So I know I'm in North Carolina, but I just want to find out how many of you are North, well, no, Carolina Panthers football fans? How many of you are football, okay. Okay, okay, so someone tell me a team that you're really pulling for so I can, this illustration can work. Gamecocks. Gamecocks. Okay, okay, okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. I think we got something. The Gamecocks. The Gamecocks? No. All righty, my time's going. Okay, let's get someone else. Give me another team. All right, you insert whatever team you want into this illustration. So let's say you decide with your dad, your friend, your uncle, someone in your family, someone in your life, you decide that you're going to go to a football game. And so you start out and you say, OK, we're going to go to this particular home game somewhere in the United States of America. Because we don't know what team it is, OK? And so you're like, OK, we got to get this together. And so you say, OK, well, first of all, we got to get the money to buy the tickets, right? Got to get the money to buy tickets. So you save up some money, or you go to the ATM, you do what you got to do, and you buy the tickets. And then it's like, OK, well, if we're going to go to the game, we got to look like we're for the team. You know what I mean, Florian? You got to get your jersey. You got to get a hat. And so now you got your stuff. And then it's game day. Say it's game day. No, say it's game day. It's game day. So now it's game day. So now you get in the car or your vehicle, and you drive to the stadium. You get in there. You got your two tickets. You got on your jersey. You got on your hat. You're looking sharp. You're looking great. You go there. And you go, and the person says, I want to let you in. Parking, parking. Well, you know, if you go to a football game, you got to do some tailgating, right? And so, you're cooking and you're doing some steak and crocodile and all this kind of stuff. And so, you're doing that. Now, the game's about to start. And you say, hey, well, game's about to start. Well, hey, first of all, we got to get some more food because we're running out of food. So, you kind of go back out of the stadium and you go to Walmart real quick and you come back and the first quarter's over. And then you're like, well, hey, when I bought this shirt for the game, it was a little small. So I'm going to go real quick and come right back. And now the second half is gone. And now it's halftime. And then you're like, man, I'm kind of hungry. I want something to eat. And so you go in this long line. And you've got to wait. And then your card doesn't work. Your cards decline. And you're just doing something. And now the third quarter's over. And then you finally got everything, and you said, hey, I left my phone in the car. How am I going to take pictures? So you got to go all the way down the stairs. You got to go find the car. You can't find it because it was an A1, but you were in 1A, and you didn't know where to go. And finally, you got back. And by the time you get inside the stadium, the game is over. You would say, that's a wasted day. The entire reason for you going to the stadium was to watch the game. And you did everything else except watch the game. Some people would use this expression, you missed the boat. You got everything around the game right, but you missed the game. We're gonna talk about somebody tonight who missed the game, so to speak. Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. All right, when you got Luke chapter 10, let's all stand, we're gonna read. couple of verses. Luke chapter 10, we're going to read verse 38 to 42 to the end of the chapter. Okay, let's all read it together. This time we're going to read together and we're only going to use one verse. kind of to go back and forth with the different teams. But let's just read together this whole section of 37 to 42. I'm sorry, 38 to 42. All right, together. Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus's feet and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus said to her, Martha, Martha. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. All right, so that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna read verse 41. When we say Martha, Martha, I want us to say it kinda like Martha. Martha. Okay? Let's try it. Martha. Martha. Okay, so let's read it. Let's read verse 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou dost care for troubled about many things. All right, let's go. Red team, you did it last, blue team did it last time. Red team, let's go, read it together. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. All right, blue team, here we go. