Journey of Prayer

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Journey of Prayer

• Step 5 Distractions

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16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked,
"Teacher, what good thing must I do to get
eternal life?" 17 "Why do you ask me about what
is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who
is good. If you want to enter life, obey the
commandments." 18 "Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,' and
'love your neighbor as yourself.'" 20 "All these
I have kept," the young man said. "What do I
still lack?" 21 Jesus answered, "If you want to
be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me." 22 When the young man
heard this, he went away sad, because he had
great wealth. Matthew 1916-22
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A. The Jewish people constantly went astray They
were distracted from God by

• other gods
• desire to be like other nations and have a king
• great wealth and prestige
• their own self-interest
• their lack of gratitude
• their lack of faith in God

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One of the most common phrases in historical
books of the Old Testament

• So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD he
  did not follow the LORD completely, as David his
  father had done. (I Kings 116 NIV)

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Of the 26 kings of Judah

• only 3 were considered good kings David,
  Hezekiah, and Josiah
• what about Solomon?????
• Solomons story is one of Good King gone bad.

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Are we any different? We become distracted by

• Sports
• Family
• Hobbies
• House
• Jobs

• Money
• Pride
• Illness
• Politics
• our perceived lack of resources (at least in
  comparison to others)

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Another god is any area of our life where God is
not a welcome guest.

• These distractions become our idols.

Moooooo!
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Step 5 Distractions
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In front of you is a map. In the center is a
compass. The needle of the compass points
directly north. Also on the map are some small
magnets, some false norths.
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Try moving these magnets around the compass. See
what happens. The false norths pull the needle
away from true north.
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If God is true north, what are the false norths
distracting your focus away from God? As you
identify these false norths, move them to the
edge of the map.
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Refocus on true north Begin to focus on God.