest distraction from following Christ right now? Is it your phone? Is it your friends? Is it yourself? Is it your kids? Is it your job? Just trying to enjoy life. It doesn't matter how noble the cause, nothing comes before God.

[00:35:41] And we like to say, but he knows my heart we need to stop saying that he knows our heart and we need to start living like he really owns it. Would you join me in a word of prayer? Gracious Almighty God, we sit here this morning, we all become so distracted by life. And we put so many things before you and as a result, we bring a lot of dysfunction into our lives, bring a lot of hurt into our lives and a lot of pain and suffering into our lives.

[00:36:16] And I just pray, gracious God, that you would help us to put you first, to not just say it, but to live. That people would be able to see through our actions that people would be able to see through our bank account, that people would be able to see through the time and how we spend it. That you are absolute first in our lives.

[00:36:42] Gracious God, we don't know when our time on this earth is gonna end. We don't know when you will return, but for us, it ends when we die and we don't know the day or the hour can be I just pray, gracious God, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you had caused us to desire to be faithful to you, so that when you do come for us, you find us doing that what you've called us to do in Jesus, holy and precious name.

[00:37:06] Amen.