Amen. If you have a Bible turned to the book of Luke, we're going to continue there.
I entitled this message, A Busy Season, which I get busy at times.
I got a little ADHD. I think you probably all kind of have, you know, I see a lot of squirrels.
At my house, I got, I start 10 projects and never finish.
any of them.
I get really busy.
I've seen one pastor, he entitled his message on this passage of scripture,
an enemy called busy.
And I think if we get distracted, it can sure be detrimental to our spiritual life.
You know, we get caught up and overwhelmed, especially this time of year.
Isn't it crazy?
It's just crazy.
In fact, I think we use those terms when we go to town.
Town was crazy.
You know, it was a zoo.
All the creatures come out.
And then they try to drive.
And so it gets wild.
And traffic is horrendous in Idaho Falls.
I try to compare it when we first moved here.
We moved to Idaho Falls in 2002, my wife and I and my family.
and my how things have changed in 23 years going on 24.
And there's just so many distractions in the world and in our lives.
And much worse, I think, than any other time in history, the things that can distract us.
And really, I think the enemy has a heyday with that.
The enemy, the flesh, the devil, the world.
which are all an enemy to us.
And so we're going to kind of look at that.
And maybe the Lord would use this passage as only five verses we're going to look at this morning.
But to kind of reel us back in, you know?
I don't know about you, but I need reeled in occasionally because I get out there and start flapping in the wind.
And all I do is get frazzled.
So let's read.
It's just, like I said, five verses.
here in the last part of chapter 10 of the gospel of Luke. And it says, now it happened as they went that
he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a
sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with
much serving and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to
serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said,
to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed,
and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word. Lord, it's truth that comes from your Holy Spirit.
Lord, I pray that it would settle in our hearts and it would have its way in us.
Lord, that we would be people who choose a good part.
and knowing, Lord, that there is this eternal life offered to those who would refuse to be distracted
by this world and the ways of it and the enemy and even our own flesh, Lord.
And I just pray that we could get just laser focused on you and allow you to direct our steps
and lead us in our lives.
And we pray that you would do that even today, Lord, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And so here we have.
have in this story two ladies, sisters, right, and that all of us can relate to one or the other,
possibly. And they have a brother, and obviously the Lord has been close to this family,
close family friends with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And we know that he was close.
to them because when they send word to Jesus, when Lazarus is sick, he says, hey, the one whom you love.
Wouldn't that be nice that people talked that way to you?
Hey, you know, you know, the one whom the Lord loves.
And really, that's all of us for God so love the world, right?
But when you personalize, it just seems to carry a little more weight.
And they told him, you know, that this one that you love, Lord, he's sick.
And that's where it's because of this family that we get those powerful words out of John
Chapter 11 that says, where Jesus says, I am the resurrection in the life.
He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
So I praise God for Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
I praise God that Lazarus got sick and died.
Yeah.
Because we get these awesome words that are such an encouragement to us.
And so we're just going to look at these two ladies today, and I don't know how long this was take.
A lot of the messages I read and looked at on this was between like 24 to 35 minutes.
And so, but this is some powerful truths in this passage of scripture.
And so first we have Martha.
Martha is a very busy woman.
Girls, any of you are very busy?
Right?
and just very she's she's she's just really busy and she's mentioned in the new testament 13 times
and um she she just can't sit still this girl and i don't know if that's you that's you that's really
not me if i'm upright i'm usually moving if i'm sit if i sit down for any amount of time then
uh i start snoring uh and and she's uh
She's also a little on the chatty side, this Martha.
She talks a lot.
Girls do, they talk more than men.
I mean, studies show.
Girls, there's no denying it.
You just sometimes don't know when to zip it.
And so here, she says, you know, she says, you know, she says,
Lord, you know, Lord, she won't help me, right?
So she needs to inform Jesus of what's going on, as if you don't know.
And then she tells him how to fix it.
You ever do that?
I know guys that do that, right?
But we just think so much different than Jesus thinks.
And so here she is.
She's busy and she's going about and she realized and she's going, look,
look, I'm doing all the work, and my sister's just sitting, can you please tell her to help me?
