Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. I haven't been with you for the
Speaker 1: last few weeks, and it is good to be back home.
Speaker 1: When I last saw you, I was teaching and preaching
Speaker 1: from kind of a stream of stories in the scripture
Speaker 1: where God calls somebody in the scripture by their name,
Speaker 1: and I chose for us some scriptures where He calls
Speaker 1: them by their name twice. And I was doing that
Speaker 1: because there are significant seasons that you and I will
Speaker 1: walk through where God will want to get our attention
Speaker 1: for something that He's bringing us into. And so today,
Speaker 1: I think is going to be the funnest one of all. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that we've disrupted the flow of the series
Speaker 1: because I had to go and minister in all kinds
Speaker 1: of wonderful places, and we did minister to over one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand people in Jesus' name over the two weeks
Speaker 1: of our tour. But you know, what there's nowhere that
Speaker 1: I can preach that feels just as good to me
Speaker 1: and as free to me as this pulpit right here
Speaker 1: at Elevation Church. And although you may not remember the
Speaker 1: flow that I was in, I have been preparing this
Speaker 1: sermon the whole time I've been gone, So I'm just
Speaker 1: excited to preach it today. Please stand at all of
Speaker 1: our locations if you're seated, and we'll stand for the
Speaker 1: reading of the Word of God, and we'll pick up
Speaker 1: in Luke chapter ten. Thank you so much, team, I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two.
Speaker 1: Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two. The
Speaker 1: Bible says as Jesus and his disciples were on their way,
Speaker 1: he came to a village where a woman named Martha
Speaker 1: opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary,
Speaker 1: who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
Speaker 1: But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had
Speaker 1: to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord,
Speaker 1: don't you care that my sister has left me to
Speaker 1: do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. Martha. Martha,
Speaker 1: there you go. Martha, Martha, not just Martha, but Martha Martha.
Speaker 1: The Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things.
Speaker 1: Now some of you, that's your whole life in one
Speaker 1: Bible verse right there, you are worried and upset about
Speaker 1: many things. If you're not obeying any scripture, some of
Speaker 1: you are living that one out right there. You are
Speaker 1: worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed,
Speaker 1: or indeed, only one. Mary has chosen what is better,
Speaker 1: and it will not be taken away from her. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give this a title. It's gonna sound like
Speaker 1: a negative title, but we're gonna work it to a
Speaker 1: positive conclusion today. And the title for this message is
Speaker 1: a recipe for resentment. I didn't think you'd like that title.
Speaker 1: So a recipe for resentment is the title, and the
Speaker 1: subtitle is this. And you can ask it as a
Speaker 1: question to your neighbor before you take your seat, ask them,
Speaker 1: whose list is this? Whose list is this? Ask your
Speaker 1: other neighbor, whose list is this? And Father, in the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus, I know your word is powerful, but
Speaker 1: I pray now that it would penetrate our hearts. In
Speaker 1: your name, I pray Jesus and expect and believe the
Speaker 1: man you may be seated. Just for an opening illustration,
Speaker 1: I want to tell you a story I've never told
Speaker 1: in church, but I've told it to my family so
Speaker 1: many times. I just remembered it because Austin asked me
Speaker 1: to tell this story on tour. It happened when me
Speaker 1: and his dad are executive pastor of Elevation Church, the
Speaker 1: Great Chunks Corbett. We were traveling in Nashville, Tennessee with
Speaker 1: another pastor. The other pastor is a very forceful personality,
Speaker 1: very tall, bald, big goatee, and very passionate, and that
Speaker 1: can be a good thing, but this was one of
Speaker 1: the occasions where his passion was kind of bad. Soa
Speaker 1: tell you a story. We walk in a restaurant. We
Speaker 1: don't have the reservation, and there's no hostess at the
Speaker 1: hostess stand. It's not terribly busy in the restaurant either,
Speaker 1: so we expect. Everybody say expect. Now, I want you
Speaker 1: to hold onto that word because I'm gonna work with
Speaker 1: that word. Expect. We expect that someone will come seat us.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of seats that are empty that can
Speaker 1: accommodate a party of our size. Two minutes pass, nobody
Speaker 1: says hello. Three minutes, four minutes, and I forgot to
Speaker 1: tell you this, But my friend is also white, so
Speaker 1: I could see his face turning red. With every minute.
Speaker 1: His face got redder and redder. Five minutes in, I'm
Speaker 1: watching his bald head and there are veins popping through
Speaker 1: his goatee, on his chin, all the way from his forehead.
Speaker 1: And I started backing a way because I didn't know
Speaker 1: what was going to happen next. But I didn't expect.
Speaker 1: Now I'm about to yell what he yelled. So you
Speaker 1: don't like yelling, just cover your ears and I'll be
Speaker 1: done with this in five seconds. But I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: He stands in the middle of the restaurant, in front
Speaker 1: of the hostess stand where nobody had helped us. Five
Speaker 1: minutes had passed and it feels like five hours, and
Speaker 1: he yells at the top of his lungs, does anybody
Speaker 1: care that we're here, which, of course helped nothing except
Speaker 1: that probably in his mashed potatoes there was some extra
Speaker 1: spit that he didn't know about by the time we
Speaker 1: were seated and eating. But I never forgot him yelling
Speaker 1: that and I was telling Austin that story because it's legendary. Now,
Speaker 1: when we're waiting at a restaurant, we'll just joke to
Speaker 1: each other in our family. Does anybody but I don't
Speaker 1: yell at out loud. I wouldn't do that. But I
Speaker 1: remember him after expecting to be seated, and apparently this
Speaker 1: was even before COVID and the shortage of staffing that
Speaker 1: swept all of the restaurants in the nation. I mean,
Speaker 1: this was prime time. He expected a seat, but he
Speaker 1: was met with the disappointment, and so he yells at
Speaker 1: the top of his lungs. I won't again. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: save my voice for something more meaningful in about ten minutes.
Speaker 1: But he yells at the top of his lungs. Does
Speaker 1: anybody care that we're here? Of course, we're all embarrassed,
Speaker 1: you know. For the rest of the meal, I'm pulling
Speaker 1: the hostess to the side. When she comes, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, hand her a twenty dollars bill, just
Speaker 1: trying to pay down the damage to my reputation because
Speaker 1: I don't want to be seen with this guy. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't even my city. Does anybody care? And I
Speaker 1: could watch it building in him. It's like there's a seat.
Speaker 1: I'm hungry. I'm hungry, there's a seat, and it's just building.
Speaker 1: And finally he blew up. Does anybody care that we're here?
Speaker 1: So here's the formula, and you might want to write
Speaker 1: this down. I shared that to share a recipe with you.
Speaker 1: Your expectations plus others limitations minus grace is a recipe
Speaker 1: for resentment. You're only talking to me today, but I
Speaker 1: am preaching like I had a whole world tour under
Speaker 1: my belt. Let me say it again. Your expectations like
Speaker 1: I expected you to say amen when I said that
Speaker 1: last thing, plus others limitations, which is you are not
Speaker 1: awake yet, you only had half a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: Your expectations plus others limitations minus that part is important.