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. Everyone together one more time, verse 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. Thank you, you may be seated. So you've had some messages already. Dr. Beale, Dr. Lucan, myself, you've had your different sessions, some of the ladies, missions, ministry, you've heard a lot. And I know what some of you are thinking. You're ready to serve the Lord. I mean, bless God, you're ready to fight hell with a wet handkerchief. You've surrendered. You're passionate. You're desiring. You want to be in the ministry. You want to be maybe a missionary to a foreign field. Maybe you want to be a pastor, a youth pastor. Maybe you want to take your singing to another level and produce songs for churches to use. You maybe want to be a Christian school teacher, whatever. And you're like, man, I'm ready. And you heard some of the messages this week. Dr. Beale talked about the gospel, and you're like, yeah, I've got to get the gospel in. But I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. And you heard some of the other messages and some of the other sessions, and you're like, oh, this is great. This is great. OK. But when are they going to get to the juicy stuff? Like, OK, if I want to preach, how do I preach? How do I pitch my voice? And how do I grab people's attention? And if I'm gonna be a missionary, when are we gonna learn how to decide which mission field and then I gotta learn the language and what's the steps to getting to the mission field and how we, yeah, some of this other stuff is great, I love it, this is good. But I wanna get to the meat and the bones. And I think if you're not careful, You're gonna miss the game. I'm sure there are college students that will tell you sometimes they get so busy they don't have time to do their devotions. I'm sure there are some preachers, pastors, and evangelists that would have to have an uncomfortable admission, that sometimes I get so busy in ministry, I don't have time to spend with Jesus. You know why? Because I'm doing everything around the work of God, but I'm not focused on the God who I'm working for. So we got two spirits, two ladies, two sisters, and we got two spirits. We got one Martha. We're gonna spend a good bit of time looking at Martha, but hopefully tonight you will have the spirit of Mary. Now before we get into Martha, let's look, because I'm sure there's some folks, yeah, preacher, I like these kind of messages, because I don't like to serve God. I don't wanna be a Martha. So when I come to church, I put my feet up, drink my coffee, and just let everybody else do everything, because I don't want to be a Martha. Listen, we're not talking to you. Okay? There are some people that don't want to serve God and they will use any excuse possible to not serve the Lord. That's between you and God. But this isn't a message about not serving the Lord. God wants us to serve him. In fact, look what the Bible says. Let's go to Psalm chapter 100. Psalm chapter 100 and Joshua 24, two verses. And I always try to be careful how I say this. If you've been in church for a while, you would know these verses, but if not, great verses to learn. Psalm 100, verse two. What's the first five words? Serve the Lord with gladness. Serve the Lord with gladness. So we're not saying don't serve God, The Word of God says to serve Him. Joshua 24, I'm just gonna say the part of the verse. Choose, and you say the word. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. There is a decision that you're gonna have to make. And by the way, everyone serves somebody. You're either serving God, the world, your flesh, or the devil. But you're, well I don't serve nobody. No, you're serving somebody, you're serving your flesh. So all of us serve. So in the Old Testament it says to serve. Tell me the Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Verse 11 says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Why did God call men to be these things? Well, look what it says in verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. There is work involved in ministry. There is work involved in serving. And then in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5 to 7, I'll just say this one, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then it says, who thought of himself to be a servant. Jesus Christ was the greatest servant that there ever was. So in the Old Testament, it tells us to serve. In the New Testament, it tells us to serve and work. Jesus left his example to serve. So what's wrong with Martha? I'm so glad you asked. Well, let's look at Martha's background. Anyone here named Martha? Martha, okay. Her name means she was rebellious. And Dr. Clemens, this is the time you don't say anything. John, sorry, let's go to John chapter 11. We're gonna go between John chapter 11 and John chapter 10. Because you might be thinking, okay, well Martha must be like a really sinful lady, right? She's a really bad lady, and we're gonna, bless you, and we're gonna look at her and. We're gonna find all kind of problems in her life, right? She's gonna be a wicked person. She's just a bad person, that's why. Okay, well, let's see. Where does she live? John chapter 11. We're gonna be between chapter 10 and chapter 11. John chapter 11, verse one. