Good morning. Welcome to church this morning. Obviously, I'm not Pastor Mike. If you're visiting this morning, please come back when the pastor is back. I am a guest preacher. I'm one of the missionaries supported of the church, and y'all have supported us probably for, oh, I don't know, say 18 years, something like that, and so we praise the Lord for you. and my wife and I were with you at the end of last year, and we've been traveling all over the country, but it's a blessing to be here with you. I do have prayer cards with me, and so I think most of you probably have them from our previous couple visits here in the last year or so, but if you don't have one, Please make sure and see my wife or me before you leave today. We'd love to get you a prayer card. We certainly want your prayers. We appreciate each one of you very much, and I know many people are faithful to pray for us. So I do have a message from you. I talked to ... I didn't talk to him. I talked to him yesterday, but he texted me this morning. Pastor Mike is in Georgia. He and Miss Jessica are there safely, and he told me, he says, Brother Lance, please tell the church that I love them. and tell them that we're thinking of you all this morning. Again, if you're visiting, please come back. If I make you mad or offend you in any way, come back when the pastor is here. Give the church another chance if you're visiting. Don't be too hard on me because I just got out of prison. I'm going back. If you don't know me, I'm a missionary to military prison, so that's why. But anyway, thank you for coming today. It's always a blessing to be in the house of the Lord. It's just a blessing to be here. We love this church. My girls are both grown and both are now married. We married off our youngest daughter in July, but they still speak very fondly of this church. And many of you all have reached out to them in our past visits and in years past, and we appreciate you all so much. And we love you all dearly. Make sure and pray for your pastor and his wife as they're away that God will refresh them and encourage them. They need God's help just like we do. Amen. And sometimes we take that for granted. We take our pastors for granted. And he didn't pay me to say any of that stuff. And maybe he won't see it. I don't know if he watches this or not. But anyway, but do lift up your pastor in prayer a lot of times. And I just try to take the opportunity to do this whenever I'm filling a pulpit. We take our pastors for granted. They are people. They carry great loads that you probably have no idea. So please pray for them. Be grateful for them. Minister to them as well. And he'd obviously, he and his family invest in you all regularly. So make sure you do that and let God use you to bless your pastor as well. Amen. Well, let's get into the sermon, because I like to talk. If I talk too much, then we won't get to the sermon. It's not about the sermon, by the way. It's all about Jesus. Really, that's the only message I have. If you've heard me preach before, that's the only message I have. I only have one message. It's all about Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4-5, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. It's all about him. That's what we want to do. I know Pastor Mike would say the same thing here at Faith Baptist Church, is exalt Christ. It's all about Him. Thank the Lord for the cross. Praise the Lord for that music this morning. I do think the pianist is kind of cute. She's my wife, so I can say that. Anyway, praise the Lord for that. Amen. Anyway, take your Bibles, if you will, today. We'll be in the book of Luke, chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. When you find your place, Luke chapter 10, we're going to be in verse 38. When you find your place, would you stand with me? Those that are able. If you're able to stand with me, would you stand Luke chapter 10, verse 38. If you can't stand or it's difficult to stand, don't worry about it. But those who can stand easily, let's stand for just a couple of verses and then I'll let you be seated. Luke chapter 10, verse number 38. Say amen when you're there. Okay. I'm reading from the King James this morning. The Bible says this, 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 word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bitter, therefore, that she would help me, or that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. You know, we all get busy serving the Lord, and praise the Lord you're in church today, and I'm glad that you're here. But sometimes we get really busy doing things for the Lord, and we forget that it's all about Him. That's why I said that a minute ago. It's really all about Christ, and so we just need to focus on Christ this morning. So with the Lord's help, I want to preach to you on this for just a few minutes this morning, the good part. Amen? The good part. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for today. Lord, I thank you for Faith Baptist Church. I thank you for each and every one that's here today. Thank you for those that are watching online, livestream. Lord, I pray that you bless them as well. Lord, be at the pastor as he's away. I pray that you would, Lord, just help us, encourage us, lift us up. If there's one that needs to be saved today, Lord, today that they might trust you as their Lord and Savior. We ask you to deal with them, draw them to you. We ask all these things in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen. Thank you for standing. I'll let you be seated. In this text, Luke's talking about two sisters. I know that you all are no stranger to Mary and Martha. We talk about them a lot. I know that Pastor Mike surely preached on Mary and Martha at different times. I know I've preached even here at the church about Mary and Martha. In fact, I believe one of the last messages I preached within the last year or two was about Mary and Martha and Lazarus when Lazarus died. I love looking at Mary and Martha because they were people that were close to Jesus, and Lazarus was ... They were people that loved Jesus. The context, obviously, in this passage, these are people that love the Lord. Like us, if you're in church today, more than likely that you love the Lord. If you are not sure if you do or not, at least you would think that you do and are striving to. I just thought that that would be a ... It's easy for us to kind of compare ourselves and see ourselves in that situation. So Mary and Martha are with the Lord again, and there's many times where people that are close to somebody will see different parts of them, and the person that we're close to sees different parts about us. And so in this text, I think it's important to say this, that this is not trying to say someone is evil and someone is a saint. This is not saying someone is a terrible sinner and someone is not. We need to understand context. Both of these people love Jesus. Both of them, I would argue, are good people that love God. We know that Jesus loved both of them. In fact, I would argue that both of them are doing things that are needful. I think we need to serve. In fact, I think the serving church has probably taken a back seat in today's world. A lot of times, these are the biggest complaints I hear from