Speaker 1: Grace is a recipe for resentment. Your expectations. What they
Speaker 1: need to give you, how they need to appreciate you,
Speaker 1: how they should assist you, what they should have taught you.
Speaker 1: Your expectations minus others limitations. Maybe they didn't teach you
Speaker 1: because nobody taught them. Maybe they didn't call and check
Speaker 1: on you because they were battling with the flu too.
Speaker 1: Your expectations limitations or plus other's limitations. Your expectations minus
Speaker 1: others limitations equals Jesus because he's not limited and he
Speaker 1: could do anything. In fact, let me point this out
Speaker 1: to you. When Jesus and his disciples were going to Bethany,
Speaker 1: that's the village they were traveling to. In Luke chapter ten,
Speaker 1: nobody had to stand in the middle of the streets
Speaker 1: of Bethany and scream does anybody care that we're here?
Speaker 1: Peter didn't have to go out and yell. The Bible
Speaker 1: says in Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight that when
Speaker 1: they went through a village, it doesn't mention the village,
Speaker 1: but it names the woman. Her name was Martha, and
Speaker 1: she opened her home to him. Now bring out my screen,
Speaker 1: would you, because I want to do a little teaching
Speaker 1: today as I preach. Oh you like when I bring
Speaker 1: out the screen. What's up with that? It's exciting? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: since you like the screen, let me show you something
Speaker 1: on the screen today. Imagine this, Jesus and his disciples
Speaker 1: are going out with the message of the Gospel, and
Speaker 1: all of Luke chapter ten is Jesus setting expectations for
Speaker 1: his disciples before they go out. To these villages, to
Speaker 1: these towns. Right. He is preparing them for rejection that
Speaker 1: he knows they will encounter, because he doesn't want them
Speaker 1: to be unprepared for the fact that not everybody will
Speaker 1: accept the message. And one of the ways that he
Speaker 1: prepares them is he gives them each a partner. He
Speaker 1: pairs them. He sends out seventy two people to go
Speaker 1: ahead of him, and everywhere that Jesus went, there would
Speaker 1: be a little advanced team that would go ahead of
Speaker 1: him to let them know Jesus is coming. In fact,
Speaker 1: touch your neighbor real quick and say Jesus is coming.
Speaker 1: You didn't sound excited about that, Abby, get more excited.
Speaker 1: If I told you Taylor Swift is coming, you would
Speaker 1: jump up and stand on your chair. But tell somebody
Speaker 1: Jesus is coming. And he sent them out, Yeah, like
Speaker 1: that Jesus is coming. Does anybody care that Jesus is coming?
Speaker 1: I know sometimes the worship leaders stand up here and
Speaker 1: they're leading worship and they're like, come on, let's sing
Speaker 1: it out. Come on, please sing it out. Anybody sing
Speaker 1: it out? Does anybody care that the King is here?
Speaker 1: It's like we care, we just don't know the song
Speaker 1: gets new. Okay, we care. I'm promise we care. It's
Speaker 1: just too high. You can't sing that high. And there's
Speaker 1: a feeling that you can get that. Nobody cares. My
Speaker 1: expectations minus others limitations, or plus I keep screwing it
Speaker 1: up plus other's limitations minus grace is a recipe for resentment.
Speaker 1: So Jesus, being all knowing and all wise and sovereign
Speaker 1: and so good at his job of running the universe,
Speaker 1: knows that as he sends his disciples out, he has
Speaker 1: to send them in pairs two by two. And he says,
Speaker 1: when you go into the village, don't be surprised that
Speaker 1: some people welcome you and some people don't. If they
Speaker 1: welcome you, stay there. Whatever they put before you, eat it.
Speaker 1: This is all in Luke chapter ten. Whatever they give
Speaker 1: you to eat, eat it. But if they don't welcome you,
Speaker 1: wipe your feet and walk. I don't know who this
Speaker 1: word is for, but I just felt God on that
Speaker 1: one thing right there. Tell your neighbor wipe it off
Speaker 1: and walk. So if they didn't want to date you,
Speaker 1: that's all right. If they thought you weren't the one
Speaker 1: for them, you weren't the one for them. Because if
Speaker 1: you were the one for them, God would have illuminated
Speaker 1: that fact. Then you would be with them right now, hellolujah,
Speaker 1: tell your neighbor, wipe it off and walk. Got somewhere
Speaker 1: to go. I've got something to carry. I'm called by
Speaker 1: someone greater than you. I can't stay stuck just because
Speaker 1: you decided to say no. I can't spend the rest
Speaker 1: of my life trying to prove something to somebody who
Speaker 1: can't promote me anyway. So if they didn't open the
Speaker 1: door to you, walk on, walk on. That's the whole
Speaker 1: word for somebody, gome be blessed, walk on, wipe your
Speaker 1: feet and walk. So he's preparing them. Don't always expect
Speaker 1: that everyone is going to accept you. In fact, if
Speaker 1: everybody accepts you, that's probably the most dangerous thing of all. Okay,
Speaker 1: So in preparing them for rejection, the Bible says in
Speaker 1: Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight, and now I'm at
Speaker 1: my main passage. If I remember how to use this
Speaker 1: in Luke chapter ten, and if you'll think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: come up here and preach a message about Martha and
Speaker 1: make her the villain of the story, you are sadly mistaken.
Speaker 1: About me, because well, first of all, I read here
Speaker 1: it says in the heading at the home of Martha
Speaker 1: and Mary. Okay, and that's how it's heading, because Mary
Speaker 1: lived there. But the Bible says as Jesus and his
Speaker 1: disciples were on their way, he came to a village
Speaker 1: where a woman singular named Martha opened her home to him.
Speaker 1: All to talk about all that, I want to talk about,
Speaker 1: how she was busy because somebody has to pay the bills.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about all that. I want to
Speaker 1: contradict every criticism that I've ever heard preached about this
Speaker 1: wonderful woman, Martha, who gave a hospitable welcome to the
Speaker 1: Savior of the world and said you can stay with me.
Speaker 1: I want to take a moment before we praised Mary
Speaker 1: for her untethered devotion and her unmitigated reverence for the Lord,
Speaker 1: to just respect Martha because she opened her home to
Speaker 1: him to him. So, if you looked at a list
Speaker 1: of the bills that were paid in that home, they
Speaker 1: all had Martha on them. If you looked at all
Speaker 1: the mortgage statements that were paid on time, you would
Speaker 1: see Martha paid the mortgage. Who say it again, Martha Martha.
Speaker 1: Martha might not always have the best ability to prioritize
Speaker 1: the focus of presents, but she paid the bills. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to make a list real quick. This kind
Speaker 1: of teaching and preaching is important so we don't make
Speaker 1: presumptions about who are the heroes and the villains and
Speaker 1: the examples and the cautionary tales in scripture. I'm going
Speaker 1: to make a list real quick of everything, not everything,
Speaker 1: but just a few things that make Martha amazing number one.