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us how to pray. Well, that happens when you're in Luke instead of John. I'm like, I know this isn't saying what I wanted to say. John chapter 11 verse one, now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. What do we know about this Martha? Chapter 11 verse five, now Jesus, what's the next word? loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Martha wasn't just some random woman. Martha was loved by Jesus Christ. And can I tell you, sometimes people who are loved by Jesus Christ get it wrong. She was loved by Jesus Christ. Notice this next one. Verse 22, John 11, 22, says, but I know that even now whatsoever, sorry, verse 21, to get a little bit of the context, then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou has been here, my brother had not died. She believed that if Jesus was there, Lazarus would not have died. She had faith. And then she even had a little bit more faith. She says, verse 22, but I know that even now, whatsoever thou will ask of God, God will give it thee. She had faith. She had Bible knowledge. Notice verse 24. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. She had Bible knowledge. She was loved by God. She had faith. She was loved by Jesus. Sorry, she had faith. She was a believer. Notice what it says in verse 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She, Martha, said unto him, Yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. There weren't that many kinks on Martha's armor. She was loved by Jesus. She had faith. She was a believer, she was saved. So we're not talking about a bad woman who did bad things and so now we're gonna pick her apart. No, we're talking about a woman that most pastors would want inside their churches. And in fact, all of this happens, you know why all of this is happening, what we're gonna read? Because Jesus wants to go spend time with her in her house. That's the background. What was the plan? Notice what it says in verse, chapter 10, sorry, chapter 10. Now we go to Luke, sorry, now we go to Luke. I'm sorry, yes, now we go to Luke. That's where I was confused, okay. I'm gonna get it right before the night is out. Luke. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. Now let's do a little bit of math. I'm not good at math, I already told you that. I'm not good at math, I need your help. So Jesus is coming with his disciples to Martha's house. So how many people does she need to prepare for? So I'm gonna give it to you and you tell me. How many disciples? 12, okay. And then, of course, Jesus, that's? Then you have Martha, her sister, and her brother. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. How much is that? 16? 15? I'm not the only one, not good enough. All right, 16, let's say 16. So Martha now is planning a meal for 16 people. That's a lot of people. And one of those people is Jesus. Okay, Jesus is coming to your house. Is my house clean? Do I have enough food? Does the food, will the food taste good? I believe all these thoughts started to run in her mind. William, where's William? You can bring it up now. Here's what I believe happened. Something similar to this. She was getting everything ready. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. She had to prepare a meal for 15 to 16 people. And so I believe it says in verse 38, it says, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. So I could see something like this. That's what I could see. So this is Martha coming in the door in the house. Opens the door. Jesus, you're here. Greet each other with a holy kiss, right? Peter. James, so good to see you. John. Bartholomew. Judas. And I believe this, so this is just what I'm thinking if I were there, this could happen, okay? It doesn't say it, so we're not saying this is doctrine. I'm just imagining what could have happened. The last person comes in. Door shuts. Martha, Mary. All right, Mary, here's what we gotta do. We got 15 to 16 people. So here's what we're gonna do. All right, you with me? Okay, so if you get the potato salad, I'll get the meat. You get the bread, you get the... Mary? I believe she started planning everything and she thought Mary was right behind her. This is my imagination, just imagination. And she turned around and Mary wasn't there. She had a plan set up. You ever have plans and people mess it up? And so she's got this plan, and she turns around, and there's no Mary. So she does what any good worker servant does. She says, all right, well, if Mary isn't going to help me, I'm going to do it myself. I'm gonna roll up my sleeves. I'm gonna get it done. And so she gets all these things together. I'm just imagining, just imagining. Okay, gotta put this part in here. All right. You ever get so mad you start talking to yourself? Why am I the only person fixing the plates when there's two of us in here. I told Mary to come help me. She promised that she would help me, but she decides that she wants to sit down, but I have to be in here. No one is helping me, and I gotta do all this work by myself, and I just gotta go. Jesus! Don't you care that I'm doing all of this work and Mary's sitting down doing nothing? She had become self-absorbed with serving Jesus when she should have been self-absorbed with the Jesus she was serving. She was getting the jerseys, John. She was getting