churches is people will come and tell me, Brother Lance, well, my problem with church is they don't give me what I want. They don't have enough programs for me. My kids, there's not enough programs in my church. My pastor is not feeding me. It's all about me. It's about me. The purpose of the church is to serve. It's a body. It's Christ's body. We ought to be serving each other and ultimately the community. We have to serve. I think we need to be serving God. In fact, I think that's a good indicator if you are a born again believer that you are actively serving. I also have to say this in Martha's defense. We read in the text, I don't know if you picked this up or not, that Martha went to the kitchen. Come on now. I like going to the kitchen. Amen? I mean, that's my favorite part. Many times over the years here at this church, I know that we have some phenomenal dinners back there in the fellowship hall. Can I get an amen? Normally I don't fish for amens, but I like food. Does anyone else like food? Am I the only guy in here that ... I like to eat. Praise the Lord. Martha went to the kitchen. I'm all about dinner on the grounds, potluck, come on now, fried chicken. Praise the Lord for sister Martha. Amen. Praise the Lord for that. I submit to you that this, no matter how much you are serving, no matter how selflessly you're serving, if we don't take the time to personally be with Jesus, then we've missed it. It's all about Jesus this morning. All the songs this morning and the worship service were about the Lord. We need to focus on Him. So I'm going to give you a few things from the text. Hopefully you'll get something that'll help you today. But ultimately, I mean, I'm a guest preacher at a guest church. I mean, I wanted to give you something good. So I mean, how much better can you get than the good part? Jesus said that. Hey, Mary has that good part. Praise the Lord for that. That's what it is this morning. A few things about the text. First thing, I'm going to give you three ... Well, I'll just give you the three things and then we'll go from there. Disciples of Christ, people that follow the Lord, people that love the Lord, need to be attentive to these three things. Number one, about being in the right place. You need to really be in the right place. If you're a child of God and you are a disciple, you are someone that follows Christ, you need to be in the right place. That's very, very important, especially in today's world. There are a lot of places you probably shouldn't be, but there are also some places that you really need to be, and especially when we live in a community, in a world, a nation, if you will, that places so little emphasis on places like this, where we really need to be. Church is essential, amen. There are some places we need to be. So being in the right place. Number two, listening to the right person. Disciples, apostles, Christians need to listen to the right person. I would argue this, who you're listening to really matters because if you're listening to the wrong person, you can wind up in a world of hurt. If you're listening to the wrong news broadcast, come on. If you're listening to the right talk radio, if you're listening to the wrong talk radio, if you're listening to the wrong person, you're in trouble. But if you're listening to the right one, it can be a great blessing and a great help and a great encouragement to you. So the second thing, are you listening to the right person? And then the third thing will be done is setting the right priorities. I don't know what your priorities are, and I know I've given an illustration on that here before, and I'm going to probably give it again today. I don't know. I may or may not, but if you don't have priorities set in your life, then you're already derailed. I mean, we can get things all backwards, and you've heard the old analogy, the cliche, having the cart before the horse. A lot of times we do that in our life and we know what we're supposed to do and we have an agenda, but sometimes we get things out of whack and it'll mess everything up if we don't have things in the right order. So setting the right priorities are obviously very important. So let's go back to our text and we'll start with this first thing, being in the right place. Verse 38 of Luke chapter 10. The Bible says this, 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 word." So the right place, being in the right place, number one, Martha invited Jesus in. I think it'd be a really, really good idea to start with the obvious. The good part, I'll just give you the main idea of the whole message. The good part is Jesus. He is the best part. In fact, there's nothing greater than the Lord. If there's anything greater than the Lord in your life today, then you're already in trouble. He is the good part. He's the best part about life. Everything I have came from the Lord. My children came from the Lord. My wife was a gift from the Lord. Our ministry is a gift from the Lord. This church is a gift from the Lord. It's all about Christ. He is the good part. Being in the right place, if it's not concentric around God. If it's not about Jesus, then we're already in the wrong place. And so praise the Lord that Martha and Mary said, hey, they're sisters and they are already friends. We know from context and other passages in scripture that they love the Lord. They wanted Jesus to be with them. And so he had an open invitation. I was thinking about this. It's not even in my notes necessarily, but does Jesus have an open invitation in your life? I remember a story there was a pastor told me this story one time. They had opened their home up to someone that they knew. And when they came in, they were someone in need and they knew them relatively well, but they invited them into their home to stay there for a while while they were trying to get on their feet. And he had told this individual, listen, my house is your house. My food is your house. I want you to feel at home here. You are invited. But over time, some things kind of got, out of hand, you could say. And there were some really personal things that this individual started doing in their home. And he said, wait a minute, I feel violated. That's really personal. I don't want you going there. I don't want you getting into that. And I don't want you doing these particular things. And the individual said to this friend of mine, he said, listen, you told me that my house is your house. Your house is my house. Everything I have is yours. I want you to feel at home here." He goes, well, I was just doing that. I wasn't deliberately being, I wasn't trying to violate your privacy. It was your invitation. Now, while that might carry a negative connotation, maybe some of us are thinking, man, I can't believe someone would take those liberties in their home. I understand that. But the reason I brought that story up is this, because some of us, that's how we are with Jesus. Lord, I want you to come into my home. Lord, I want you to come into my life. God, I want you to be here. I want you to be at home here. I want to live in you. I want you to live in me. And we want you to, everything that's mine is yours. Come on, as a Christian, we ought to be that way. But then after a little while, the Lord