Speaker 1: And I believe this applies to some of you in
Speaker 1: the room too, And in just a moment, I'm going
Speaker 1: to bring this so close to home that you will
Speaker 1: feel it for your own situation. But for a moment,
Speaker 1: let's talk about Martha. Martha should be praised because she
Speaker 1: was number one resourceful when they came through saying Jesus
Speaker 1: is coming to Bethany. Now, Bethany is not Jerusalem. It's
Speaker 1: two miles from Jerusalem. Bethany was not special in the
Speaker 1: context of the scripture until Jesus did one of his
Speaker 1: greatest miracles there and blessed the disciples before his ascension there.
Speaker 1: So he's stopping through a place that would seem to
Speaker 1: be insignificant. Martha, hearing of it, says, if he wants
Speaker 1: to hold a Bible study, he can meet at my house.
Speaker 1: Let's golf clap for Martha because she was resourceful. Just
Speaker 1: go ahead, and let's thank God for her resourcefulness. That
Speaker 1: she realized that her resource comes from the source, and
Speaker 1: she offered that to God. She was the original e
Speaker 1: group leader. I bet she had good snacks too. You know,
Speaker 1: she had good snacks and she had to because put
Speaker 1: the verse back up there. In Luke chapter ten, verse
Speaker 1: thirty eight, please, it says, as Jesus and his disciples
Speaker 1: are on their way, he came to a village, a
Speaker 1: woman named Martha opened her home to him. But check
Speaker 1: this out. When you bring Jesus in your house, the
Speaker 1: Bible says, as Jesus and his note back to the verse,
Speaker 1: as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, so
Speaker 1: the announcement comes through Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.
Speaker 1: Anybody got a room for Jesus? An IFO I got
Speaker 1: Airbnb for Jesus, Martha's like, I'll help sure. I've heard
Speaker 1: great things about this miracle worker. He could come stay
Speaker 1: with me. And by the way, he's bringing a few
Speaker 1: people with him. And then you read over in Luke
Speaker 1: chapter six, verse twelve through seventeen. Put that on the
Speaker 1: screen for me, please. On one of these days, Jesus
Speaker 1: went to mountainside to pray, spent the night praying to God.
Speaker 1: When morning came, he called his disciples to him and
Speaker 1: chose twelve of them, who we also designated apostles. Here's
Speaker 1: the list. Simon whom he named Peter, his brother, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
Speaker 1: James son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the zealot,
Speaker 1: Judas son of James, and Judas is scaredriot who became
Speaker 1: a traitor. Why did you read us all that? Because
Speaker 1: I wanted you to see the full guest list that
Speaker 1: Martha was responsible for when she said yes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Saying yes to Jesus is one thing. Saying yes to
Speaker 1: everything that comes with Jesus is another. Because when Martha
Speaker 1: said yes to host Jesus, she also had to host Judas.
Speaker 1: One prophet said, every rose has its thorn, And I
Speaker 1: want to praise Martha for a moment because she was
Speaker 1: so resourceful that she heard the list of disciples and realized, Okay,
Speaker 1: if I want to do this for Jesus, I'm going
Speaker 1: to have to do it for all of them, which
Speaker 1: is a big commitment. I mean talking about a recipe.
Speaker 1: The bigger the group gets, the harder it is to
Speaker 1: make a recipe that will stretch to feed the entire group.
Speaker 1: The only I have to offer you as for ramen noodles.
Speaker 1: But when I watch Holly Cook, I realized that as
Speaker 1: the size of the guest listic spans, so does the
Speaker 1: need for preparation. So when the Bible says all the
Speaker 1: preparations that had to be made, you have to understand
Speaker 1: Martha wasn't just feeding Jesus. She was feeding every hooligan
Speaker 1: that he brought with him, every redneck fisherman that he
Speaker 1: brought with them, every tax collector that he brought with him.
Speaker 1: And I'm pointing this out to you for a reason.
Speaker 1: She was resourceful. Another thing that we could say about
Speaker 1: her is that she was responsible. All the responsible people
Speaker 1: make some responsible noise, not too much, just a responsible
Speaker 1: amount of noise, not too loud that you might scare
Speaker 1: your neighbor or lose your voice, just a responsible amount
Speaker 1: of noise. She was so responsible in the context of
Speaker 1: this that she knew everything that had to be done
Speaker 1: to host the one who came from heaven in her home.
Speaker 1: So she's resourceful. Everybody say resourceful, Talk to me today.
Speaker 1: She was resourceful. She was, and she was even respectful
Speaker 1: because he got to give it to her. Right, She's
Speaker 1: putting in all this work to feed all these people.
Speaker 1: And remember when I read you at the beginning, her
Speaker 1: sister is doing nothing to pitch in. So instead of
Speaker 1: doing what she probably felt like doing, she walks up
Speaker 1: to Jesus, and Jesus is teaching, okay with The Bible
Speaker 1: says that Mary was sitting at Jesus's feet. They were
Speaker 1: not having a casual chat that is a posture of discipleship.
Speaker 1: She wasn't sitting at his feet so they could talk
Speaker 1: about you know, so are you watching any shows lately?
Speaker 1: He was teaching and she was listening. Give me verse
Speaker 1: thirty nine, real quick. The Bible says she had a
Speaker 1: sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening
Speaker 1: to what he said. What was Mary doing listening? Verse
Speaker 1: forty But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
Speaker 1: had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, See,
Speaker 1: she's not disrespectful about it. She's calling him by his title,
Speaker 1: not even by his name. She didn't even call him Jesus.
Speaker 1: She said, Lord, not dude, not bro, not any of
Speaker 1: this stuff that I hear y'all calling each other these days. Lord, Lord, Lord,
Speaker 1: she's respectful. Don't you care that my sister has left
Speaker 1: me to do the work by myself. Tell her to
Speaker 1: help me. Now, let's make the list for Mary. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's make a list for Mary. What can we say
Speaker 1: about Mary? Okay? This is what I can say about Mary.
Speaker 3: She was.
Speaker 1: Present, and that's about all she was. She wasn't cooking,
Speaker 1: she wasn't cleaning, she wasn't lifting, she wasn't scrubbing, she
Speaker 1: wasn't organizing. Come on, she wasn't enlisting others. She was there,
Speaker 1: and that's all we can say about her. That's what
Speaker 1: a scripture makes me mad, because she was just there,
Speaker 1: and Jesus like, be like her. She's here, and Martha.
Speaker 1: I imagine that Martha is thinking, Okay, she's here, But
Speaker 1: so is Peter, so is James, so is John, so
Speaker 1: is Bartholomew, so is Judas, and he looks kind of sketchy.
Speaker 1: By the way, you might want to interview your diciple
Speaker 1: candidates a little bit more next time before you come
Speaker 1: to Bethany. I'm not even sure I'm putting up my
Speaker 1: valuables in the house. That guy looks kind of kind
Speaker 1: of That guy looks kind of Oh, I'm saying, and Jesus,
Speaker 1: now watch this, Jesus says, she's here, she's present, she's present,
Speaker 1: she's present, she's here. Yeah, but Jesus, are you hungry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're hungry. We need to eat. But she's here. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But Jesus, I don't need her here at your feet.