the hats. She was buying the tickets. She was tailgating. She was doing everything right, except the man thing. If you want to know the secret to being a great preacher, a great pastor, a great youth pastor, a great missionary, a great school teacher, a great Sunday school teacher, a great music leader, a great servant of Christ. Yes, God has given you talent. Okay. Yes, God has given you ability. Yes, God has given you knowledge. Yes, God has given you some things to help you to do what he has called you to do. But the key is spending time with Jesus. And if you walk out of here on Friday or Saturday morning with this mindset, I'm going to be greatest when I'm closest to Jesus, then I believe, Dr. Beale, this camp would have been a success. If you think, well, my voice. If you think, well, my preaching, and I'm gonna preach hellfire and brimstone, and I'm gonna tear up pulpits, and that's great, that's fine. And I'm gonna have the biggest youth ministry, and I'm gonna reach the world, and I'm gonna go to a foreign mission field, and I'm gonna see places, I'm gonna go places where the gospel has never been preached, and I'm gonna do all of these things. And those things are great, I have no problem with that. But the main thing is staying close to Jesus. So that he is your source of power. to fulfill what he wants you to do. Because I will tell you this as I stand here. It is easy to depend on your talent. It's easy to depend on your education. It's easy to depend on your charisma. It's easy to depend on those things. So let's look and see some more of what happened. Verse 38, now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his what? Heard his what? So while Mary was cooking and serving, I'm sorry, Martha was cooking and serving. Mary was sitting and listening. Martha went straight to serving. Mary went straight to sitting. When you sit at someone's feet, that is a sign that you are their disciple, meaning that that person is your teacher. And Mary decided, you know what? I am going to sit here. at Jesus' feet, and I'm just going to listen to Him talk. And I'm going to listen to His word, and I want to hear from Him, because Jesus is in my house, or in my sister's house. And I don't know how many more times I'm going to have to talk with Jesus, and to listen to Jesus. So I'm going to spend some time, and I'm just going to stop, and I'm just going to listen. Can I tell you something about ministry? For those of you thinking about ministry, and of course that's the whole point of this week. And those pastors and preachers in the back there can tell you this, evangelists as well. There's always ministry to be done. There's always someone that needs the gospel. There's always someone in the hospital that needs prayer. There's always some family that's broken. There's always some teenager that's hurting. There is always going to be something to do in ministry. And so what happens is, you go in there young, thinking you're gonna change the world, and here's the mistake, oh, I've made. Well, once I finish these three things, then I'll have time to pray. But then the three things turn into four things. And then the four things turn into five things. And before you know it, I fulfilled the ministries, but I haven't spent time with Jesus. That's the danger that can happen in ministry. That's the danger that can happen in Christian college. We're so focused on the external things that we miss the boat. We miss the main thing. Notice what else it says. It says in verse 40, but Martha was cumbered about much serving. Cumbered means this was in her mind. She had anxiety. She was driven about mentally. She was distracted. She was busy. She was totally consumed with work. to where it got into her head. I want you to be careful with that word busy. A lot of times we use that word, and again, I'm not saying this to smite people. We say the word busy. I love one definition of busy. It's an alliteration. Being under Satan's yoke. We get so busy doing things for God. We're too busy to spend time with God. And Martha was cumbered about much serving. She was getting the pots, the pans, the food, getting the table ready, doing all these things. She was cumbered about, and I believe she started to get anxious. You ever get anxious? How many of you bite your fingernails? I bite my fingernails, right, when I get anxious? That's just, is the food gonna be ready? Is the food gonna be good? This is Jesus. This isn't just anybody. Why isn't Mary helping me? Lazarus ain't helping nobody. I mean, come on. Why do I have to do? And I want you to notice something she says. And this is something that happens when we get consumed with working for God instead of consumed with the God we work for. Notice what she says. But Martha was comfortable about much serving and came to him, Jesus, and said, Lord, Does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Shouldn't she have said, Master or Lord, don't you care that Mary is not helping me prepare the meal for you? Because when you start to serve without worship, and serve without intimacy, it becomes very selfish. It becomes