starts, come on now, meddling. He starts getting a little too personal, and those little pet sins that you don't want to be convicted about, and those little habits that you have that God starts dealing with you about, or maybe that particular thing that you don't want God messing with, or maybe your children, and the Lord starts putting things on the hearts of your children to serve him, and you're like, wait a minute, I don't want my kid to be a missionary. Come on now, and we go to the Lord, and we do just like that guy, and say, wait a minute, I said I want you to be invited to my home, but you're getting a little too personal. You're starting to violate my privacy." Some of us have that attitude with God sometimes. We want it to be open. We want to be open with the Lord. I probably believe in here that everything we have is God's, but yet when God starts doing things personally and he starts dealing with it personally and he starts dealing with those personal things, we get offended. We start pulling away from God and say, well, you're not quite as welcome as you once were. You're getting a little too personal for me. and that our relationship with God suffers because of those things. Being in the right place is important. I mean, every one of you are doing really well this morning, by the way, in case you're wondering if I'm giving you a report card. Sometimes when you're a guest preacher somewhere, pastors say, well, hey, did you see so-and-so? Did you see so-and-so? Hey, with so-and-so, sometimes those things happen. Or if they don't, the people in the congregation think they happened. Is the pastor checking up on me? I want you to know this morning that y'all get an A+, you're in church, amen? Now, maybe there's someone that's not here that should be, I don't know, but I wouldn't know that. You're in the right place this morning. But just because you're in the right place doesn't mean you have everything all together as we see from this story. Just because we have the Lord here, and I believe God is here. I didn't come to church because I thought I was a great speaker. I didn't come to church because I love you so much, although I do love many of you quite a bit. I love all of you, but I know some of you really well. I wanted to be here. But I came here because I want to be with the Lord. I want to hear from God." And you say, well, Brother Lance, you're the one that's speaking this morning. Yeah, but every time I speak and I open the Word of God, even if it's something that I've looked at, studied, and preached before, God talks to me. He encourages me. He ministers to me. I want to be in the right place. I want to be where God tells us to go. And by the way, God does tell us to go to church. We ought to be faithful. We ought to gather. Forsake not the gathering of yourselves together. Thank you, Lord. We ought to be where he tells us to go. Well, just like that, Mary and Martha are in the right place. They have Jesus in their home and they are with him. In fact, they're making an effort to serve him and they're making an effort to be with him. Don't you think those are important things? So being in the right place is very, very important. I think that's something that we see from the passage. She had a sister called Mary, which sat. at Jesus' feet and heard His word. So Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus, and we know that Martha went to the kitchen, and I already told you what I thought about that. I'm quite happy about somebody going to the kitchen. In fact, I'm looking forward to food and fellowship after the service today. That's why I like the earlier start time, by the way. This is completely not in my notes, but because we can be out of here in time and you can go back and get your pot roast or go to dinner or whatever you're going to do. I like to eat, in case I hadn't told you that. So Mary and Martha, they're both there. They're both wanting to serve. They're wanting to be with Christ. These are good things, but I want you to notice something. I'm going to ask you some questions about this because look what it says in verse number 40. But Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bitter, therefore, that she helped me. So being in the right place is absolutely critical. But at the same time, there are some things, just because you're in the right place, we can't just assume that everything's the way it's supposed to be. Because let me ask you this, who is the one that was cumbered about? Martha. Who is the one that was worried, stressed out? Martha. Are you saying there's a problem here? Not only that, who is the one that was troubled? Here's the most convicting thing. Who is the one that thought Jesus did not care? I just want to submit that. I don't know who the workhorses are. Well, I know a few. There are some workhorses in this church. There always are. There are people behind the scenes that get things done. I can think of a couple of them right off the top of my head here at the church. I'm not going to embarrass anybody. but oftentimes it's the ones that are doing, they're the ones that are troubled. I'm not trying to preach at anybody this morning, don't get me wrong, but often it's the ones that the church would perceive as they're the good Christian. In fact, everybody that's here at Mary and Martha's house, if you ask them, hey, who do you think is the one that's really going out and going the extra mile for the Lord? Every one of you would say Martha. Come on, oh, she's the one, she is going out of her way. I mean, she's slaving in the kitchen over a hot stove, and she's cooking that bread, and she's making sure the needs of everybody are met, and she's the servant, she's the hostess. Come on now, when you go to someone's home, that's what you're thinking. And everybody's looking to Martha, well, she's the good Christian, but she's the one that's worried. She's the one that's troubled. And ultimately, here's the sad thing, she's the one that went to the Lord and said, don't you care? She also said something else. She says, don't you care that my sister hath left me, listen, alone. Remember what I said? Some of y'all thought I was just talking at the beginning. What I said, pray for your preacher. Did you know oftentimes the people that are in service and the ones that are out front, they're doing all the work. I know they're not doing all the work. I get that. But the ones that are out front, they're the ones that get it done. Did you know it's a lonely place sometimes? Some of you, no, some of you teach Sunday school, some of you maybe serve, we had some musicians and people that serve in the worship team, and sometimes those positions of service, maybe you're a deacon or someone that serves in the church, sometimes it can be lonely. And if we don't get, if we aren't careful enough, we get to the point, and by the way, I'm talking about myself here, I've been in the ministry over 20 years, this is our 20th year in the military prison ministry, But sometimes I get to feel sorry for myself too. Lord, I feel like I'm by myself. I feel like I'm out there. Lord, don't you care? Guess what? That's what we call stink, my dad would call it, stinking thinking. If you ever start to, come on now, if you're faithful in church, you're in the