Speaker 1: I need her in here helping me in this kitchen.
Speaker 1: Unless you want to do one of those tricks like
Speaker 1: you did that time with the fish in the loaves
Speaker 1: and start multiplying some of these ritz crackers. Jesus. Now,
Speaker 1: if you want to do that, go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1: But if we are going to do this meal the
Speaker 1: normal way, now, I don't feel like I'm getting this
Speaker 1: across yet, So I want to get a little bit
Speaker 1: deeper into this with you. There are ways in which
Speaker 1: we can feel that the advice that we're given to
Speaker 1: get closer to God is unrealistic. For real life, we
Speaker 1: don't say that. We shout about things that people say
Speaker 1: in church, where we say, you know, don't worry about tomorrow.
Speaker 1: How far do you want me to take that? Because
Speaker 1: if if you're, if you're, if you're gonna be depending
Speaker 1: on me to pay for your retirement, then I need
Speaker 1: you to worry about tomorrow a little bit, a little bit.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna, if you're gonna put the burden on
Speaker 1: me when there is no plan, I need you to
Speaker 1: plan a little bit. And I see Martha in a
Speaker 1: different light. I see her as resourceful, I see her
Speaker 1: as responsible, I see her as respectful. And all I
Speaker 1: can say for Mary is she may be some of
Speaker 1: these things too, But all we really know about her
Speaker 1: is she's here. And Jesus is like, that's good. That's
Speaker 1: what I want. Now, let's play it out. Mary's sitting
Speaker 1: at the feet of Jesus, singing, here I am to
Speaker 1: her shit. Martha keeps walking through, and Mary keeps singing,
Speaker 1: here I am too bad. Here I am to say
Speaker 1: that you're my God. Here I am to worship. And
Speaker 1: then Martha starts singing a song goes like this help
Speaker 1: me with these dishous I worked hard on that line.
Speaker 1: Y'all clap for that. My expectation, yeah, my expectation was
Speaker 1: that you would laugh at that. And the Bible says something.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you caught this scram It said
Speaker 1: that Martha, while she was all of these things, resourceful, responsible, respectful,
Speaker 1: she wasn't evil. The Bible says, but Martha was Verse ten,
Speaker 1: what distracted. That's it? Not bad, distracted, not evil, distracted,
Speaker 1: not demon possessed, distracted, not not what would you call
Speaker 1: somebody who's scatterbrained all the time. Just distracted. She doesn't
Speaker 1: have a lack of capacity, She's just distracted. And I
Speaker 1: want to say that not all distraction is bad. Not
Speaker 1: all distraction is bad. A few years ago we were
Speaker 1: having inclement weather at the church, and this morning it
Speaker 1: was raining hard coming to church, and for a moment
Speaker 1: I got worried, Oh no, what if people don't come?
Speaker 1: But I decided a few years ago never to worry
Speaker 1: about the weather because it's above my pay grade. All
Speaker 1: I can do is ask them, well, do you have
Speaker 1: the umbrellas ready? And as I worried about the weather
Speaker 1: for a moment, thinking would it limit people from coming,
Speaker 1: I realized that the only thing I can focus on
Speaker 1: in control today is this word that I'm preaching to you.
Speaker 1: So if the enemy can get me worried about the
Speaker 1: weather and take my eyes off the word, it will
Speaker 1: weaken what I was sent here to do because of
Speaker 1: my focus on something I can't control it. Now we're
Speaker 1: getting there. The enemy is trying to weaken what you
Speaker 1: were sent to do by getting you to focus on
Speaker 1: something you can't control. Of all the things that Martha
Speaker 1: could manage, the mortgage, of all the things that Martha
Speaker 1: could manage, the menu. Of all the things that Martha
Speaker 1: could manage, one of them was not Mary. There are
Speaker 1: a few things you can't control in this world. One
Speaker 1: is whether and the other is others. Martha was distracted.
Speaker 1: She wasn't even distracted playing that game that my family
Speaker 1: is all addicted to with the blocks on their phone.
Speaker 1: She was distracted, baking, cleaning, preparing. She was distracted, but
Speaker 1: she was multitasking, right. And this is the illustration I
Speaker 1: want to give. Okay, I really think you're going to
Speaker 1: remember this. This is the part of this I rememberhere.
Speaker 1: I think when they say did you go to church Sunday? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it good as all right what he preached you about.
Speaker 1: Oh he did this one thing where this is what
Speaker 1: you're gonna show him. And I pictured you preaching this
Speaker 1: back to your spouse this week. Okay, So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you something. I'm give something to use as ammunition
Speaker 1: this week when the people in your life start acting
Speaker 1: kind of Martha, all right, or or when you start
Speaker 1: feeling it inside of yourself. Now, I asked Holly, I said,
Speaker 1: where's something to church that you wouldn't mind being seen
Speaker 1: on camera? Where in it? So here we go. Holly's
Speaker 1: gonna be in my illustration. Come on, Holly, and Holly,
Speaker 1: I know y'all love her, but she's got to play
Speaker 1: the part of Martha for a moment, just for illustration purposes.
Speaker 1: I don't have her play this part because I think
Speaker 1: she resembles this character. In fact, I marvel at her
Speaker 1: ability to balance things. But I was thinking about something
Speaker 1: last night. You know, Abby had her birthday on Monday fourteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: happy birthday baby. But of course the party went on
Speaker 1: all week, and we were planning a party on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So stand up, okay, party on Saturday. Lots of guests,
Speaker 1: very very cool, occasion. And then I watched Holly as
Speaker 1: she was checking her calendar by a week or two,
Speaker 1: and she remembered that Graham's wrestling banquet, state champion, two
Speaker 1: times state champion, right here. His banquet is also on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Party is at six, banquet is at six. Okay, stand
Speaker 1: up Graham. So now I watched her just become completely
Speaker 1: disappointed in herself because she realized, now I got a party,
Speaker 1: a birthday, a banquet, and a highly emotionally needy husband
Speaker 1: who needs extra emotional support before he preaches on Saturday.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, I am such a baby before
Speaker 1: I preach. I need her to do everything for me.
Speaker 1: For the twelve hours before I preach, I can't think
Speaker 1: about anything but the sermon. So I've got a birthday,
Speaker 1: a banquet, and a baby. Now I want to illustrate this,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to take my time with it. It's
Speaker 1: alright if I take my time with it today, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can't get that thing because I see some of you.
Speaker 1: You're not bad, You're distracted, You're not wicked. You're distracted.
Speaker 1: You keep going off on people. Does anybody care that way? Here?
Speaker 1: Because you're distracted, You're mad because you're distracted. Your hunger
Speaker 1: is distracting you from your true heart. The demands are
Speaker 1: distracting you from the destiny. But here is the thing
Speaker 1: about this distraction. We're doing this as a family today.