your ministry. Your preaching, your singing, your talent. Because you're consumed no longer with the one, the savior. You're not consumed with Jesus, you're consumed now. And folks, you gotta be so careful. You're consumed with the applause and the attention of men and women. And there is, I'm taking, I hope you guys see this. I hope that you see, I'm taking you behind the veil, so to speak. There's a good feeling with ministry. I want to tell some of you young men thinking about being pastors, you can imagine a church, everyone does what you say. And at home, no one does? So where will you spend most of your time? This is how serious, because our focus is on serving. But Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? How often is it that we question the character of Jesus? Don't you care, Jesus? Don't you care that my sister is letting me serve alone? Don't you know I'm in this kitchen slaving over this pot by myself? Don't you care? Then the latter part of the verse, bid her therefore that she helped me. Martha was so consumed with serving, so consumed with self, so consumed with what was in her house and her food and her guests that she is telling Jesus what to do. And you know what happens in ministry? we start to dictate to Jesus how we want the ministry to look. And what we want out of the ministry, instead of it being Jesus, okay, Jesus, I'm in the kitchen, all 14, 15, of everyone else is in the living room. Jesus, where do you want me? Do you want me to finish preparing this meal? Or do you want me to sit at the bread of life's feet? Jesus, what do you want me to do? A person who is consumed with ministry instead of Jesus, they don't ask that question. And then Jesus' response, verse 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha. I don't think Jesus was angry. You know why I don't think he was angry? Because there was nothing wrong with her serving. She was doing something for Jesus. She was doing something in her house. She was doing something with her hands. She was doing something with her talents. She was doing something with the materials, the food, and the plates, and the cups. She was doing something for Jesus. So I don't think Jesus was angry and said, Martha, Martha. No, I think he had pity. He's like, Martha, Martha, you've got everything right. You got the tickets. You got the jersey. You got the hat. You got the tailgating. You got the food. You got everything right. But Martha, you forgot the main thing. You forgot to go inside and watch the game. Martha, you have everything prepared for Jesus, but you ain't even sitting with him. You ain't even talking to him. You just let me in, gave me a little kiss here and there and said hi to everybody, then you ran right into the kid. You didn't even take time to ask me how I'm doing. Martha, your serving is fine, but service should come after worship, not service and then worship. That's the problem. So you say, I don't think Brother Kwame wants me to be a missionary. No. I want you to be a missionary, yes, but I want you to have an intimate walk with Jesus first. Buddha Kwame doesn't think I should sing, because he says, no, you can sing for the glory of God, but before you sing, pray and spend time with Jesus. That's the point of the message. Notice what Jesus says, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. but one thing is needful. Just one. And Mary has chosen that one thing. You know what that one thing is? I wanna sit and listen to Jesus. Wow, Jesus, you're so smart, you're so wise. That's the one thing. You know what I had to come to the conclusion of, Dr. Beale? If I die, there'll be other evangelists after me. I am not holding Christianity together by my arms, like, you know, well, Brother Kwame, if you die, then who? If I die, go out and raise someone else up. Go out and raise someone else up while I'm living. You know what I am? I'm a piano. Piano, play a song. Brother Powell, I think something's wrong with the piano. Miss Joy, I think something's wrong with the piano. Piano, play a song. A piano is nothing without someone playing it. I am nothing if I don't have Jesus helping me and being my strength and my guide. I am nothing. And if you could walk out of here, not with your nose so high that if it rains, you're gonna drown. If you walk out of here humbly saying, you know what? I'm just a piano that has to be played by Jesus. And by the way, thank you, Holy Spirit. Some of you in here are afraid because you know what you're thinking? God can't use me. I don't have any talents. I can't do anything. I can't sing. I'm too scared to preach. I'm not smart. I don't have anything. Let me tell you something. If you have Jesus, he can use you in whatever capacity he wants to use you. And I will tell you this. I believe it's easier for someone like that to be used by Jesus than others with talents that Jesus got to humble them and get the talent out of the way so that they can be a vessel for his use. Every single person can be used by Jesus. You know why? Because Jesus isn't concerned about your talent. He's concerned about your surrender. You don't have