Distractions!

Mathew 6:33

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I come before you this morning with a grateful heart. Thank you for the gift of life, for the breath in my lungs, and for the opportunity to rise again. Under your mercy, I acknowledge that it is by your grace that I am awake, sustained, and given another chance to walk in purpose. As this day begins, I surrender every thought, plan, and desire into your hands. Go before me and prepare the way. Order my steps, align my decisions with your will, and guide me with wisdom that is higher than my own understanding. Lord, I ask for your presence to fill this day. Let your peace rule my heart and silence every voice of fear, doubt, or confusion. Where my mind feels heavy, bring clarity. Where my spirit feels tired, bring renewal. Where my faith feels small, strengthen it. Cover me with your divine protection, shield me from harm seen and unseen. Guard my heart from negativity, my mind from distraction, and my body from weakness. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. And let every plan not align with your will lose its power. Father, I ask for strength to face every challenge today. Give me patience in moments of frustration. Humility in moments of success and courage in moments of difficulty. Help me to respond with grace, speak with kindness, and act with integrity. Bless the work of my hands today, let my efforts be productive and meaningful. Open doors that no one can shut. And close doors that are not meant for me. Place me in the right places at the right time with the right people. Lord, fill me with gratitude. Let me notice your blessings, both big and small. Teach me to trust you even when I do not understand the path ahead. Remind me that you are working all things together for good. I pray for those connected to me, cover my family, friends, and loved ones with peace and protection, provide for their needs, heal their hurts, and draw them closer to you. As I step into this day, I choose faith over fear, hope over worry, and love over anger. I walk confidently knowing that you are with me, within me, and surrounding me. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Thank you for your faithfulness. I commit this entire day into your hands and trust you completely. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Wasn't that such a beautiful prayer? I thought you guys might enjoy that, so I thought I'd play it for you. Welcome to God's Reporter Podcast. I am your host, David Fry, and we've got a great message just for you today. So stick around for it. First of all, though, as always, we're going to start out with our own prayer. So let's let's pray. Father God, we love you so much. And we thank you for giving us another day. We thank you for the air that we breathe, the sunshine that we see every day, the rain that falls to water, the ground, and the crops and the plants. We thank you for all that you do for us. We thank you for the many blessings that you give us, Lord. Father, I pray for my listeners that you will help them with whatever they may be going through, whether it's emotional, financial, spiritual, whatever it is, you know what it is, and that's all that matters. It's between you, you and them. Father, I pray for the countries that are at war right now, Lord. I pray for the innocent people that are caught in between all of this chaos that's going on, Lord. I pray that you will put a hedge of protection around all of them, Lord, in whatever country they may be living in. Father, I pray for the leaders of these countries that they will come together and find a peaceful solution to all of these problems, Lord. Father, I pray for the United States. I pray for President Trump. I pray that he will get this country back on track again, like it should be. I pray that he will get this country back to one nation under God as it as it started out being and should be again, Father. Father, I pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. I want to talk to you today a little bit about what we're seeking in our everyday lives. What distracts us. Well, first of all, I want to tell you a story. There was this man and his wife and kids. Went to this church for many years. Finally, one Sunday the husband started looking around at all the people, and all he could see was people texting and playing on their phones, whispering to each other, not paying attention to the preacher. He finally got up at the end of the service and walked up to the preacher and he said, Preacher, I'm sorry to tell you this, but today will be our last Sunday to come into church here. The preacher was kind of surprised. He said, Well, why is that? He said, Do you not pay attention to your congregation? I was looking around and all I could see were people texting and playing on their phones, whispering to each other, playing games, not paying attention to what you were saying. The pastor said, Okay, I understand, but before you make your final decision, I want you to do this for me. Want you to take this glass of water. He handed him a full glass of water, told him I want you to take this water and walk around the building, the church building twice without spilling a drop. Man thought it was kind of weird, but he said, Okay, I'll do it. So he went outside and went around the building twice, came back in, set the water down, and he said, Okay, I did it. Not a drop was spilled. He said, Okay, while you were out there, did you see anyone texting or playing on their phones or whispering to each other? He said, No, I was trying to pay attention to the water to make sure I didn't spill any of it. Pastor said, Exactly. Why aren't you paying attention and keeping your eyes on God instead of keeping your eyes on everyone else? He said, That's what's going on in the world today. We're paying attention to everything except what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be keeping our eyes on God. We're supposed to be watching him, following him instead of being distracted by what the world is going on around us. You see, that's exactly what Satan wants us to do, is be distracted, to keep our minds off of following Jesus. You see, that's why Satan created religion. That's right, you heard what I said. Satan created religion, not Jesus. Jesus did not come to this