Speaker 1: Apparently in the Greek the word for distraction is not
Speaker 1: like the English word for distraction. In English, we say
Speaker 1: distraction to mean something that comes up that we didn't
Speaker 1: plan for. Right, Well, in the Greek it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: something that you didn't plan for. Often in scripture, something
Speaker 1: you didn't plan for is called a miracle. So a
Speaker 1: lot of times you will see that someone who the
Speaker 1: disciples saw as a distraction, like a blind man by
Speaker 1: the roadside, was the reason that Jesus was on the journey,
Speaker 1: because he said, bring him to me and let me
Speaker 1: heal him. But Jesus, he's a distraction, No he's not.
Speaker 1: He is the destination. Great. The word for distraction, and
Speaker 1: the problem with distraction is not when you're doing more
Speaker 1: than one thing at the same time. That is called adulthood.
Speaker 1: That is called maturity. When you're juggling this and juggling that.
Speaker 1: And I keep hearing people talk about you need to
Speaker 1: be more present, you need to be present with your
Speaker 1: family at the dinner table. Okay, let me tell what
Speaker 1: that means to me. I eat with them. I do
Speaker 1: not kill them. That's my definition of present. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: do you put the phones up? Sometimes sometimes the phone
Speaker 1: is the only thing that numbs the pain of their
Speaker 1: arguing to get me through the dinner without indigestion. Y'all
Speaker 1: are so fake in this church today, acting like y'all
Speaker 1: all pray around the table and share strip her versus
Speaker 1: over tacos, and then we have worship Wednesday for our family.
Speaker 1: And here I am to all. So the process is this,
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna lead Holly around for a moment. Okay.
Speaker 1: There are times in your life where, like Martha, you
Speaker 1: will feel so busy and I don't know who is
Speaker 1: in this season right now, where you will feel like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm doing good, I'm doing good, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, a different priority will come and you have
Speaker 1: to change direction. Changing directions is not distraction. That's called pivoting.
Speaker 1: Pivoting is an essential skill, so you don't get so
Speaker 1: locked into what you thought was important that you miss
Speaker 1: what was really important. So in order for her to
Speaker 1: be the Holly that she needs to be the mom
Speaker 1: that she needs to be, the pastor that she needs
Speaker 1: to be, the leader that she needs to be, the
Speaker 1: daughter that she needs to be, the friend that she
Speaker 1: needs to be. That means that there are sometimes where
Speaker 1: she is going to feel like she has multiple personalities
Speaker 1: while she is trying to walk in multiple roles. That
Speaker 1: is normal. That is not sinful. It is the skill
Speaker 1: of pivoting. It is realizing that one moment you may
Speaker 1: have to be yelling down the stairs did you brush
Speaker 1: your teeth? The next moment you might have to pick
Speaker 1: up the phone and use a little bit more of
Speaker 1: that bedside manner with somebody who is struggling in the
Speaker 1: hospital with cancer that goes to the church. This is
Speaker 1: not sinful, This is skillful. It's her ability to discern
Speaker 1: in this moment, Okay, I plan to do this today,
Speaker 1: but that completely interrupted my day. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: go a different direction this day. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: get it done a different way today. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to do it how I thought I was
Speaker 1: gonna do it today. I'm gonna have to cook for
Speaker 1: all of these disciples by myself today. And Peter won't
Speaker 1: shut up. He keeps yelling. Martha wears the peanuts, Martha
Speaker 1: wears the gummy worms. This guy is loud mouth. Does
Speaker 1: anybody care that we're here? And so while she is
Speaker 1: being led through her day, that is completely normal. The
Speaker 1: Lord will lead you, and it'll lead you sometimes to
Speaker 1: do something that you didn't plan to do. He'll lead
Speaker 1: you to do something that wasn't on your list, and
Speaker 1: you have to be a tentive in those moments. We
Speaker 1: sang a song earlier, You gave Me one more Day.
Speaker 1: That song was written while we were finishing writing another
Speaker 1: song and one of the songwriters in the room started
Speaker 1: to play something that I had not heard, and I said,
Speaker 1: what is that? He said something that just came to me.
Speaker 1: I said, no, we're going to write that right now.
Speaker 1: We wrote the song off of something that he was
Speaker 1: doing as a distraction while we were waiting to record.
Speaker 1: If we did not pay attention to the moment that
Speaker 1: we were in just to fulfill the agenda that we
Speaker 1: had set, we would have missed the song that we
Speaker 1: sang that is now blessing people and life is like that.
Speaker 1: You got to be a tentive to God. See how
Speaker 1: she's doing this she's fine. I am taking she doesn't
Speaker 1: know where I'm taking her. And that's what it means
Speaker 1: to walk in faith. It's like, I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm going to face today. I don't know who's gonna
Speaker 1: need me today, Especially if you're responsible for others. Some
Speaker 1: of you got your own company because you didn't want
Speaker 1: anybody to tell you what to do. Now you got
Speaker 1: Now you've got hundreds of terrorists employees, and their needs
Speaker 1: become your agenda, and you have to move like this.
Speaker 1: So before we just chopped Martha down, oh, she should
Speaker 1: have sat at the feet of Jesus realized that there
Speaker 1: were things that needed to happen, and everybody was calling
Speaker 1: for her attention. Martha, Martha, Where do we keep the
Speaker 1: Where do you keep the water for the washing of feet? Martha, Martha,
Speaker 1: there's twelve of these guys. They've already used up all
Speaker 1: of the water. Martha, Martha. What are we gonna do
Speaker 1: with the bread? Is burned? The bread? I'm sorry, Martha, Martha, Martha,
Speaker 1: this God Judas is looking at your jewelry. You want
Speaker 1: me to put it in a different drawer, Martha, Martha.
Speaker 1: So that's what's happening, right and it's just demand after
Speaker 1: demand after demand. Because she is a good mom, and
Speaker 1: she can be a good mom as long as she's
Speaker 1: just mom. I have a birthday, she can plan that.
Speaker 1: But what about when it's mom, Mom, Martha Martha, Because
Speaker 1: now I got a birthday, and I got a banquet,
Speaker 1: and I got a baby, and she can do this.
Speaker 1: Let her go if Graham needs her. I've seen it
Speaker 1: a million times. She's so good. Just gently, boy, don't
Speaker 1: talk her too hard, just gently, just gently. She can
Speaker 1: do that. Oh Mom, I need this. And I'm using
Speaker 1: the illustration of mom, but you could feel this as
Speaker 1: a young person. I'm using the illustration of a mom,
Speaker 1: but you can definitely feel it as a dad. I'm
Speaker 1: using the illustration as a mom, but you can definitely
Speaker 1: feel it as you navigate all of the roles and
Speaker 1: the frequencies that your life has to occupy in the
Speaker 1: places you have to show up. I'm a student, I'm
Speaker 1: an employee, I'm a boss, I'm an employee, I'm a pastor,
Speaker 1: and I'm a dad. I get it. So she's mom.
Speaker 1: This is fine, she's a mom. This is fine, Leo.
Speaker 1: But the Greek word where it says martha was distracted
Speaker 1: the Greek word for distracted, and I'm stolen because I'm
Speaker 1: trying to remember how to say it. Ah, pariaspotos, pariaspotos.
