Beware of Becoming Distracted

Mark Patton, pastor of my home church, Spring Hill Baptist Church, has been preaching through a series on the book of Nehemiah. This past Sunday he shared a message on the attacks Nehemiah faced and how these describe the attacks churches face which would hinder them from fulfilling the work God has given them to do.

The attacks Nehemiah faced:

Becoming Distracted

Becoming Timid

Compromising on the Essentials

In his first point he shared how easy it is for the church to become distracted from the work God has given us to do: that of glorifying Him by making disciples.

From Pastor Mark’s message:

“All over the world today, churches are leaving disciple making for helping the environment, for helping the poor, for helping to fight Aids, for helping to fight hunger, for helping to stop abortion, for helping to protect marriage. None of these are bad. I would love for the environment to be better. I would love for the poor to have enough that there would be no hunger. I would love for the Aids epidemic to be curbed. I would love for innocent live to be protected. I would love for the home where one man and one woman in a monogamous marriage of harmony would be the model of our culture.

“But the job of our church is to bring honor and glory to God by making disciples…

“My beef is not with these outreach ministries. My beef is with the church getting distracted by people who do these 'ministries' apart from the gospel.”

Pastor Mark’s message was a great reminder for us as a church to stay focused and faithful on what it is that God has called us to do.

20 minute clip from Mark's message dealing with churches becoming distracted from the God given priority of making disciples.

Pastor Mark’s complete message