But she does call him Lord, right? So she seems to have faith, but she sure likes to tell people what to do.
And this is no different. We see it in John chapter 11. She's doing the same thing. I mean, she's just beside her.
herself, her brother is sick, and then he dies, and she hears Jesus is coming, and so she can't
sit still and wait for him to get there, so she jumps up and she runs to meet him, and
she starts telling him, Lord. She's saying, Lord. So she's seeing him as Lord, but maybe she's
questioning his lordship. Lord, if you would have been here, my brother,
wouldn't have died. And she doesn't stop there. But even now, I know that whatever you ask,
God will give you. And then, and she continues to express as her faith in verse 24 and 27 there in John
chapter 11. And I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Yes, Lord,
but I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is to come into the world. And then he goes,
she can't sit still. So she goes and tells him, sister, the teacher is, the teacher is
you know, we don't have any record in the scripture that Jesus was calling her.
If Mary, if Martha didn't express faith here, I would say she's a busy body.
Right? She's just, I can't, you know, she's just got to be right in the middle of everything and
voicing her opinion, right? And then, and then last of all, she questioned.
Jesus about calling him from the dead, calling him up.
Lazarus, come forth.
Lord, you can't do that.
He stink of.
And so Mary is, or excuse me, Martha,
she's just not quite getting what it means to be slow to speak, right?
quick to hear. Obviously, this scripture has not been written yet, right? There is such a thing as
talking too much. Do you know that? Have you found that out? But girls, do you like to talk?
And so, Proverbs tells us, right? Proverbs 10, 19, in the multitude of words, sin is,
not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise. It says he. Maybe we should put an S in there and make that he a she.
She who restrains herself is wise.
That would be so wise.
And it is obvious that Martha had never read James, chapter 1, verse 19.
So then my beloved brethren, says brethren again here too, but it's all inclusive talking to the body.
Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.
Or maybe because of the verbiage that the Lord will give.
give gals a pass on their much speaking. I don't know. But I know that the Lord is going to talk to
Martha, right? And he's going to address her. And like I said, you know, that she could be
confused as being a bit busy body. And it talks about that in Second Thessalonians 312. It says,
now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they listen,
that they work in quietness and eat your own bread.
Right?
That it's being quiet is a really important thing.
And it's interesting, but that's what her sister was doing.
Right?
Mary was just sitting, listening, be quick to hear what the Lord would say.
And so Martha was kind of undone, wasn't getting the help that she thought she needed.
And it does appear that this is all on Martha.
She's the one who invited Jesus over, right?
And I have, I learned really quick in our marriage.
I don't invite people to our house.
I leave that to my wife, right?
or I take it to her and said, hey, I'm thinking this way
because hers don't want people coming to hers house
until she's totally prepared and totally ready.
And girls' ideas of being ready and men's ideas of being ready
are two totally different things.
I'm ready because my door will open, right?
It's not locked or it doesn't hang up on the hinges.
My door will open.
So, yeah.
Not so with girls.
And maybe Mary was thinking that way.
Well, you invited him.
So have out.
And I'm going to sit here and hear what this guy has to say.
So in verse 41, Jesus talks to Martha.
He talks to her about this.
And notice, he says, Martha, Martha.
And anytime the Lord speaks the name twice, there's a huge emphasis.
In other words, you had better pay attention to what he is saying.
And this is throughout Scripture, folks, when we see a name used twice.
It's very significant.
Abraham, Abraham, right?
Abraham's getting ready to cut his son's throat and bleed him out as a sacrifice to the father.
And the Lord goes, Abraham, Abraham, hey.
you know he's getting their attention or how about how about when jesus is standing there over jerusalem before the crucifixion and he's going oh jerusalem jerusalem had you had known this day your day of visitation the one whom the prophets killed jerusalem jerusalem if you would have known right i would have gathered you like a
and gathers her chicks.
Or how about Saul?
You remember him on the road to Damascus,
getting ready to persecute Christians?
Or as he put it, he was wasting the church.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
Says he's named twice.
Or how about Simon?
Simon, Simon.
Do you love me?
and Simon kind of had some of the same issue that Martha's having here.
Why tell her to help me?