right place. But if you ever start thinking, Lord, don't you care? I don't care what comes after that. You got problems. Do you remember when the apostles were in the ship and they were taking on water and Jesus came to them and they went to the Lord? He remembered the Lord was sleeping and they woke him up. What did they say to him? Do you remember? Master, carest thou not that we perish? Well, we see the same thing here. Martha's saying, Master, don't you care? My sister's left me alone to do all the work. If we start thinking that God doesn't care, y'all let me and my God give an eyeball this morning. If we start to think God doesn't care, huge red flag. We're missing the good part. I don't want you to miss the good part. I want this church to thrive. I want you to have a great relationship with God, and sometimes people come to church, especially the younger generation. I've got two kids that are in their mid-20s, and I want their families to love God. I want them to serve God, but I don't want them to miss the good part, because if they only go to church because that's what they were raised to do, and they just go because they're good people, and they're supposed to go to church, listen, you're missing out. You might be in the right place, but it's all about Him. I don't want you to miss the good part. It's more than that. So here Martha is, and she comes to the Lord with these things, and she was troubled. By the way, I want you to notice something else that happened. This is just another side note. I just scribbled this down, actually, this morning while I was reading this. This is what it says. My note, she was concerned, not about what she was doing, but about what other people were or were not doing. Martha wasn't just worried that she was the one doing all the work. In fact, I would argue this. I don't think it bothered Martha at all that she was working. Like you, I mean, if you're serving the Lord and you're faithful, it doesn't bother me at all to go to the mission field and to serve in a military prison. I love doing that. But sometimes when I get my eyes off Jesus, I get real concerned about what someone else is or isn't doing. That's a red flag. First of all, it's none of our business. When we get our attitude wrong with God and we stop looking at Him and we start looking at our brothers and sisters, I think it's our business as a church to help one another and to encourage one another. But you don't know what they're carrying. You don't know what they're dealing with. It's not your job to make them do something or not do something. It's our job to stay faithful to the Lord and keep doing. Guess what? That isn't encouragement enough. In fact, oftentimes when someone is busy and faithful serving God, everybody else will look and see them and they will be inspired to do the same. There will always be some that don't. But again, I would argue that's not our problem either. And in fact, I would say our attitude gets wrong if that becomes our attitude. When we look at other people, we are not looking to Him. So Martha was cumbered about with much worry, much care, much concern, and she began to think that Jesus didn't care. Huge problem because we know, listen, no one in the world, no one in the universe loves you more than God loves you. And when you come to the point where you look at other people and you start wondering if God really cares about where you are, stinking thinking, write that down, don't ever forget it. That's how we are. Being in the right place is very, very important. We understand where Martha was, but I want you to look a little bit further about where Mary is. Look in verse 39, it says, she had a sister called Mary, which also sat. at Jesus' feet and heard His word. So I really don't like getting into, I tease about it a lot of times. I'll talk about the Greek and the Hebrew and I do that to aggravate people more than anything. I'm not opposed to it. I think we need to dig and we need to study and we ought to understand that stuff. But I do it because I have a lot of friends in the ministry that they just, when you mention Greek or Hebrew, they just go, they start to squirm. because I'm not a Bible corrector. That's really what the big deal is. However, this word sit, I like to do word studies. This doesn't mean to just sit. I mean, you all are sitting. Did you know that's not the word here? This word, and I don't speak Greek, so if I mispronounce it, it's called perikathidzo. It means to sit close, to sit near. It's more than just sitting, and that's why I like to dig, because you understand what the Bible's given to us. And really, I think even without knowing Greek and Hebrew, you can understand that because while Martha's serving, Mary's not just with Jesus because she wants to be with Jesus. I mean, she is hinged on his every word. That's why I think it specifies right there. And heard his word. She was not just sitting, but it means to sit close, to sit intimately, a close personal setting, hinged on everything. Kind of like, I remember when I first met my wife, She probably wishes this was still the same, and I still adore her, I still love to talk to her, but I remember when we were dating and I was completely just, there was nothing else in the world. In fact, my old boss used to say he was a great employee until he met Christy, and then he became brain dead. But I'd sit there and I'd be hinged on everything she said, every motion she made, every word she said, every, come on now. gazing at her. Again, she probably wishes I was still like that, because now she's like, are you listening to me? Yes, dear. What did I say? Can you say that again? Come on now. Did you know it's the same way with the Lord? And that's why I'm trying to be transparent this morning, because it's the same way with God. We think we're close to Jesus, but this sitting at Jesus' feet, you say, well, Brother Lance, I'm at Jesus' feet this morning. That's why I'm in church, because I'm sitting near to Christ. I want to hear what the Lord has to say. But are you sitting near? Do you have your arms wrapped around his legs? Are you gazing into his face, hinged on every single thing that God has for you? Come on. Probably not. It's probably more like my wife and I, and honey, are you listening to me? The Lord says, are you listening to me? Yeah, Lord, yeah, yeah, I'm listening. What'd I say? Can you say it again? Come on now. It's a little painful, isn't it? Being in the right place. We ought to be in church, but it's more than just being at church. Are you sitting near? Have you gotten close to the Lord and just grabbed ahold of his legs and gazed into his face and say, Lord, I need to hear from you? I wanna listen to you. Well, I'm glad that you are thinking about that because that brings us to our second point. It's more than just being in the right place. Do you remember the second point that I gave to you? Listening to the right person. You say, Brother Lance, well obviously Jesus is there. Obviously the good part is Jesus. Obviously the right person to listen to is the Lord. But I want you to think about something. As Martha was in the kitchen, Slaving over, you know, in Bible times, whatever that was, they didn't have cook stoves like we have, but an oven. Maybe she was baking bread in a brick oven or something. Maybe she had a fire as she was cooking. I don't know. But as she was in there, maybe she was listening to a voice that said this, I can't believe that he left you by yourself to serve. I mean, after all, I mean, your sister says she loves Jesus too, but she's not serving him. And you're in here by yourself serving the Lord, trying to do the right thing, and look at her. She's lazy. She's doing nothing. