your Bible you are already there in Luke chapter 10 this morning. Luke chapter 10 I want to look at this familiar Bible passage before. About a year ago I kind of shared this thought again with the chapel, I think a school chapel one time. And prior to that over the years I've made reference to this. But this morning I want us to look at it again and again see what the Lord has for us. Let's look at verse number 38 now, Luke chapter number 10, verse number 38, The Bible says this, "'Now it came to pass, as they went, that he,' talking about Jesus, "'entered into a certain village,' and that was the city of Bethany, "'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? "'Bid her therefore 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." Church family, the thought again, very obvious, is verse 42, but one thing is needful. I want to talk to you about that thought again this morning. May you ask the Lord what He has for you this morning. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, again we stop in prayer. Thank You again. All we need is You. Thank You again for what You do for us. Lord, again, as was prayed during the offering, if there is somebody not saved for sure of heaven, whether it is a child or an adult, Lord, help them to come to know you. Lord, may the message be clear this morning, it's only you. And Lord, may we understand what the one thing is needful this morning, that we would not leave here and see that the priority of life is what we're about to read, what we're about to hear, that we would do. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, I wanna act the story out, if you don't mind. Bethany, right? Hannah? Good, you two can help me. All right, since you're sisters, you're Mary and Martha now. Come on up here for a second here. We're gonna let you two come on over here. Come on to this side over here if you don't mind. This story is very, very interesting. All right, so let's see here. Bethany, you get to be Martha. How are you doing? Hannah, you get to be Mary. All righty, so you're Martha, you're Mary. What's your name? Martha's right, what's your name? Mary, all right. You two are gonna come over here and sit. And I know this is bad typecasting, but I get to be Jesus, all righty. So you get to sit down right there. I've always wanted to be Jesus. one day I'll get to have my glorified body and then I will be like Him, that's for sure. Alright, now Church Family in the story here what took place is Martha owned her own house the Bible says. And so she must have been a person who was of age and had the means to have her own house. Jesus is coming through the city of Bethany and Martha was there, she was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a pupil, a learner, somebody who wanted to hear from Christ. And so she invited Jesus in. We do not know how many people were in the house. My guess would be that the disciples were with Jesus, because obviously Jesus is teaching, and He's teaching somebody. There was a group of people in her house. Martha wanted to be the proper host, and so she invites these people in. I can only imagine, again, I don't want to read into Scripture, but I can only imagine that she was probably somebody who took care of her home. I believe that she was somebody who made sure things that were clean, made sure that if you're going to invite company over, all the dirty laundry's not just laying around. And so she had these people in and she does what everybody else does. We know that from the word, also, that is mentioned in the scripture there that Mary and Martha both were sitting at the feet of Jesus. Because the word, also, we see that. And of course you can read those verses again, I'll read them in a moment. So here Mary and Martha are listening to what Jesus has to say. The disciples are around. Jesus is teaching. By the way, that book you hold in your hand, that's Jesus teaching us. And we know that from John 1, just like they had Jesus physically, we have Jesus in the written Word of God. We believe that we have the inspired, preserved Word of God. And God inspired those words in the Old Testament in Hebrew, and He inspired those words in the New Testament in Greek. And then the Greek and the Hebrew was translated into English, and we understand that according to Psalm 12, verse 6 and 7, that God preserved His Word for us. If we believe God preserved His Word, that means that we have a Bible, and we believe that we have God's Word. I just want to say, if I didn't think I had a Bible, and I didn't think I had God's Word, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. Because I want to tell you something, all we're doing is being religious by coming to church. We're wasting our time. We do what the Bible says because that's God's holy word. All right? Now, with all that said, Jesus was the living word. And so Jesus is speaking, not just to Martha and Mary, but was speaking to these disciples that were around him. Somewhere during this story, we don't know when it happened, but somewhere during this story, Martha got up. Because we know that from the scriptures, Mary and Martha were both sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing his word. Martha gets up and begins to clean. So Martha, would you go over there and act like you're cleaning, all right? Have you ever cleaned anything before? I figured as much, all right? So you just go over there and clean. Now, you can imagine these two sisters, Martha's thinking to herself, well, how come Mary's not helping me? I mean, Jesus is speaking and he's teaching to the disciples, and Mary stays at the feet of Jesus, and the Bible says, sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. Well, Martha gets kind of irritated with her sister, Mary. You're irritated. Look irritated. Wow. That did not take much practice. All right, Martha, come over here. So Martha comes to Jesus and says, hey, could you please tell Mary to help me? Now, Jesus looks to her, and I want to make sure I say it correctly. I want you to look at your Bible. Look what Jesus' answer to Martha was in verse number 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, to Martha, Martha, Martha. Now, church, I take it that when Jesus used her name twice, that Jesus was not scolding Martha. Jesus was loving Martha. I also say that from John chapter number 11, the Bible says that Jesus loved, and he mentions Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Jesus loved her. So Jesus looks into Martha's eyes and says, Martha, Martha, thou art careful, the word careful means anxious or worried, careful and troubled about, means burdened, troubled about many things, but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. Church, I mean I don't have an arrow in this Bible, but I've often in my, this is a newer Bible, I would put an arrow back up to