You know, Simon looks at Jesus and says, well, and he points to John.
He goes, well, what about him?
What about John?
What's he got to do?
Because the Lord just told Simon how he was going to die, right?
He says, they're going to stretch you out, buddy.
They're going to dress you down and they're going to hang you upside down.
But what about him?
And Jesus says, if I want him to stay here till I get back, that's none of your business, right?
I told you to follow me.
We all have a calling, folks.
Right?
We're to do what God calls us to do.
Right?
And many times as a pastor, I'll hear all kinds of these things that God's calling people to do.
But God calls them to do it, and then they bring it to do it.
to me and want me to do it.
No, if God calls you to do it, go do it.
Now, if you need help and you need direction,
then come ask.
I'll sure tell you how to do it.
Martha, Martha, he says to her,
getting her attention,
you are worried and troubled about many things.
things. Are you worried and troubled about many things today? I see it in our world. It's like
it's on steroids. People so, so worried and troubled about things. And there's this fear that
seems to be just, just permeating society. And people just get so anxious, worried. That
drawn in opposite directions. In other words, you're torn. Not just what the enemy wants to do.
He just wants to tear you away from the things of the Lord and tear you towards those things
that he would have you do, that your flesh would have you do, that even the world would have you do.
It means divided into parts. Do you just feel like you're getting ripped apart?
I see young people that feel that way.
In fact, it's so terrible that some take their own lives.
They're worried.
They're going to pieces.
They're being pulled apart by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The second word, he says, and you're troubled.
This means to make a noisy upheaval, a tumult.
right just noise constant noise when the the word would tell us to to be quiet be still you don't need that
noise you don't need to always be going nine oh you're you're anxious and you're troubled about
many things. It's interesting that
Proverbs tells us that anxiety
in the heart of man causes depression.
And the people who get depressed.
I've never had that problem. I felt like I've been on the edge a few
times, but it's all because of the noise and the
busyness and not taking time to be still.
That's what happens.
You rely on self.
believe in yourself i hear coaches say that all the time right believe in yourself i'm not going to believe in
myself scripture says that self has to die right no i can believe and i can have confidence and abilities
that god's given me right i can have but my confidence is a god confidence not a scottic confidence
right that's called self-confidence and that always gets me in trouble right because i think
way too highly of myself than I ought to.
And so it is with you.
So he tells her, listen, Martha, Martha,
you are worried and troubled about many things.
And then he remedies it.
This is the remedy.
It's so easy.
One thing.
Who can't do one thing?
He says one thing,
but one thing is needed.
There's a need that you and I have.
One thing is needed.
And he tells her, listen, and Mary has chosen that good part.
Throughout the Bible, we see the Lord, he'll compare people.
Not in their value, but what they do.
You remember in the scripture there in Luke 16, when the rich man of Lazarus and
And Abraham, you know, the rich man, he's being tormented
because he didn't do well in this life.
Kind of took care of self.
Kind of elevated self.
And Abraham tells him, he says, listen.
He says, in your life, you had good things.
And Lazarus, this guy over here,
because the rich man can see Lazarus being comforted.
no doubt maybe a little bit of jealousy entered into his heart there in his place of torment.
He says, listen, in your life you had good things. Lazarus, he had evil things.
Now he's comforted and you're tormented.
Because what did you do with the things that I gave you? You definitely didn't bless Lazarus.
And he compared those two. And here Jesus compares Mary and Martha. Martha, your word.
you're troubled.
Mary's chosen the best thing.
Find people who have chosen the best thing.
I had the question this week, and it always kind of bothers me because I really don't know how to go about it or navigate it.
And the question is about how do you mentor people?
I go, I don't know.
I don't know how to mentor people.
I know what I did. I didn't have a mentor other than I watched men who had lives that were men of faith. I watched their lives. And I just thought, oh, it looks like that works. Oh, I don't think that one worked, but that looks like it worked. And I watched men who had a relationship with Jesus and I watched how they lived their lives. I did have a pretty good example of my grandfather. And his
His strong point was the Word of God.
I could sit down and I could bring up any person or subject in the Bible
and the old man could quote scripture to me.
He didn't mentor me, so to speak.