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that's the Lord saying that? You say, but Elias, you think that was the devil? Maybe. But oftentimes, listen, oftentimes it's our own carnal flesh. I had a guy tell me that one time. They call me chaplain at the military prison. He's like, chaplain Lance, I do what I want. I do what I want to do. I said, is that how you got in prison? He wanted to say yes because he's in charge, but he didn't want to say he was in charge of running himself into prison. He didn't know what to answer. I said, so you say you've got it all under control and you do what you want. I said, but yet here you are in prison. And when you're in prison, you certainly can't do everything you want, but even in prison, people do what they want. I mean, if they want to cause trouble, they cause trouble. If they don't, they don't. Do you know what people do? Exactly what they want to do. Do you know what church members do? Exactly what they want to do. You know what Martha was doing? Exactly what Martha wanted to do. I believe, listen, and it's not always bad. I think when we're close to the Lord and we're close to Christ, we should want to serve and we should want to do the right thing. I think Martha had good intentions and I'm not trying to pick on Martha. I told you, she's cooking in the kitchen. I'm telling you, that means a lot. Sometimes when you're in service and you aren't ... I'm getting ahead of myself. When we're not focused on Jesus and it's all about the serving, we start to listen to other voices besides his. I wonder if she was thinking this, I wonder what Jesus is saying to her. I wonder if they're talking about me. You say, but Lance, why would you say that? Because every one of us have thought the same thing at times. They're people, they're human beings just like us. While our motives are often good and we know that we want to be with Jesus and we know that we're trying to serve Jesus, oftentimes we get so busy doing those things that we forget the good part. And we start thinking, man, I wonder, man, how come he gets to all that? He talks about personal time with the Lord, and man, I wish I had time like that. And I wonder what the Lord says to him. What, is he special? He gets special revelation from the Lord, and I can't remember hearing from God recently. And why am I the only one doing anything around here? No one else in the church is doing anything. I'm just telling you, those are bad places to be. We need to focus on the Lord. And again, my emphasis is not that we shouldn't be serving. We need to serve, but there's a balance. Scripture is perfectly balanced. And being in the right place is more than just being in church and serving. It's about the Lord ministering to us too. There's an appropriateness in what we do and when. And that's where this voice comes from. So I want you to think about what maybe what Mary heard, a text came to my mind, Matthew 11, 28 and 29, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Maybe Jesus would say, I don't know, he didn't say that right here, it's not in the scripture, but we know that Matthew 11, Jesus is the word. We know that that is his word. Could it be that Mary's sitting there literally engrossed in everything Jesus is saying, hinging on every word. And the Lord's talking about, if you're burdened and you're heavy laden and you're much serving, there's rest to be found in me and come to me. He's telling Mary about this. Well, who's the one that's working and all stressed out and needed that? Did you know when you're not listening to the right voice, you're going to hear stuff like, well, how come you're by yourself? And does the Lord even care anymore? Does he even care that you're the only one working? Or you can be at Jesus' feet and hear him say, if you need rest, come to me. I love you. Are you understanding there's a huge difference there? I don't know what you're listening to, you know, and in this last year and a half of mayhem with COVID and everything else, And all the political shenanigans that are going on, not just at the state level, but at the federal level. I'm a military veteran, and so when I look overseas and I see the fiasco in Afghanistan, I mean, no man left behind is what they taught me from a young age in the military. I get really, really, really worked up. I wonder how much I'm listening to Jesus. Am I trying to carry all that? Maybe that's why this last year makes me want to get emotional. The times that have been hard, the times that have been difficult this last year, the times I've wanted to quit, the times I've wanted to say I'm done, the times I've wanted to say just throw in the towel, the times I get frustrated, the times I've snapped at my wife. I'm not listening to the Lord's voice. I'm listening to all those other things. Does God even care where you are? Does the Lord even care about where our nation is right now? Remember what I said about that? When we start wondering if He even cares, we've got problems. The good part is Jesus is there. He wants you to come to Him. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Why don't we go to Him? We're not listening to the right voice. We're listening to everybody else. And by the way, and I could jump on that bandwagon real quickly. I heard several say amen when I mentioned Afghanistan and all that. And I adamantly agree with everybody that feels that way. And I really, really, I mean that's the core value of what... But the Lord convicted me about that too. I was getting all stirred up one day. I was listening to something, and I don't have a TV in our fifth wheel just because it's crazy trying to get TV. But I do have a computer, and I'll watch the news sometimes on the computer once in a while if I have a good internet signal or something. So I'll watch some stuff, and I just get fired up. And I got all bent out of shape, and Christy won't even let me listen to the news most of the time because my blood pressure goes up, my heart rate goes up. I just get aggravated. And so I listened to those things. But I remember I got all stirred up about some of the things that are going on in our world today. And I remember saying what I just said to you, no man left behind, which I absolutely believe. And the Lord said this, if you got just as upset about no man left behind spiritually in this world, and you got that stirred up about that, then we could maybe have a conversation. I got immediately convicted. And I'm not saying the lives in Afghanistan aren't important. But yeah, we'll get all stirred up about stuff in this world. But I wonder how many are left behind right here in Grant's Pass. And if the Lord came back right now, they'd be left behind. Guess what, we are just as guilty. Maybe you don't wanna be paralleled with today's political administration, I don't know. But we are