Speaker 1: Now that's the word. Here's what it means. It means
Speaker 1: pulled apart. So watch this. Lego she can pivot or
Speaker 1: lego abby she can pivot. Neither of those are bad.
Speaker 1: That's life. You gotta dance with things. You know. You
Speaker 1: gotta dance with life. You gotta make it look easy too.
Speaker 1: You got a multitask and up and down nobody. That's
Speaker 1: called dancing. This is reality. Stop praying that your life
Speaker 1: would get simpler. You want your life to get simpler.
Speaker 3: Die either die or dance is dance or die is
Speaker 3: Pay this down, pay this off, hold this back is
Speaker 3: dance or die.
Speaker 1: Smile here, cry there, win here, lose there, take the
Speaker 1: award there, take the hit.
Speaker 3: There's dance or die.
Speaker 1: You should have called the message dance or die. That
Speaker 1: is reality. But when I have Martha Martha and a
Speaker 1: birthday at six and a banquet at six, and both
Speaker 1: are pulling me and I cannot give myself the grace
Speaker 1: my expectations and other limitations minus grace, what is that
Speaker 1: go that way. This go that way is a recipe
Speaker 1: for resentment. This is for you. Have you been feeling
Speaker 1: Have you been feeling like this? This is why Martha
Speaker 1: feels like a martyr. It's like she's up on the cross. Man.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll just be the only one to cook
Speaker 1: around here. Jesus, since you came to die on the cross,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll just die for you in this kitchen.
Speaker 1: But Jesus didn't call Martha to be a martyr. He said, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha.
Speaker 1: You can't be mom, mom, mom, Mom. You can't be
Speaker 1: holly mom, Holly mom. You can't be all that at once.
Speaker 1: Now comes the solution, he says, he it's not that
Speaker 1: what you're doing is wrong. It's not that I don't
Speaker 1: want to eat. It's not just be less busy. How
Speaker 1: many dumb sermons have we heard about be less busy? Okay,
Speaker 1: well tell that, Tell that to my professor, tell that
Speaker 1: to my boss, and I realize that it is not
Speaker 1: busyness that is the problem. The problem is division. So
Speaker 1: you did the birthday, I did the banquet, and none
Speaker 1: of them are going to end up in therapy over it. Oh,
Speaker 1: I need to say that you'll sit down for a minute.
Speaker 1: You'll sit down for a minute. I need to talk
Speaker 1: about this. Who made this list of all the things
Speaker 1: we think we have to do to be a good
Speaker 1: parent today, I'm gonna come back here behind the safety
Speaker 1: of my pulpit when I say this. Okay, this is
Speaker 1: going to be controversial. I could literally say that the
Speaker 1: Bible is not the word of God and get less
Speaker 1: hate than what I'm about to get for what I'm
Speaker 1: about to say right now. By the way, the Bible
Speaker 1: is the word of God. Just in case I get
Speaker 1: a clipped. Okay, now that being said, your kid does
Speaker 1: not have to play on every team. I'm helping. Come
Speaker 1: down off that cross, baby, I'm gonna help you from
Speaker 1: feeling like this. Your kid does not have to be
Speaker 1: in at chemistry in kindergarten. Yeah, but they need to
Speaker 1: get it on their resume. What if they apply for
Speaker 1: a college that doesn't accept that kind of class.
Speaker 3: They put them in a community.
Speaker 1: College, or make them an entrepreneur and tell them you
Speaker 1: did it to teach them character, teach them to sell
Speaker 1: jolly ranchers out their backpack. I don't care, but stop
Speaker 1: putting all this pressure on stuff that robs your peace. Ah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna help you. Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. There's only
Speaker 1: one Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. That's what it sounds like.
Speaker 1: That's why Jesus called her Martha Martha, because that's how
Speaker 1: she felt in that moment. There's only one of me,
Speaker 1: and I'm being old and Martha, you can work in
Speaker 1: the kitchen or you can sit at my feet. But
Speaker 1: being mad because Mary's at my feet while you're working
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, that is going to kill your joy.
Speaker 1: Feeling like you're a bad dad because you're not the
Speaker 1: dad like the other kids had, that is going to
Speaker 1: kill your potential as a parent. How many times have
Speaker 1: I felt bad about myself as a dad because I
Speaker 1: never taught my kids how to fish. They don't need
Speaker 1: to learn how to fish. They got fish sticks at
Speaker 1: the grocery store. Cut out the whole middle man of
Speaker 1: the ocean or the lake, straight to the freezer. I'm serious,
Speaker 1: whose list is this? Martha is not really stressed about
Speaker 1: the situation. I'm gonna show you this. She comes to
Speaker 1: Jesus right and I want to walk you back slowly
Speaker 1: through this passage. Oh, I love teaching you the word
Speaker 1: of God. This is what I live for right here.
Speaker 1: In verse thirty nine, it says that Mary sat at
Speaker 1: the Lord's feet. Can I get my scripture back? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: she sat at the Lord's feet, and my style wars said. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she got at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
Speaker 1: to what he said, But Martha was distracted by all
Speaker 1: the preparations that had to be made according to who.
Speaker 1: I don't think Jesus sent a writer in events with
Speaker 1: the two that went. You know, Jesus only eats brown
Speaker 1: eminem to make sure when he comes in his green room.
Speaker 1: You know, Jesus not a rock star. He's the rock
Speaker 1: of ages. He just told him eat whatever is sept
Speaker 1: before you when I send you out. So Jesus is cool,
Speaker 1: Jesus is just. You know, I was gonna say Jesus
Speaker 1: is just, and I'm not gonna say I'll tell you later,
Speaker 1: but Jesus just show up and eat whatever you put perform.
Speaker 1: So so let me ask you a question. When she says, Lord,
Speaker 1: don't you care that my sister has left me to
Speaker 1: do the work by myself. Tell her to help me
Speaker 1: with my work that I decided to do. Jesus Lord,
Speaker 1: respectfully tell her to do what I decided needed to
Speaker 1: be done to host you.
Speaker 4: Let me try that again, Lord, here's my list. Here's
Speaker 4: my list.
Speaker 1: I hear your teaching my sister Mary, and I know
Speaker 1: you think she's attentive. She's really just kind of lazy
Speaker 1: spacey Jesus, you know you get an attitude, right, Jesus, Lord, Lord,
Speaker 1: Lord Lord, let me say right, tell her to help
Speaker 1: me do this work on my list. I have a contrast, Nick,
Speaker 1: She Mary is listening, ye, Martha is listing. One is
Speaker 1: listening to what he says. One is listing what they
Speaker 1: have to do what they think ought to be done. So, Lord,
Speaker 1: I know you're teaching these amazing teachings about the Good
Speaker 1: Samaritan and all this, but let me put one on
Speaker 1: the list, because I know you're teaching my sister right now,
Speaker 1: and she's listening to you, and that is wonderful. And
Speaker 1: we're so glad to have you in our home, and
Speaker 1: it's so amazing to have you in Bethany. We really
Speaker 1: do care that you're here. We care that you're here.