He didn't know he was mentoring me,
though he fielded my questions,
and he would regurgitate God's word to me.
And I just thought, that's something that I need in my life.
I need to know God's word.
So at 27, after walking with the Lord for a couple years, I made a conscious commitment.
I'm going to read through the Word of God.
I'm going to read through it from cover to cover.
I'm going to read the whole thing.
I'd never done it up to that point.
I'd been walking with the Lord for a few years.
And because I saw that in my grandpa.
And I knew I needed to incorporate a prayer life, and I didn't know how to do that other than
his wife, my grandmother, was a woman of prayer.
And I remember as being a little boy, getting up early in the morning and going downstairs
and her under this light with her notebook and her Bible.
And the woman would be praying as she was reading through God's Word and praying for her grandkids.
She had four grandkids.
Her lot in life was to raise a son.
She had one son and she had four grandkids.
That was the subject of four grandkids.
her prayer life. And I'm thinking, I need to do that too. And so I started, I was all by myself in this,
this trailer house in central California and was kind of, you know, remote where I was living.
And I could walk this road and there was no traffic or anything. And I remember walking that
road and praying out loud to God and having his spirit bear witness with my spirit.
Nobody taught me how to do that, right? I knew God was.
was calling me to that, and I had saw an example of my grandmother doing that, and the Lord
started disciplining me. I started growing in those things. And so he tells Mary, hey, or excuse me,
Martha, look at your sis. She chose the good part. Right? She's sitting in my head. And it's
we see Mary from Bethany, this woman, right? We see her three times in the scriptures.
She was every time, every time she's at Jesus's feet.
Every time.
She's here at Jesus's feet.
She's learning.
She's taking it in.
When her brother Lazarus dies, she runs out to him and she falls down at Jesus's feet.
Right?
And then in John chapter 12, we see her at Jesus's feet, anointing him with oil, wiping it with her hair.
At Jesus' feet, folks.
is a good part.
That's what he said here.
It's the best part.
The one thing is needed,
and Mary has chosen that good part.
And so that's...
That's what he tells Martha.
Look at your sis.
And so she's there just taking it all in, Mary.
She's just...
If Martha was working on her reputation,
being a great host,
Mary was working on her faith.
right mary was working on her faith
romans 10 17 he says so then
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god
that's what mary's doing
she's she knows that she needs this word
coming from jesus
and notice it won't be taken away
it has a lasting effect on your life
the word of god why
it's eternal. That's why when you and I, and I have people tell me this all the time,
when you and I read a scripture and then we look at it 20 years later, the same scripture
that we've maybe read for the last 20 years, and it speaks something powerful, more powerful
to your heart than you've ever experienced before. Why is that? Because it is eternal,
and it speaks every time you allow it to. But that's the question. Do you allow it?
allow it to. I had somebody just tell me this week. Heartbreaking. I don't read my Bible.
And your life's how good? Is it that good part? No, it's an absolute train wreck.
The scripture tells us the Word of God, it's powerful. It's sharper than any two-ed-ed-ed-ed.
sword. It's available to everyone sitting in this room. It's available to all of us. And when we don't
draw on the powerful word of God, whose fault is that? You can't point the finger at nobody,
except for the person in the mirror.
And yeah, well, I don't know that it works.
Well, you haven't even tried it.
I mean, it's like I don't read my Bible anymore.
That's kind of like choosing not to breathe anymore.
Try that one on, right?
It is truly spiritual life to us.
Jesus said that.
The words that I speak to you, their spirit and their life,
Isaiah 5511 says,
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
It shall not return to me void,
but it shall accomplish what I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing which I sent it.
But when we don't put it in,
I don't know what people expect.
I don't know what's wrong with my life
It's just falling apart
And I'm just, you're not even trying
But you're not pressing in at all
Bibles in America
Are dust collectors
They're not used up very well
I did a friend
I did a funeral for a friend
Here a few weeks back
and they had her Bible up on stage there.
And, I mean, it was marked up and it was just falling apart, right?
And I remember a quote that I seen years ago after I had made this commitment to start
reading the Bible.
And it said a Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to somebody who isn't.
Right?