verse number 39, because when the Bible says in verse 42, she hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away, what's the good part? It's the last phrase of verse number 39, it says, verse 39 says, and she had a sister called Mary, which also, here's what they did, sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. Now church, I mean we all know the story here, Jesus is sitting here and He looks to Martha and says, now listen Martha, It's not about serving right now. You know, the problem is, is that Martha got so wrapped up in her work, she forgot her worship. She got so wrapped up in how the house needed to be cleaned that she forgot that the reason that it needed to be cleaned is because who was there. She should have stayed at the feet of Jesus, doing exactly what Mary was doing, because the one thing that was needful was sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. Now, church family, I got a question for you this morning. Who made the statement in Luke chapter 10 there, who made the statement, one thing is needful? Who said it? I just want you to understand Jesus didn't change His mind. The one thing that is needful is still sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word. The one thing that is needful, if I asked you this morning, what do you think the most important thing in your life needs to be done, you might come up with things that need to be done, but according to Jesus, you know what the most important thing in your life is? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word. And church family, sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His Word is not just coming to church because church is not about listening to the preacher. Church is about opening up your Bible and finding out what Jesus has to say. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word has to do with you getting up this morning and having your devotions and opening up the book and reading God's Word. You say, well, pastor, I read the Bible and I don't seem to get anything out of it. It's impossible. It's impossible to read God's Word and not get anything out of it because God said His Word would not return void, which means it will do what He pleases it to do, all right? Girls, thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it. I wouldn't upset her if I were you. She's got that look, all right? Now, with the story in mind this morning, I just want to go over some basic and elementary things with you this morning as reminders to all of us. Church family, paramount to the Christian life is your devotion. Paramount. The first thing. Isn't it interesting that he uses those two words in that one statement, the one thing that is needful, and let me start with the word one. One means one. The word one actually there means in the Greek, only one. Jesus is trying to say, hey, listen, this is not number two, number three, number four. This is not about you getting ready for your job and then trying to put some spare time of reading a verse or two before you walk out the door to go to work. He said one, the one thing that is needful. This is not about you getting breakfast so that you're not weak throughout the day. This is not about you taking your medicine and your blood pressure medicine so that you make sure that you're healthy. This is about the one thing that is needful. I'm just trying to tell you that every Christian in here, the most important thing you could do in your life and every day of your life is to sit at the feet of Jesus hearing his word. It's not just coming to church and the pastor preaching a message and that and we all understand It's not the pastor preaching a message a message is simply the delivery of something that was said by somebody else It's the idea of God speaking to me through through his word in my life But I want to tell you if all you do is come to church on Sunday and you hear the Word of God preached It's not enough It's not enough What you need is every day of your life to get up and the very first thing of your day is go to God and let God speak to you and you speak to God. We speak to Him through prayer and God speaks to us through His Word. Listen, I have heard people say, and I'm talking about what I would consider and you would consider good Christians, that they say, well, they don't read the Old Testament, they just read the New because the New is so much easier to understand. Church family, if we have an every word Bible, man shall not live by bread alone but by? If we have an every word Bible, then we believe that the Old Testament is just as inspired as the New Testament. I've had people tell me before, and to be honest with you I kind of lean that direction but I don't do it, is they personally say, well I don't read the genealogies because I can't say all those names. Tricia and I stutter through 1 Chronicles chapter numbers 1 through 10 just like you stutter through 1 Chronicles 1 through 10 when you go through all the genealogies. But why do we read them? Because they're not man's words, they're God's word. I'm just trying to get you to think this morning that Jesus himself said the one thing that is needful and statistics tell us that 25%, excuse me, 75%, only 25% of a congregation actually has their devotions on a regular basis and that 75% of a congregation does not read God's word on a regular basis, they only get what they get when they come to church. Now, I know stats, God knows the heart, stats are not necessarily reliable, but I'm just trying to say the average Christian does not struggle with giving a gospel tract, the average Christian does not struggle with what they should wear, the average Christian does not struggle with what they should say, the average Christian struggles with having their devotions. I want to tell you, if we were honest this morning, we'd be shocked at how many people that actually got up this morning and had their Bible reading in prayer, we'd be shocked. And I would not dare ask the question to cause somebody to lie in God's house so that you do not look bad in front of man because it's not having our devotion because what man thinks of us, we have our devotion because what God thinks of us. It's what God thinks of us. And if there's anything I would want for my children's life is that they had a regular walk with God, that they knew Him and God, God would speak to them. As my children, I tell them what they can and cannot do because I want them to do right and I want to lead them. And again, I know that's the way God set the home up. But the goal is, is that they're going to reach an age in their life that I'm not going to be there. And that God leads them in their life. And how is that going to happen? It's because at an early age, they get into a habit of devotion. God. One thing is needful. I want you to notice several things