Speaker 1: But does anybody care that I'm stressed? I imagine as minutes
Speaker 1: turned to hours, and Jesus kept teaching you know, the
Speaker 1: parable of the prodigal son. Maybe Martha comes and says,
Speaker 1: I appreciate your teaching, but would you mind teaching the
Speaker 1: parable of the lazy sister who needs to get in
Speaker 1: this kitchen and help me fulfill my agenda for you, Jesus.
Speaker 1: One is listening to Jesus' agenda for her. The other
Speaker 1: is giving Jesus her agenda for him. Which is your
Speaker 1: prayer life? Is your prayer life giving Jesus an agenda?
Speaker 1: Or is your prayer life listening to his? Which is
Speaker 1: your discipleship journey? At this stage? Whose list is this? Well,
Speaker 1: we got to fluff the pillows, Jesus is like, I
Speaker 1: don't need fluffy pillows. Son, a man has nowhere to
Speaker 1: lay us head. I'll sit right here on the floor.
Speaker 1: I don't need the fluffy pillows. Jesus, we know you
Speaker 1: got a special diet. I don't have a special diet.
Speaker 1: Just make sure it follows the Jewish customary law. So
Speaker 1: the Pharisees don't get mad and shut down the meeting. Oh,
Speaker 1: whatever you put in front of me. So whose list
Speaker 1: is this? For those of you that struggle with perfectionism?
Speaker 1: Whose list is that? That makes you feel like you
Speaker 1: could never measure up. Of course you could never measure up.
Speaker 1: That's why he came down. He fulfilled the righteous requirements
Speaker 1: of the law. He did the list. He was sinless,
Speaker 1: he was spotless, He did not retaliate. He fulfilled all righteousness.
Speaker 1: He was the spotless lamb of God. He was blameless.
Speaker 1: He was the perfect one. So you don't have to
Speaker 1: be so when condemnation starts in your brain telling you, well,
Speaker 1: you're this, you're that, and you're not, and you can't
Speaker 1: and you won't. Who's ask the question all week long?
Speaker 1: Whose list is this? Ask your neighbor? Whose list is this?
Speaker 1: Got me feeling all stressed out? Like I gotta do
Speaker 1: a thousand things to be right with God? I only
Speaker 1: got to do one thing to be right with God.
Speaker 1: If I call on the name of Jesus, I will
Speaker 1: be saved. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Speaker 1: will be saved. If I confess my sins, He is
Speaker 1: faithful and just and will forgive me of my sins
Speaker 1: and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. So for all the
Speaker 1: Pharisees and Sadducees who are sad, you see because you
Speaker 1: keep expecting others to follow your list, and you have
Speaker 1: no grace for your expectations, and others' limitations make you
Speaker 1: angry because they are not living up to your list.
Speaker 1: To be a good Christian. Christian isn't named after you.
Speaker 1: There is one name, we follow, one standard, we raise,
Speaker 1: one banner that we bought on whose list is this?
Speaker 1: I want you to look at your to do list
Speaker 1: for this week before you start it and ask the question,
Speaker 1: is this your list? Lord? Is there stuff on this
Speaker 1: list that I'm doing just to look good and impress
Speaker 1: others that you never called me to do?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: I'm preaching now, because sometimes we label it responsible, But
Speaker 1: sometimes what we do in an effort to appear responsible
Speaker 1: is really out of the comparisons that we've made with
Speaker 1: people that we don't really know whose list is this.
Speaker 1: I sat time to eat with somebody the other day
Speaker 1: and they said you ought not eat that. I said,
Speaker 1: what's wrong with it? And they told me some story
Speaker 1: about what chemicals were on the food and the chemicals now,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, hold on, I'm confused. You went
Speaker 1: to the grocery store and bought it? No, you cooked it? No? Hmm,
Speaker 1: sounds like if you didn't purchase it and you didn't
Speaker 1: prepare it, then you don't get to make the list.
Speaker 1: And I like chemicals. I think, let me go on record,
Speaker 1: go ahead, just throw something at me, throw it, Throw
Speaker 1: an organic avocado at me. As I say this, I
Speaker 1: like the chemicals. I dig down the less us used
Speaker 1: to just be don't snort cocaine. Now I can't snort cocaine.
Speaker 1: I can't eat chemicals. And it was a vegetable I
Speaker 1: was eating. It's a vegetable. Where did vegetables become villains?
Speaker 1: Who's list is this? Well, you know you're really on
Speaker 1: a homeschool in your kids, because if you homeschool your kids,
Speaker 1: then they're gonna get you know, they're gonna get a
Speaker 1: more better relationship. So homeschool your kids, Well, you have
Speaker 1: to socialize your kids in a great environment as well.
Speaker 1: And if you homeschool they are kids, you'll be socially
Speaker 1: awkward and so no, no, but if you put them
Speaker 1: in a social environment, they'll be tempted. But if you
Speaker 1: don't put them in a social environment, they'll face great,
Speaker 1: greater temptations in later days and they'll end up paying
Speaker 1: on the back end. For the decisions you shielded them from.
Speaker 1: Look at you, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, making your list
Speaker 1: of what makes a good mom off of other people's opinions.
Speaker 1: It's their opinion. You might need to homeschool one and
Speaker 1: boarding school the other. Keep one close, ship one off.
Speaker 1: Who knows. But you said only one thing you gotta do,
Speaker 1: stay close to me. Only one thing is necessary because
Speaker 1: I will never pull you apart. If you are being
Speaker 1: pulled apart by the demands of your life, let me
Speaker 1: tell you something about the list that you're living by.
Speaker 1: It's not his. It's not his list. That might have
Speaker 1: been your mom's list. She might have demanded more from
Speaker 1: you than you were able to give, but that's not
Speaker 1: his list. Others might have expected things out of you
Speaker 1: that you weren't able to fulfill. God never will if
Speaker 1: he if he wills you to do it, he will
Speaker 1: walk with you through it. Whose list is this, Jesus,
Speaker 1: I need help with this list. Now. I'm going to
Speaker 1: show you how far Martha comes in the scripture, and
Speaker 1: y'all can sit down, and I want you to come up,
Speaker 1: because Martha in this passage, she's in a tough spot.
Speaker 1: She's in a really tough spot, and in a way
Speaker 1: we don't get much closure in the passage itself because
Speaker 1: it kind of just ends with Jesus saying, Hey, I
Speaker 1: know you're resourceful, I know you're responsible, I know you're respectful.
Speaker 1: But Mary is present and isn't present. She's pulled. So
Speaker 1: since she's pulled, she begins to resent. It's a recipe
Speaker 1: for resentment. Trying to please everybody, trying to be everything,
Speaker 1: trying to achieve everything, trying to achieve eight pack abs
Speaker 1: while also going back to school. All of that amalgamation
Speaker 1: of what you think it needs means to achieve that
Speaker 1: comes from culture, that comes from comparison, that comes from condemnation.