It usually belongs to somebody who isn't.
But you have to make a commitment to do it.
You have to be committed to it.
I mean, it's a, I think it's a greater commitment than marriage.
And I'm committed to my bride, man.
I'm crazy about that woman, right?
She's been the, she's been the object of every fantasy
if I've ever had in the last 40 years.
Right?
She's my, she's my sweet thing.
But I'm committed to that, right?
I do that consciously.
Because believe me, there has been a lot of lusty, beautiful women that has made it across my path.
What do I do with that?
Because the scripture says, you lust after a woman, you can commit adultery with her in your heart.
Who in this, what man in this room is not guilty of that?
That's why the Bible says, take your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.
But it's the Word of God constantly reminded me of that verse.
No, you don't look in lust, dude.
No, you turn from that.
You make a covenant with your eyes like David said, like Job said,
that you wouldn't go there.
Because if you go there, it will destroy your life, your marriage, your kids.
Men who do that.
And it's rampant in the church.
Men hooked on pornography.
Well, it just flashed up and, you know, I just was curious.
Pretty soon it's got a chokehold on you.
Sucking the life out of you.
There's a commitment level there, folks.
Right?
I was reading in Revelation just this morning.
And sometimes on Sunday morning, I mean, I'm scrambling, you know,
because I see a lot of squirrels,
and I'm trying to get my notes ready.
And if I get here early, I'll go back in this office here and I'll do my reading.
And the reading this morning was in Revelation chapter 12.
And it says that they overcame him, the beast, Satan, by the word of their testimony, by the blood of the lamb, right?
And did not love their lives unto death.
Right?
that death, they would rather death come than transgress against their Lord.
And so it is with us.
I would rather die than committed adultery on my wife.
Right?
And I know I've shared the story with you, the dream I had a few years back.
It's just absolutely insane.
But because of the death that it would cause, it causes absolute mayhem.
when we go there.
And so God's word, when it comes into our heart,
it's not going to return to him void.
It's going to have a purpose.
It's going to direct us.
It's going to keep us, right?
Psalm 197 says,
The law of the Lord is perfect.
Converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord,
is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
And that's why it says that it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
The Word of God, when you read it, it reflects back on the way you're living your life and the way you're thinking.
And right thinking leads to right living.
But you can't have right thinking unless you have the mind of Christ.
Right?
Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.
We used to sing that. I remember, remember that song, I'm going to have to bring it back.
Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.
You have to let it, though. It doesn't just happen.
Right? Your Bible can't sit on the shelf and you not say, and you say, I can't hear from God.
Yes, you can because you just can't hear from God because you won't open the word and let him speak to you.
but what does it takes a commitment you've got to be quiet be still before the lord go for a walk
right leave your stinking phone in the house shut it off go for a walk
so in 4610 be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be
exalted in the earth.
We can be ready for that.
As we quiet our hearts instill ourselves,
Jesus said when he was tempted by Satan,
turned these stones into, he says,
man, shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
The word of God is the good part that Mary chose.
Jeremiah's 15, 16 says,
Your words were found and I ate them
And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart
For I am called by your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
He said, I ate them up.
I gobbled up your words.
Do you gobble up God's words?
Do you got to have them?
You got to have it?
That's a really good thing to got to have.
People have got to have a lot of things that they don't need.
But that's one thing we need.
But you have to determine if you've got to have it or not.
So, I don't know about you, but my day goes so much better.
If I read the word.
So much better.
So yesterday, my oldest daughter and her husband blessed the family, our family.
There's 20 of us, and got a cabin up in Island Park,
and we had a little gift exchange and everything up there.
Well, yesterday morning, everybody kind of sleeps in.
It's a big place.
But I went to try to find a quiet place to read my Bible.
And there were bodies everywhere.
And I couldn't, and people were starting to stir,
and the little feet, they kill me, right, the little feet,
To some their music, to others are a curse.
To me, it's music.
I love the little ones.
And I just thought, I haven't read my Bible.
I gotta go read my Bible.
So my oldest grandson is sleeping on this couch,
and I crawl in behind the couch,
and I sneak down so nobody can see me
and get my Bible reading done.