to preach like me. You don't have to preach like Dr. Beale or Dr. Lukin or whoever, Brother Dwight Smith. You don't have to preach like any of us. You preach how you teach and you sing and you do how Jesus made you to do it. It's not us. So here's the question. Are you gonna have a Martha spirit or Mary spirit? How to have a merry spirit. I'm gonna be very, very practical. Here's a merry spirit. Let's go to Psalm 63. We're gonna look at three things to have a merry spirit and we're done. Psalm 63. Okay, preacher. So God may be calling me to a mission field. God may be calling me to be a pastor. God may be calling me to be a Christian school teacher, a preacher's wife. What do I need to do now to prepare for that? I'm glad you asked. Psalm 63, verse one. Oh God, thou art my God. You know what some of you would say if you're honest right now? Oh God, thou art my parent's God. Oh God, thou art my pastor's God. You know what David said? Oh God. Thou art my God. I love hearing stories about past revivals and past ministries and past people. I love to hear it. That's great. But you know what? I'm sick and tired of hearing about the past. I want to see what God can do with me now. I want God to use me now. I don't want to have to hear about revival through reading a book. I want to experience revival. And for God to use me to do that. Again, just a piano, nothing special. Have the right priority. Young people have the right priority. Put that in your notes, the right priority. The psalmist says, oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee. in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory. You know what the psalmist prioritized? I wanna see God work. I wanna make sure I put God first. I want God to be at the center of my life. So you know what that means? I'm gonna tell you right now. God before everything. Some of you do this. You're in bed, your alarm goes off. Whoop, whoop, whoop. This will either control you if you don't control this. I'm not saying it's wrong to have a phone, I have a phone. I'm saying is you may have the wrong priority and you put your phone first. You know what I would say? No Bible, no phone. No prayer, no phone. So that you can say early, dear God, I wanna seek thee. Prioritize Jesus above everything. Number two, have the right priority. Number two, have the right plan. The right plan. Turn me to Ezra chapter seven. Psalms go backwards. Psalms then go backwards. Job, Nehemiah, Ezra. Psalms, Job, Nehemiah, Ezra going backwards. Ezra chapter 7. This is a wonderful verse. Ezra 7 verse 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel's statutes and judgment. Ezra did three things. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Lord. You know what you could do? Every morning you wake up, before you get into your devotions, you say, God, I want you to show me something about you that I didn't know or that I need to be reminded of. I want to see you in this book. I want to hear from you. I want to prepare my heart to see you. Do you know why camps work so good? Because you don't have your cell phones. Because normally on Sunday morning, right before you go in, you're going to check that last notification. And it could be something good, bad, funny. sensual. And then you go in there and then you go in to the, and your mind is all confuddled and you wondering why only three people like your picture. Prepare your heart. Let me tell you what to do. Number one, don't do a bunch of stuff on Saturday night. Get your rest so you can be prepared for Sunday morning. Well, I'm just going out with my friends. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to go I never heard that terminology until I came to North Carolina. I said, what in the world is mudding? We get in a big old Ford truck and we go in the mud and we mudding. Well, if you could go mudding, that's fine, but you be home in time so that at night you get your rest for Saturday morning, for Sunday morning. You wake up, you pray. God, what do you have for me? You come to church, you don't sit with people who are going to make you talk. You sit with people who are going to make you listen. You have a plan. He prepared his heart. And then to do it, he said, God, if you tell me what to do, I'll do it. He prepared his heart to seek the Lord, have a set time to spend time with God. Don't make it a random thing. Learn to pray. Learn to study the word. Learn to read. Some of you are gonna leave here and you're gonna say, well, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna read the entire Bible. That's great. Have you ever read an entire chapter? No. Okay, let's start there first. And instead of us going to Revelation, let's go to Psalms. Let's go to Proverbs. Let's go to James. Let's go to the Gospels. And let's work our way through. to reading the Bible, because if you start in Genesis and you get to Numbers, you're probably going to quit. So have a plan. And preachers, forgive me, I was trying to get three P's, but I only got two. Have the right priority, have the right plan, have the right accountability. Have the right accountability. Let's