Speaker 1: It does not come from Christ. It is a recipe
Speaker 1: for resentment and for you to just keep adding to
Speaker 1: your life what you think you need to be for
Speaker 1: God to love you more, what you think you need
Speaker 1: to do for somebody else to love you more, what
Speaker 1: you think you need to achieve in order to be
Speaker 1: worthy of the life that God gave you by his grace.
Speaker 1: Remember your expectation, even of yourself plus other's limitations, even
Speaker 1: if it's your own minus grace is a four recentment
Speaker 1: and now Martha's screaming in the kitchen. Does anybody care
Speaker 1: that I'm tired? Does anybody care? Then I'm doing this
Speaker 1: for them? Does anybody care? Jesus? Is what she said?
Speaker 1: Don't you care? Don't you care that I'm doing all
Speaker 1: the work by myself? And she said, I care, but
Speaker 1: not about your work. I care about your worry. And
Speaker 1: you want me to help you with your work. But
Speaker 1: I want to help you with your worry. So I
Speaker 1: want to take your list and I want to walk
Speaker 1: with you through it, and I want to show you
Speaker 1: in this season of your life. I'm not talking to
Speaker 1: Martha Marth anymore. I'm talking to you you God wants
Speaker 1: to show you in this season of your life where
Speaker 1: you are being paralyzed because you are being pulled. That's
Speaker 1: a picture of worry, isn't it? Being pulled on both
Speaker 1: sides and going nowhere? Being pulled and spent and tired
Speaker 1: by making no progress. Don't you care? Lord? He says,
Speaker 1: I care. I care so much that I want you
Speaker 1: to be present with me so that you do not
Speaker 1: resent the demands of your life that you are trying
Speaker 1: to fulfill without me. This is the same thing that
Speaker 1: Martha asked Jesus when her brother Lazarus got sick. Does
Speaker 1: anybody know this story? Wave at me? If you know
Speaker 1: the story of a man called Lazarus, Did you know
Speaker 1: that his big sister was Martha? Did you know that
Speaker 1: his village was called Bethany? How must it have felt
Speaker 1: for Martha not only to cook for Jesus and his disciples,
Speaker 1: but to care for a sick brother. Usually men would
Speaker 1: pay for the bills, but Lazarus couldn't. There's no mention
Speaker 1: of a husband. Martha is doing it by herself. And
Speaker 1: that's why it hit a nerve when she said, don't
Speaker 1: you care that she's left me to do it by myself?
Speaker 1: And it can feel like that, and it has felt
Speaker 1: like that for some of us. Do you really expect
Speaker 1: me to be here and there? I can only be
Speaker 1: one place at one time. That's right, that's right. And
Speaker 1: when Lazarus got sick, Martha sent word to Jesus saying,
Speaker 1: the one that you love is sick. This is in
Speaker 1: John chapter eleven. You can read it when you get home.
Speaker 1: She said, the one that you love is sick. But
Speaker 1: when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where
Speaker 1: he was and Lazarus died, and on the fourth day
Speaker 1: after the body was thought to have been void of
Speaker 1: the spirit, which evacuated according to their custom. On the
Speaker 1: third day, Jesus shows up. He shows up late, and
Speaker 1: Martha meets him at the gate. And I want to
Speaker 1: show you how far he's come, because I asked the Lord,
Speaker 1: where do I land this message to help those who
Speaker 1: feel like this today, who feel like this, no place
Speaker 1: to sit, no one to help, nothing to think. And
Speaker 1: I realized that although in the passage it only ends
Speaker 1: with Martha being corrected in John chapter eleven, give me
Speaker 1: the scripture on the screen, please, She calls him Lord.
Speaker 1: Remember her brother has died, but he's still Lord. Remember
Speaker 1: he disappointed her expectation, but he's still Lord. Remember he
Speaker 1: didn't do what she asked him to do, but he's
Speaker 1: still Lord. And I'm about to show you one of
Speaker 1: the most major transformations in scripture. Here is this woman, Martha, Martha,
Speaker 1: who was so distracted and divided that she was coming
Speaker 1: apart at the scenes. Does anybody care that I'm slaving?
Speaker 1: Does anybody care that I'm working? Does anybody care that
Speaker 1: I'm serving? Lord? Martha said to Jesus, if you had
Speaker 1: been here, my brother would not have died. But I
Speaker 1: know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
Speaker 1: You missed it. There's been a switch. Tell somebody, there's
Speaker 1: been a switch. When we saw Martha in Luke chapter ten,
Speaker 1: she was working off her list. But look what she
Speaker 1: says in John chapter eleven, verse twenty two. But I
Speaker 1: know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
Speaker 1: So she has learned the life lesson. It is his list,
Speaker 1: not my list, that matters in this season of my life.
Speaker 1: And I want to speak to everybody who has been
Speaker 1: living off of your list.
Speaker 5: You have been listing your liabilities, listing your limitations, listing
Speaker 5: your reasons to feel bad, listing your reasons to feel shameful,
Speaker 5: listing the adversaries that are against you, listing the disadvantage
Speaker 5: of your season.
Speaker 1: Shift your attention to his list. And when she did that,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to preach. When she did that, when she
Speaker 1: said God will give you whatever you ask, get ready
Speaker 1: to shout over verse twenty three, Jesus said to her,
Speaker 1: your brother will rise again. So let me preach the
Speaker 1: whole sermon my expectation plus others. Limitation is a recipe
Speaker 1: for resentment. But watch this. My faith plus God's presence
Speaker 1: is a recipe for resurrection. The moment you get focused,
Speaker 1: whoop on his list? Catch what I'm saying. The moment
Speaker 1: you begin to believe that he is who he says
Speaker 1: he is. He can do what he says he can do.
Speaker 6: He is God all by himself, doesn't need any help,
Speaker 6: doesn't need an assistant, doesn't need an agenda, doesn't need
Speaker 6: a calendar, doesn't need a schedule, doesn't need a committee
Speaker 6: to bless.
Speaker 1: This is his list and a letter to the tomb.
Speaker 1: Step by step, and Lazarus came forth, and everything that
Speaker 1: would try to pull Martha away, No, no, no, you
Speaker 1: can't get distracted. Now you've got to stay close to him.
Speaker 1: One thing is necessary. One thing is necessary. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put your list down to one item. Do
Speaker 1: what I say. If I don't tell you to do it,
Speaker 1: I don't care what pressure culture puts on you to
Speaker 1: do it. Do what I say. Be who I called
Speaker 1: you to be. Let me do my job in your life,
Speaker 1: and you will see when you get to the tomb,
Speaker 1: and the word says, Lazarus come forth, if you will
Speaker 1: stay close to me, I will show you something that
Speaker 1: you did not even know to play inform. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: stay right there because God brought you to this moment.
Speaker 1: It's a Martha Martha moment. It's decided. But instead of
Speaker 1: feeling bad about what you didn't get or being distracted
Speaker 1: by a phone that rings in the middle of your clothes,
Speaker 1: you are going to stay focused on what God has
Speaker 1: put in front of you for this season. He did
Speaker 1: this so you don't have to.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
Speaker 2: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 2: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 2: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation
Speaker 2: Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you. H