just as guilty of leaving people behind. Because we aren't faithful doing what we should do. Do you see what I'm talking about? When we listen to the wrong voice, we're not cued into what the Lord wants. And we miss out blessings that he has for us. We get all stirred up about things that are going on around us rather than listening to him. And maybe you just need to hear from the Lord this morning, I love you. I know you're hurting. I know you feel alone, but you're not. Maybe you just need to be empowered. We talked about that in Sunday school. God has all the power you need to get through what you're going through. And you say, but Lancel, but I can't. I know you can't. We can do nothing of ourselves, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But we don't hear that stuff when we're so busy serving and we're not taking the time to sit at Jesus' feet. That's how we start thinking. I don't know where you are this morning. I don't know if you're in the right place or if you're listening to the right person. But I couldn't help but think that Martha was thinking, I wonder what he said. Lastly today, I want you to look at something else in this text. The Bible says in verse 40, but Martha was covered about with much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care My sister hath left me to serve alone. Bid her therefore that she help me." God, why don't you tell them what to do? Remember when I said she started worrying about what other people were and weren't doing? Why don't you let God do his job? Jesus didn't need Martha to tell him what he needs to do. We don't need to tell the Lord what he needs to do, and we don't need to tell the Lord what he needs to tell someone else in here. By the way, if your attitude this morning is, man, I'm glad he's preaching this because so and so needs that, you're who I'm talking to. Listen, man, I don't know you all well enough to know what's going on in the church dynamic this morning, so if the Lord is talking to you, it's not me, I guarantee you that. Let the Lord talk to you, but we shouldn't be telling the Lord. I've had people tell me, well, Brother Lance, I'd love to come help you, and I've told people, hey, listen, you should come help me before. After the fact, I'm thinking, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea. In fact, I won't go into too much detail. There was a time in our ministry that I met someone I thought would be a great fit for helping me with the military, and I really, really emphasized, hey, Lord, you need to tell them that they need to help me, because I'm feeling alone, kind of the Martha thing. My wife knows the story, I'm sure, but this person did. And I really was like, Lord, I really wish I hadn't asked you to have him help me because it's not a help. Come on now. Do we really want what God doesn't want? Do you really want someone to help you when it's not God that wants them to help you? I want the Lord to be behind it. I want God to orchestrate it. I don't want to be in charge. I want God to be in charge. Why don't we let God be in charge and we just stay faithful? Stay in the right place and keep listening to the right voice and I believe we'll stay on the right page. Don't worry about what your brother and sister in Christ are doing other than the fact of just caring about them. What if Martha came up to the Lord and to Mary and said, Because they were very well aware of what she was doing I have no doubt because as I already told you several times this morning I'm always concerned about what's going on the kitchen But if she would have come to them and said hey listen What would you like to eat? Can I offer you something to drink? Maybe and you some of y'all have been this way before if you're especially if you're at a close friend's house or family and they come And ask you that. Oh, no, you don't need to get I'll get it Come on Without complaining and whining and telling people what to do and having a bad attitude you come and you serve anyway And you just do what God wants you to do Oftentimes the Lord will spur that in their heart now. Oh, no, you don't need to do that I can I'll be glad to help you. Let me help you Come on, then who did it then the Lord did it not you? Every one of y'all probably know that you've been in a situation like that. I've been like that with my mom before. I've been in my family's house and friend's house. And, hey, let me get you something. Oh, no, no. Hey, listen, I've been here more than once. I'm like family. I can do it. I don't expect you to serve me. And I'll get up and I'll help them. I don't mind doing that. But sometimes it takes them having a servant's heart for the Lord to prompt my heart to come on. Martha wouldn't have had to have a bad attitude. She would have been fine and she wouldn't have been worried and stressed out and encumbered with much serving. Remember when I said I was getting ahead of myself? It's about this last thing. Because really it's all, and I've already given you the main idea, the message, it's all about Jesus. It's all about Him. The right priorities. This is the, what do you call it, a spoiler alert. This is where it's all at. He is the good thing. He is the priority. God is the priority. It's all about Him. It's all about serving Him. It's all about worshiping Him. It's all about being focused on Him. I would argue that Martha and Mary both, they both wanted to serve Him. They wanted to be around Him. They wanted to listen to Him. They both had good intentions. But listen, we all know what they say about good intentions. I mean, that doesn't really get us anywhere. We need to do a heart check this morning. Do we have, have we set the right priorities? You know, Mary got a glimpse of Jesus's heart. I don't know when the last time you got a glimpse of the Lord's heart is. but that's what really starts to move us. When you find out what really matters to someone and someone, you get close enough to them and you know how they really feel and where they really, that's what starts to move you. Did you know it's the same way with the Lord? And when we get close enough to the Lord that we know what stirs Him, that we know what pleases Him, that we know what His heart's desire is, did you know that it will affect us too? When He becomes our priority, our priorities will be affected. Did you know that other people are always His priorities? Here's the good thing, you're included in other people. For God so loved the world. Yes, I am His favorite. But you should say the same too, because he loves all of us. And we should all be close enough to say, I'm his favorite. You say, but he can't have seven billion favorites. Actually, he can, because he's God. And he loves every single person that much. But we get so full of ourselves, even when we're in the right place, even when we are listening to the right voice, we still get our focus off and we lose our priorities. I could tell you many stories about priorities and bad things and all that kind of ... We understand Mary's priority was being close to Jesus, and she heard Jesus say things that Martha missed out on. Most likely, she was in the kitchen working, and Mary was there to hear what Jesus said. We already talked about all the things that might have been going through