Because I had to have it.
Oh, I knew, and I was going to come talk to you,
so I had to have a good story to tell you.
Right?
But I did.
I read through and I read where Solomon had asked,
Lord goes, ask anything.
Solomon says,
Lord, I need your wisdom to lead this people of yours.
I'm just thinking.
And I've been praying that for the last 48 hours.
God, give me wisdom.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I'm a mess.
And he will.
if all purpose in my heart to put his word in my heart,
that his word can come out of my mouth.
And that's not just for me as a pastor.
That's for all of us.
Because we all have people in our lives that we want to know the word of God.
So the kids were playing pool.
I said, hey, I'm going to read to you guys.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I read a psalm to him.
And it was absolute total chaos and holy commotion.
right they didn't hear a word I said or so I thought but it's like that seed that's
broadcasted right that's what Jesus said in the soils I just broadcast it out there it may
have been a word in that song that went like a fiery dart into one of those kids's hearts
I don't know but I know this I know it is it is a blessing to be caught reading God's word
it's a blessing to your family to your kids i know i caught my grandparents doing it right
if your kids caught you doing it i loved it when our kids caught connie and i praying together
right because they can catch you doing other things that probably ain't quite as fruitful
just saying but but to hear us to hear their parents praying
it's going to have an effect.
Now, we may not see it in our lifetime,
the effect that it has.
But we're going to be gone one of these days.
And they're going to be thinking,
oh, now, Mom and Dad, they prayed.
Maybe we should do that.
Maybe that's a good thing that we should do.
Can I just tell you it is?
My littles, my two youngest grandsons,
when I pray with them,
they turn into a little puddle on Papa's chest.
It's like, I'm just like, oh, Jesus, come right now.
Let's just stay right here.
And I pray for them.
And when I speak Jesus's name in their ear, it has an effect on them.
He's the eternal God.
I want them to know that name.
So, well, how do you do it?
I'm going to give you the three Ds.
I learned this in a Baptist church in Texas back in 1985, right?
And it was 86, excuse me, had the year wrong.
And I went to this, and I was hungry for the Lord.
I was in my 20s, and I'm just thinking, I need to be in a fellowship.
I had gone back to Fort Worth to this, drove from California to Fort Worth to this horse show.
And I got to go, I got to go to church.
So I looked in the yellow pages, the closest church to my hotel that I was standing.
It was a little Baptist church about two blocks down.
So I ran down to that Baptist church on a Wednesday night.
And it was a Wednesday night by Bibles there was about 50.
15, 20 people in there. And his pastor got up and he was talking about prayer. And he says,
this is how you do it. You do the three Ds, the three Ds. I don't know. You might want to jot that
down. I mean, it impacted me. Here, I'm talking about it, you know, 40 years later. And the three Ds,
he said, number one, decide. Decide. Decide that you're going to read God's word every day.
Decide. Make a decision in your heart. Lord, I'm going to do this. Purpose in your heart.
the Bible tells us, right?
Like Daniel and his friends.
Purpose in your heart.
That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to decide to do it.
Decide.
Second D, dedicate.
Dedicate.
They say if you'll do anything for 21 days, it can become a habit.
Who can't do that?
I mean, that's pretty simple.
Everything you do, do it for 21 days.
It can become a habit.
So dedicate to it.
Right?
Set a time aside.
Okay, I'm going to do it.
this time. I'm going to get up early.
People tell me I ain't got enough time.
Tried God's word.
Listen, you can't afford not to.
Somebody told me that, young man told me that the other day.
I said, get up five minutes early.
Five minutes early and read three verses.
Who can't do that?
You can't.
You won't.
That's the problem.
so decide to do it purpose in your heart to do it dedicate set time aside pick a time to do it
some people are morning people some people are nighttime people and thirdly you'll delight in it
if you'll decide to do it if you'll dedicate to it it will be a delight to you it will bless your
heart when he was talking about prayer he says you do anything for 21 days
It's like Daniel when he was praying.
He prayed for three weeks, and it was like his prayers didn't get past the ceiling.
But after that, the heavens opened, making that commitment and doing it and sticking to it.
Here's some hick words for you, sticking to in it.
