Hearing From God: Too Distracted To Hear

May 18th, 2025/Casey Middle School

Intro:
Today I want to talk about distractions! What is distracting you today? What’s on your mind? What is weighing heavy on your heart?

How about this… have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you’re there… you’re not alone. I literally did this yesterday, got all the way to my garage and thought “c’mon man, you know why you’re here?!” :)

A few weeks ago I took my kids to school and in the hustle and bustle of making sure everyone had their backpacks, water bottles, and homework, I walked them all to their class. As I got back to the parking lot I realized I had left my car running in the parking lot the whole time. Just out there… idling for Jesus.

We live constantly pulled, chronically stimulated, mentally divided.
And yet somehow we expect to hear the whisper of God in the middle of all that?

Passage: Luke 10:38-42 CSB

38 While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said.

40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Pray:

Background:

Mary and Martha were sisters who lived in Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem. Their home became a place of rest for Jesus. They weren’t just followers, they were friends.

And that’s what makes the contrast between the sisters so compelling. Both loved Jesus and were devoted to Him. But this story isn’t about choosing between the two.

As Warren Wiersbe points out, the Christian life isn’t an either/or, it’s a both/and. Jesus doesn’t rebuke Martha’s service, He redirects her attention. God wants us to serve with Martha’s hands and worship with Mary’s heart. The goal isn’t performance or passivity, the goal is presence.

Title: Too Distracted To Hear

Big Idea: Distraction is more than a modern problem — it’s a spiritual strategy. The enemy doesn’t need to destroy your life if he can distract your heart.

Main Points:

1. Distraction Isn’t Just External - It’s Internal

   1. “40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” 41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,”
   2. Martha was serving Jesus, and yet missing Jesus.
   3. She was doing something honorable. But inside? Anxious. Upset. Divided.
   4. The word distraction comes from a Latin which means “to be pulled apart.” Emails, errands, inner doubt, outward pressure, all of it tugging your soul in 20 directions.

   5. We often look to good things like success, family, or even ministry as ultimate things. But when anything other than God becomes your center, your soul fragments. You begin to feel “pulled apart”

      1. Question: Am I speaking to anybody that feels pulled apart? Or you could say “pulled in too many different directions at the same time”?

         6. You’re doing too much to hear too little from the One who matters most.

      2. You can be highly productive in this life and miss the most important aspect of the Christian life… His presence.

         7. We think we have attention problems. What we actually have are devotion problems. We wake up already losing the battle, because we’re overwhelmed.

      3. “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” - C.S. Lewis

         8. What a picture. That’s what Mary did. While Martha was wrestling the wild animals of her responsibilities, Mary made room for the stronger, quieter life to come flowing in. She made space for the only voice that could bring her peace.
         9. Story: Lebron & Phil Knight

      4. LeBron breaks the all-time scoring record.
         Crowd’s on fire. Cameras everywhere. But one man, Phil Knight, isn't recording. He’s just watching.

      5. That image went viral because it revealed something powerful: presence is rare.
      6. Everyone else was recording the moment. He was receiving it.
      7. And that’s what Mary did. She wasn’t live streaming this intimate moment with Jesus. She wasn’t busying herself with other responsibilities. She sat in it. She was present in the moment with the thing that mattered most.

2. Our Distractions Reveal Our Disconnection

   1. she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”
   2. What starts as serving has now turned into resenting.
   3. This is how distraction works:
      1. First, it makes you busy. Then bitter. Then distant. And before long, you're in the room with Jesus… but you feel like He’s far away.
      2. You can be in the house but miss the hush. You can be close to His presence and still closed off to His voice.
   4. I asked a few people in our church, “What distracts you from hearing God?” Here’s what they said, and maybe it’s your story too.
      1. Internal (Mind + Pride)
         1. “I just wake up in my head and live from there.”
         2. “When I think I’ve got this, I stop listening.”
      2. External (Tech + Tasks)
         1. “It’s everything. Phone. Work. Responsibilities. Things I’m excited about. Just… all of it.”
      3. Spiritual Drift
         1. “Sometimes I realize… it’s been weeks since I really stopped and listened.”
         2. Distraction doesn’t just divide your attention. It creates distance from God.
      4. When pride is loud, God feels silent.
      5. Sometimes you’re not disconnected. You’re just overly connected to the wrong things.