Martha's head and all those things, and we know that Martha's priority was serving Christ and serving others. Again, I'm not saying that's bad. In fact, I would argue that we need to have both as priorities. They need to both be priorities in our life. We ought to want to serve, and we ought to both want to sit close to Christ. But the order of the priorities is what matters. It doesn't matter that I have been serving the Lord in military prisons for almost 20 years. That doesn't matter if I haven't sat with the Lord. It wouldn't matter that you're at church this morning if the Lord wasn't here. Come on, without the Lord, it's just a club meeting. It's just a get-together. While get-togethers can be fun and get-togethers can be great, if it's not around the Lord, then we're missing it all. The right priorities need to be set in the right place, and if I am going to be busy serving, I certainly need to make sure that there's time like Mary at the Lord's feet, where I'm hearing Him tell, hey, listen, the times where you're serving and you're out there and you're doing things for me, and maybe you don't physically feel like you're right there at my feet, listen, you're not alone. And there are other people serving, and I do still love you. But I know that because I already took time at Jesus' feet. Come on now. Do you remember when the demoniac of Gadara got saved and the Lord cast out the devils and they went into the pigs and the swine and went into the sea? You remember that story? He sat at Jesus' feet, but the Lord told him, you can't sit here. You've got to go. You know why? Because there's a time to sit at his feet, there's a time to be reassured, there's a time to get ministered, there's a time to get love, and there's time to get encouragement. By the way, that's what church is for. We come to Jesus' feet, and we ought to gather, and we ought to worship, and we ought to praise, and we ought to listen to him, and we ought to listen to, yes, Jesus loves me, makes me want to break out in song, but don't worry, I won't. We ought to want to sing that. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. We ought to have those times at the Lord's feet when the Lord can speak to you, whether it's through the preacher or a guest preacher or a Sunday school teacher and God ministers to you and you can sit close to his feet and you can hinge on every word, but there's a time, we can't just stay there. We need to go and serve. We need to go and be busy doing these things. But there's right priorities. I wonder how many times we get our priorities mixed up and it's all about the things that we're doing. Maybe it's about soccer practice, our jobs, working on the car, that project at the house, the honeydew list, many other things that fill our lives, family. And not all of those things are important, but the Lord needs to be the main thing. That's why we see at the very end of this text, setting the right priorities is absolutely key. Jesus answered Martha in verse 41 and said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. That doesn't mean that she was being careful, it means she was full of care. Bible also tells us be careful for nothing, but with prayer and supplication, make our requests be known unto God. We shouldn't worry about stuff. We should say, Lord, here's where I am. By the way, the Lord already knows that. Then he says in verse 42, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Have you chosen ... I'm done. Have you chosen the good part? Have you said, Lord, I, more than anything else in my life today, I need you. I don't want to be at church because I'm supposed to be at church. Lord, I want to be here because I need you. And whether you're someone who doesn't know if you're saved or not, or whether you're a born again believer, we ought to ask ourselves the same question. Say, Lord, am I here for any other reason other than you? Because if I am, I need to check myself. There are other reasons to be at church. Don't get me wrong. I'm here because I knew that I had responsibilities and there is a ministry to be done. There is serving to be done. But ultimately, the priority is Jesus and I need to be where the Lord is because I need him. Have you chosen that good part? And did you notice the end? It says that shall not be taken away from her. Did you know once you have Jesus, you can't lose him? Just thought I'd throw that out there. He says, I am with you always. Thank the Lord that he's always with us. I told you I was gonna give an example. I don't know if I, I'm pretty sure I've given this example before, and I'm sure that some of you have heard it before, but there's priorities of it. In fact, I think I wrote, I'm pretty sure I have, but that's okay, I'm going to give it to you anyway. So there's an illustration, this science teacher was doing an experiment, not an experiment, but kind of a demonstration. He took this big five-gallon bucket and began to put a bunch of, they were talking about capacity and physics and that kind of stuff. And so he starts putting all these rocks in this bucket, big fistful of rocks. Fist-sized rocks and loads it up. I mean, it's like overflowing they start falling out and he's like, all right class This is where we find out how smart you are. Is this bucket full? Oh Yeah, it's overflowing sir. You can't put any more of those rocks in there. He goes Wrong, it's not full. He goes behind his desk and he pulls out another bucket full of little pebbles. Oh And he goes over to the bucket, and he got a volunteer to kind of shake the bucket as he was doing it. He starts dumping it, and the other guy was shaking it, and it started filling up. Did you know that very few of them spilled out and that most of them went down in that bucket and started filling in the gaps until the pebbles started overflowing? All right, class, now that you've learned your lesson, now is it full? Huh, okay, now it's full, sir. Eh, wrong answer, still not full. He goes over behind his desk and he gets a bucket of sand. He comes over to the bucket and he says, all right, helper, shake that bucket for me. And as he shakes the bucket, he's putting that sand in there and the sand's just going right down in there all the way to the bottom and it fills it all the way up among the big rocks and the little rocks until the top and it starts overflowing again. He goes, now that's full. Class, is the bucket full yet? Of course, now they're all scared to answer, and they're like, mm, I think so. Still not full. He goes over and he gets a bucket of water. He brings it over. He said, I don't need you to shake it this time, and he starts pouring that water in there, and the water fills up every little tiny gap in that bucket until it starts to overflow onto the floor. He says, I'll save you the mental struggle. Yes, the bucket's now full. So here's the real question. What is the moral of the story? What is the object of the lesson? What is the main idea? What can you take away from this lesson? One kid stands up in the back and he goes, there's always room for more. By the way, some of us live that way. We pack our lives with all kind of stuff. Soccer practice and school and church and we pack our lives full of all kind of stuff. He says, no, that's not the answer. This is what he