see, who's the closest? Dr. Lukin, could you come up here for me, please? And then give me Charlie and Kurt. And Damien. Come on up here, please. Dr. Lucan, you can stand right there. Charlie and Kurt, you stand right in front of the puppet. And then Damien, you stand right there. Ecclesiastes chapter four. Let's turn there. We can turn there real quick. Ecclesiastes chapter four. This is our last text and we're done. Ecclesiastes, thank you for being good listeners tonight. Ecclesiastes chapter four. Verse nine says, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. I will tell you what some people say. Forgive me, fellas. They say this. They say, and youth conferences are worthless because you just rile people up and then eventually they forget their decision. You know what I say? Any service, if that's your thinking, then any service is a waste of time if you don't have someone to follow up and disciple the people that made the decision. Because I could sit in a service and hear a great message and forget about the message two or three weeks later. So, Charlie is going to be you. Three people in your life that you need. Charlie needs a Paul. Someone older than you. Not that old. Someone older than you. Someone wiser than you, someone who has experienced Christianity, failure, mistakes, successes, who's gone through the ropes. You need someone in your life that's older and more mature than you that you can go to and say, would you help me in my Christian walk? Everyone needs a Paul. For me, it was Pastor Gary Hanna. Took me under his wing, taught me so much just by watching his life. That's number one. Number two, Charlie needs a Silas. Paul and Silas. He needs someone that's his same age or around his same age that's going to challenge him and encourage him. They're going to talk in a different level. They can kind of goof around and have fun and do different things. But Charlie's not going to talk to Silas the same way he talks to Dr. Lukin. There's a level of respect. Now he can talk about, hey, man, how are you doing in your devotion time? If you have friends that can keep you accountable with your devotions, you're more likely to be accountable in your devotions. If you're an island, you're probably gonna fail and then quit and then give up. You need a Paul, you need a Silas, and then Charlie come this way, you need a Timothy. You know what has helped me in my Christian life when I get tempted to quit, give up, throw in the towel? Young people like Justin. And I say, if I give up, how is that going to affect Justin? So I want to encourage you. You say, well, I'm 14. Find a 10-year-old kid at your church. And you say, well, what do I do? When you go to church on Sunday, say, hey, kid, it's good to see you. What's your name? Hey, you want to sit by me in church? Find him a Bible. Give him some words of encouragement. With these three people in your life, you're going to make it. Now, here's my question. I want them to stay up here because I want, we're going to do something at the very end. I'm going to leave you with this illustration, and I want you to really get the heart of this message. There's nothing wrong with serving. There's nothing wrong with preaching. There's nothing wrong with missions and singing. That's why you're here. but you should do those things out of an intimate relationship with God. There was this, Dr. Lukin, there's a story told about this pastor, he was at a church. And he had a special guest in the church. He was an orator. An orator is someone who knows how to speak properly, you know? And in this, we go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the orator was there, and after the service, you know, after the service, the pastor said, we have Dr. So-and-so in the service. Dr. So-and-so, will you please come up and quote Psalm 23? Quote Psalm 23. The orator got up, you know, Dr. Luke. is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me besides the still waters. He restoreth my soul." When he was finished, everybody stood up and gave him a round of applause. While he was up there, he turns to the pastor. He says, Why don't you say Psalm 23? The pastor's like, no, no, no. He says, pastor, say Psalm 23. You do it this time. So the pastor got up. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leaves me beside the still waters. He restored my soul. He finishes. Everybody in the church is crying. There was one curious kid, kind of like Gideon. And the curious kid went up to the orator and he said, excuse me, sir. Sir. He says, yes, young lad. I have a question for you. When you finished saying Psalm 23, everybody was clapping. When pastor said Psalm 23, everybody was crying. Why is that? The orator gently placed his hand on the shoulder of the young boy. He said, that's an easy one, son. You see, I know the psalm, but he knows the shepherd. The only message I'm trying to get to you all is this. You can serve the Lord. You can do the different things that he wants you. Yes. Know the shepherd. Serve out of an intimate relationship with Christ. And that's where you will see the greatest results.