   5. Illust: Let’s talk about AirPods.

      1. They come with three listening modes and if you think about it, so do we. And if you're trying to hear God in the middle of your life, you’ve got to learn how to switch modes.
      2. Noise Canceling Mode
         1. This one blocks everything else out.
            When it’s on, you can walk through chaos and not even notice because you're tuned into one thing.
         2. Spiritually? This is your daily quiet time.
            Not forever, but daily.
            You get alone. Shut the door. Silence the buzz.
            You say, “God, You get the first word today.”
         3. “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” – Luke 5:16
         4. You need this. Not to escape the world, but to re-center in the Word.
      3. Transparency Mode
         1. This mode lets external sounds in… you're still tuned in, but aware of your surroundings.
         2. This is what it looks like to walk in the Spirit throughout your day.
            You're at the grocery store… still listening.
            You're at work… still responsive.
            You're having lunch… still aware.
         3. “Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17–18
         4. You don’t need a perfect environment to hear God, you need a postured heart. The goal isn’t to tune the world out completely, but to walk with God in the middle of it.
      4. Conversation Boost Mode
         1. This is when you stop speaking and God gets the floor.
         2. Just like AirPods lower your volume so you can listen to someone in front of you, this is the moment in prayer where you stop explaining, stop requesting, and just listen.
         3. “Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
         4. “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:42
         5. This isn’t just quiet, it’s clarity. It’s not silence for silence’s sake, it’s space for the voice of God to be amplified in your soul.
         6. The voice of God often grows loudest in the moments we stop trying to speak over Him.
      5. Here’s the truth: You need all three modes.
         1. You need all three modes, not just one.
         2. You need Noise Canceling, quiet time to center your soul.
         3. You need Transparency, a lifestyle that stays connected while you move through life.
         4. And you need Conversation Awareness, moments in prayer where you *stop talking* so God can start revealing.

3. The Posture That Positions You To Hear

   1. “Mary… sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said.” - Luke 10:39
   2. Mary sat at His feet.
      That’s not laziness. That’s alignment.
   3. In Jewish culture, to sit at someone’s feet meant you were their disciple.
      Not just physically near, but spiritually yielded.
   4. And Jesus says: “Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:42
   5. Discipleship is not just knowing the teachings of Jesus. It’s reordering your life around His authority.
   6. Illust: Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
      1. *Show Picture
      2. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, there’s a quiet but powerful moment when Sean O’Connell is staring at a rare snow leopard through his camera lens. Walter, watching alongside him, asks, “*When are you going to take it?*” Sean replies: “*Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the* *distraction* *of the camera. I just want to stay in it.*” “*Stay in it?*” “*Yeah. Right there. Right here.*”
   7. This moment is a masterclass in presence. It reminds us that some things are too sacred to capture, too holy to rush through. The most meaningful encounters often come when we slow down, set aside the noise, and simply be present.
   8. Spiritually, this is what it means to hear from God.
      1. We want God to speak, but we rarely make space to listen.
      2. We treat sacred moments like snapshots, something to consume or record rather than something to stay in.
      3. But God is not a spectacle. He’s a still, small voice.
   9. Sean’s choice to not take the picture reflects what we must often do spiritually: resist the urge to rush, perform, or produce, and just be with God.
   10. Because as John Mark Comer says: “What you give your attention to is the person you become… your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to.”
   11. In a world constantly pulling us in every direction, internal thoughts, external pressures, phones, pride, performance, the real challenge is to be like Mary, who “sat at the Lord’s feet listening…” - Luke 10:39.

Closing:

4 Postures of Hearing God:

1. We live distracted and don’t even try to listen.
2. We try to listen, but the noise wins.
3. We listen, hear… but never follow through.
4. We listen and respond in obedience.

Obedience turns up the volume of God’s voice.

Pinewood, this is our moment.
We’re not just building a church. We’re becoming a people who can hear and respond.

We live in a city where everyone’s spiritual… but few are surrendered.
But let that not be said of us.

Let this be the church that doesn’t just know the Bible but listens to the voice of the Shepherd.

Right now, forget what’s next.
Forget lunch. Forget the checklist.

Let’s be Mary.
Let’s sit.
Let’s listen.

He still speaks. Will you hear?

A Prayer of Stillness and Surrender:

Lord, I am here.

Not to perform. But to listen.

Quiet the noise within me.

Slow the pace around me.

Reorder what has been pulled apart.

I sit at Your feet. I choose the better portion.
I give You my full attention, my full affection.

Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening.

Invitation:

If you want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Then join me and everyone else in the building as we pray out loud together. It’s not the prayer that saves you, but your faith, making Jesus Lord of your life. We don’t let anyone go on the journey alone. If you have faith in Jesus, then let’s join together as we pray…

Prayer of Salvation:

Jesus, I acknowledge that I need you

I confess that I have sinned against you

I believe that God raised you from the dead

And right now, by faith, I say “Jesus is Lord”

Thank you for forgiving me

By your grace I am saved

And by your power I am set free

Conclusion:

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, let me share something Jesus said in Matthew 10:32: “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” So, I’m going to ask: if you prayed that prayer for the first time, would you lift your hand and let us know? This is a moment to celebrate, not just here, but in heaven.