world to create a religion. He came to create a relationship with his people. He wanted a warm, close, personal, personal, intimate relationship with his people. He wanted them to know him as well as he knew them. He paid the price on the cross for our sins. We're letting the world distract us. You see, I'm here to tell you right now, religion is demonic. The music industry industry industry is demonic. The world is demonic. Everything Satan has created in this world, and he does a great job of disguising it to make it look like it's coming from God, but it's not. It's demonic. You see, when Lucifer, that's Satan's name, was in heaven as an angel, he was over the music. He played a beautiful played played, excuse me, beautiful music. And he was one of the most beautiful angels in heaven. But pride got in his way. That's why he's in hell right now. But he sends his demon angels out to distract us, to keep our minds occupied on the world, on what's going on around us, instead of keeping our minds on Jesus. You see, Matthew 6 33 says seek first the kingdom of God, and all things will be added unto you after after that. When you pray, you pray seeking God. You pray seeking Jesus. And he will give you what you're asking for. When you get up in the mornings, you seek Jesus. When you go to bed at night, you seek Jesus. When you eat your meals, you pray and you seek Jesus. When you're at work, you seek Jesus. When you're at a sporting event, you seek Jesus. I don't care what you're doing, you put him first. And guys, if you're married, you make sure your wives understand that you are supposed to love Jesus more than you love your wife. And wives, you make sure your husbands understand that you are supposed to love Jesus more than your husband. Make sure both of you understand that, and both of you seek Jesus first. And you'll have a happier, healthier mess marriage. I can promise you that. Jesus loves us so much that he gave us life on the cross for our sins. He paid the price. So we didn't have to. You see, we belong on the cross. The price for sin is death. And he paid that price. But he rose again in three days. And he went to prepare a place for us in heaven. So I'm asking you now, do you know Jesus? Do you know him as your Lord and Savior? Do you believe in him? Do you seek him out every day through his word, through prayer, through praising his name? Or do you go to church every Sunday playing on your phone? What percentage of people who go to church do you think are really saved? Sixty to seventy percent of people that go to church are saved, not a hundred percent. So you've got thirty or forty percent out there waiting. That's opportunities for you. When you see somebody talking or whispering, or see somebody texting or talk or playing games on their phone while church is going on, that's opportunities for you to talk to them about Jesus. Because evidently they're not paying attention, and evidently they don't know Jesus like they should, or don't know him at all. There's people every day that go to church every day of their life and never give their heart and life to Jesus. And that's a shame. Oh, they act like a Christian. Oh, I'll be praying for you. Oh yes, I'll do this and I'll do that. I'll volunteer in the church, but has never given their heart and life to Jesus. So why not right now? If you don't know Jesus, why not right now? Why not ask him to come into your heart right now? Why not give him your li your heart and life? Why not accept him as your Lord and Savior and have no doubt in your mind that you will be going to heaven when the time comes? He'll transform your life. There was a man who asked the pastor one time, he said, Pastor, if I give my heart and life to Jesus, do I have to stop drinking? He said, No, you don't have to stop drinking. He said, hmm. If I give up my heart and life to Jesus, do I have to stop smoking marijuana and doing drugs? No, you don't have to. He said, Wow. He said, Pastor, if I give my heart and life to Jesus, do I have to stop chasing women? He said, No, you don't have to stop. So he got on his knees and he prayed to Jesus. Asked it asked him to come into his heart, gave him his heart and life, and accepted him as his Lord and Savior. And he bought him a Bible and went home. Came back the next Sunday. He told the pastor, he said, You know, Pastor, I've been reading in this Bible and getting to know Jesus pretty good. And you know what? I don't want to drink anymore. I don't want to do drugs anymore. I don't want to chase women anymore. I want to seek Jesus. And that's how it Jesus works. He'll change your life forever. He loves you. And he will forgive you for your sins. There's no sin too big that he won't forgive you for. And if you are a new believer or even a believer that's been a Christian for a good while, I have the Bible for you. It's called the New Living Translation New Believers Bible. And I'm giving these away free of charge. All you have to do is email me at God's Reporter Zero One at gmail.com. That's God's Reporter Zero One at gmail.com. Put in the subject line BibleAffer and give me your first and last name and your mailing address, and I'll be glad to put one in the mail for you free of charge. No strings attached. You can also email me if you have suggestions or comments for the podcast. You can email me with uh if you'd like to give your testimony on the podcast, or I have a new podcast telephone line for inside the United States that you can call and text on. It's 731 215 0515. That's 731 215 0515. You can call or text on that podcast line anytime. And if you can't get me, you can leave a message and I'll call you right back. But I would love to hear from you. You can you can call the podcast line if you have a prayer request or you would like someone to pray with you, or if you have a Bible question, or you'd like to give your testimony and like to set up a time to record it, be glad to do that. Or if you are an author and have a Christian book you'd like to promote, or if you have an if you're a podcaster and have a Christian podcast you'd like to promote, I'd be glad to do it on my podcast, free of charge. But I would really love to hear from you. And I want to thank you so much for joining me today. From God's Reporter Podcast, Jesus loves you. I love you too. Have a great day.