said. He says, anybody know what would happen if I hadn't put the big rocks in there first? Well, you would have either not gotten them in there or you would have had a big mess. He said, exactly. If I poured the water in there first, I could get the big rocks in there, but it would make a big mess. If I poured the rocks in there and the sand in there, I could have never gotten the big rocks or the little rocks in there. Priorities matter. What goes in first needs to go in first. Christ ought to obviously always be what goes in first. And by the way, it just happens to be that he is the rock. When we fill our bucket with him first, the serving will come. But don't ever forget that time. Have you forgotten that good part? Don't just come to church because Pastor Mike wants you to come. Don't just come to church because you have a service to do. Don't just come because you've got a ministry to do. Don't just come because brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so will say something. You ought to come because I need Jesus. I need to hear from Him. I want to be with Him. I want to look, I want to gaze into the face of God. I want to hear the Lord talk to me. That ought to be exactly why we're here. He is the good part. I hope you have him this morning. If you are born again, maybe there's a bunch of things in your life that you're stressed at. Maybe you are worried and cumbered about with much serving or maybe you're just worried, stressed out, things happen in life. Maybe we just need to get back to Jesus' feet this morning and say, Lord, I've been stressed about all this stuff. I just need you to wrap your arms around me and tell me you love me. Did you know what? You say, Brother Lance, you really think God wants that? Some of y'all think I'm really, really young. Some of y'all think I'm really, really old. I'm 50. I've got two grandchildren. Well, one, almost two. My second one is going to be born in November. So I'm excited. I'm not that old though. I'm still young sometimes, but maybe you come to this place in your life where you realize that I know I love my children. But now they're moved away from home. Some of y'all can probably relate to this. You know what's important to me now? What's important to me now that my kids can't always be with me, y'all listening? What matters to me most as an old guy, as a grandpa, as a daddy, is that my children want to be with me. That is priceless. Puts a lump in my throat. Because I can't think of anything more in my life that I would want than my kids my grandchildren to want to be with me. Did you know our Heavenly Father is the same way? He just wants you to want him. Why don't we gather this morning? Maybe make an altar out of your chair. Maybe you want to come up front. Why don't we just come to the feet of Jesus this morning and say, Lord, I just want to be with you. I need that good part. Let's have every head bowed, every eye closed. Christi, if you could come. Heavenly Father, thank you for today. I thank you for this church. I thank you for Pastor Mike and his dear wife, his family. Lord, I pray you'll bless them as their way. Lord, I thank you that when we come to you, Lord, you are the good, you're the best part. Lord, it's all about you. And so often, Lord, I know I am so guilty of getting my priorities messed up. And I may be faithful usually about being in the right place. And usually I certainly strive to listen to you. Lord, I know that I don't always get it right, and I know my priorities aren't always exactly what they ought to be. Lord, maybe there's someone here that's worried, encumbered about with much serving. Maybe there's someone that's stressed or upset. Lord, maybe they just need to gather at your feet. Maybe they just need to come to you. Maybe there's someone that's never trusted you as their Lord and Savior today. I pray that if they've never trusted you as their Savior, maybe they've come to church before. Maybe they've heard many things about the Lord, but it's all religion. Help them to realize it's all about you. Lord, that they would come to you and ask you to be their personal Lord and Savior today. We thank you for all that you are. Thank you for your goodness and grace in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand, those that are able to. Let's all stand. Heads bowed, eyes closed. I'm not going to drag this out. I don't know how they usually do invitations here. No one's looking around. I won't embarrass anybody, but maybe you just need to come right now. The altar is open. Maybe you just need to come forward and pray at the steps. We already have one that's here. Anyone else? You just need to come. Say, Lord, I just need to come to your feet. Maybe you don't feel comfortable doing that. Maybe you could just make an altar out of your seat and sit and kneel right there where you are and ask the Lord. No one's looking around. It's between you and God. It's personal. I'm not going to call you out, but is there someone here that say, Brother Lance, would you pray for me? I've been cumbered about with a lot, and I'm just stressed, and I needed that. I need to get focused back on Jesus. Would you pray for me? Is there anyone like that? Brother Lance, pray for me. I see that hand. I see that hand. Anyone else? I won't point you out. I see those hands. I see those hands. Anyone else? I just have a lot I'm dealing with. I see those hands. Anyone else? I see that as well. Anyone else? All around the room. Listen, why don't you give that to the Lord today? Take that to His feet. Even Martha, if her attitude wasn't right, she still came to Jesus and said, Lord, here's my problem. You know, there's no better person to tell your problem, because He'll look at you and say, I know that's your problem. That's why you need me. Is there someone here, again, I'm not going to embarrass anyone. Is there someone here who'd say, Brother Lance, I don't even know if I'm truly saved. I see that hand. I really appreciate your honesty. Anyone else? I'm not even sure if I've really trusted Christ. I saw that hand as well. Anyone else? Listen, if that was you, I promise I won't embarrass you. But don't leave today. Would you come talk to me? Come talk to my wife? Maybe even come to the place in your life where you can pray to the Lord and ask him to save you today. Please don't leave without Jesus today. You can know, First John. tells us that we can know, 1 John 5, 13, that we can know that we have eternal life. Are you willing to trust Christ today? If you raise your hand right there so you're not sure, would you just look at me? I promise I won't embarrass you. Are you willing to trust Him today? Would you do that? I'd like to send you out with someone. Are you willing to? Anyone else? Okay. Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. I thank you for your word. Thank you for encouraging me. Lord, I need you so desperately every single day. And Lord, while it's so good to serve, and it's good to care about what other people have and don't have, Lord, we get our eyes focused on so many other things besides you. Help us to listen to you. Help us not to be filled with what the world has. Help us to make sure that you become our priority in life. We ask all these things in Jesus' precious and holy name.