That the heavens opened and it was a delight, it was a joy.
your appetite gets bigger.
Yeah, start with two or three verses.
Before you know it, you're doing two or three chapters.
Thank you, Lord.
And you're growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
And his word is going in your heart that it might come out.
So, Mary and Martha, I think they both have a lot to offer us.
Mary's a working machine.
Man, she's a goer.
and the Bible says that faith works right faith works she was just getting overwhelmed with it
and not being still and not taking time to sit before the Lord like her sister did
Mary was always on the ready because she is filled up is your cup full today
if your cup's not full would you come down here with the prayer team and just have them pray with you
that the Lord would fill your cup because that's something I've learned in in making commitment
to have my ear open to God's word is my cup gets filled, right? And then you just go about sloshing all over
everybody. Yeah? But if your cup's not filled, you're not very fun to be around. Right? And so I'm going to
close with this passage where we see Marian Martha kind of working in tandem in this passage here in
John chapter, you can turn there if you want, it's in John chapter 12, it's in just the first
three verses. And it's right before Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross. And it says in
verse one, then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had
been dead, whom he had raised from the dead, and there they made him a supper. And Mary and Martha
served. But Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
and then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spike Nard,
anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair,
and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
So here we have this family in communion with the Lord, right?
Martha's serving.
She's not complaining.
She's serving.
Mary's doing what she seems to do best in worshiping.
Lazarus is there fellowshiping.
no doubt they had quite a bit to talk about him coming out of that stinky grave.
It's like, wow, this is like redemption and living color.
We can learn from both these gals.
Mary worshipped and Martha worked.
And I think as believers, we're supposed to do both.
And so I'll wrap this up with a quote from Warren Wiersby
in his commentary on this, he said,
Mary and Martha are often contrasted as though each believer must make a choice,
be a worker like Martha or a worshiper like Mary.
Certainly, our personalities and gifts are different,
just like these two,
and that does not mean that the Christian life is in either-or situation.
Charles Wesley said it perfectly in one of his hymn,
hymns. This is the Wesley hymn. It says, faithful to my Lord's command, I still would choose the better
part, serve with careful Martha's hands and loving Mary's heart. Right? We all have gifts.
Martha's gift was to serve and to bless, right? But that needs to be funneled through her relationship
with Jesus. I always thought ministry was was what defined us, right? I started a church way back
in my 30s and really thought that's what defined me. And the Lord's going, what are you doing?
Right? What are you doing? Ministry is not what defines you, right? Ministry is a byproduct of how
I define you and how your relationship with me goes. If you have a relationship with me,
ministry is going to happen, right? But if you just try to go to do ministry as your relationship
with me, you're going to burn out, dry up, make a mess, tear everybody up. No, just have a relationship
with me, and I'll open the door for you to do the work. And he's been faithful to that over the
years. It seems evident the Lord wants each of us to imitate Mary in our worship and Martha in our work.
Bless it be the balanced. Amen. Amen. Pray with me, would you?
Bless all stand, shall we? And I'm going to have the prayer team come down too as we pray.
Father, we just come before you right now in the mighty name of Jesus.
I pray that you'd fill our cup, Lord. We get dry and cracked.
and messed up.
Kind of going it alone sometimes, Lord, I know I've been guilty.
I just seek your forgiveness and pray that you'd wash me clean of that.
That unhealthy independence thinking I can do it on my own.
And we know that we can't, that we're weak, but you're strong.
You're able to do abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think.
Lord, that your word going into our hearts and then coming out our mouth, it just produces life.
Those words of life that you spoke to us, Lord, they're wonderful and they're full.
And Lord, just would you this Christmas season help us to take some time, Lord, to go find that quiet place.
It might just go sit out in the car and read your word and sing a worship song and spend our time with our God,
Lord, that our cup could be full.
Lord, we love you and we thank you.
We thank you for this incredible season, Lord.
But may your spirit, may your life that you offer to us through relationship, Lord,
be the preeminent thing in each one of our lives as we seek you.
And give us a hunger for your word to write it upon the pages of our heart, Lord,
that we might not sin against you.
Bless your people, we pray.
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let's...