here. The first one, actually the Lord permitted me to go through four of these this morning. But I want you to think first of all is this, the one thing that is needful is a necessity. When the word needful is used in this particular passage it means requirement, it means demand, or it means necessary. When Jesus said the one thing was needful, and what was the one thing that was needful? It was sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word. He uses this word needful to show the necessity of a person listening to the Word of God and having the Word of God in their life. When you think of the story here about Mary and Martha, and Martha gets up to clean, cleaning is not a bad thing. When you think about the two times you find Martha in Scripture she's serving, Martha is a servant and she's got a servant's heart inside of her. The problem was, is she replaced something that was very good with something that was okay. She was not replacing the good with bad. She was replacing the good with just something okay. Can I just say there's nothing wrong with her serving, but it was wrong to serve when she was missing the one thing that was needful. I think there are sometimes there are Christians that they do the, if I can say, the things of the Christian life but they miss what fuels those things. In other words, they might go soul winning, or they might help out at church, or they might teach a class, or they might work in the nursery, and they're doing things, but can I just tell you, there is one thing of necessity, and the necessity is that you spend time with God every day of your life. It's a necessity. Things that can take the place of that one thing is needful is work, or recreation, or ministry, or sleep, or exercise, or education, or teaching, or eating, or serving. All of these things are not necessarily wrong, but they can replace the one thing of necessity, and that is being in the presence of God and not just in the service of God. Jesus lovingly says, Martha, Martha, You know, I don't, again, feel like that Jesus's remark was one of scolding. I think that when he looked into Martha, he said, Martha, Martha. It wasn't Martha, Martha. I think that when Jesus talks to us and he sees your heart, you came to church this morning, and again, I know we're all different in our spirituality and where we're at as far as our closeness to God, but I think God looks at us sometimes and he thinks, hey, listen, John, John, Patty, Patty, I don't think he's scolding. I think he's loving and he's saying, listen, you're doing a lot of good in your life, but you're missing the thing that's the most important thing. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. It's a necessity. Something else I want you to notice, not only is the one thing that is needful as a necessity, the one thing that is needful I see here is a choice. Church, I'm gonna look back at your Bible and maybe you have it underlined or circled, but verse 42, Jesus said, but one thing is needful and marry hath, what's the word? I circle it in my Bible. The word chosen means to select, to make a choice. Hey, have you ever heard this statement before? We do what we want to do. I've had people say before, well, that person really doesn't have a choice. I want to tell you something, people have choices. Well, they made him work, or they made him go, or they made him do. Which is why I want to tell you, we live in the United States of America. We're not in some country where, you know, a regime is in charge. We all make choices in our life. And I want to tell you, whether you got up this morning and had your devotions or not, that was a choice. That was a choice. Well, pastor, you don't understand. I worked late last night and I was tired. I'm not here to try to justify or debate on whether or not you have a justifiable reason on why you missed spending time with God. All I'm trying to say is that your habit of life ought to figure out what's important, what's not important. It wasn't important for you to stay up last night watching television, but it was sure important for you to get up this morning and spend time with God. We understand that when Jesus made this statement and He was talking to Mary, I'm sorry, He was talking to Martha in a very kind way, He said, listen Martha, Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. So the one thing that is needful is a choice. Young person, you say, well I have to go to school, but I'm going to tell you something, you have a choice whether or not you get up in the morning and read your Bible before you go to school. People will make all kinds of excuses. I don't have time. I don't get anything out of it. I'm tired. I have responsibilities. But it all goes back to, you chose. You chose. Church, I mean, you came to the Heritage Baptist Church this morning and nobody cuffed you and put handcuffs on you for you to come. You chose to come. You know, I want to tell you something. I appreciate the bus kids coming. There are several of them that came on buses this morning. You chose to come this morning. And by the way, that was the right choice. That was the right choice. Some of our church kids, their parents say, get in the car. And they think they don't have a choice. But I want to tell you something, that same kid that got in the car to came to church this morning had a choice where they were going to get up this morning and open up their Bible and spend time with God. And I want to just tell you the one thing that's needful is a choice. I choose whether or not I'm going to do that. I choose whether I'm going to get up early. I choose what I'm going to read. I choose if I'm going to pray. It's a choice in our life, and I want to tell you it's the best choice when we make the choice to spend time with God. So we see that the one thing that is needful is a necessity. The one thing that is needful is a choice. Think about this, verse number 39. I told you that word also. Let me point it out to you in verse 39. She, Martha, and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. That verse there tells me that Mary and Martha were both sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha got up. You don't have the word also unless Martha was there also. Again, when we think about the one thing that is needful, I think third of all is that the one thing that is needful can be left. Just like Martha got up from spending time with Jesus and she left it. I'm looking at the Heritage Baptist Church and I guarantee you there's people in here this morning that at one time in your life, you were closer to God than what you are right now. There was a time that you read three and four and five chapters a day. There was a day in your life that you used to memorize at least a verse or so a week. There was a time in your life that before you went to bed, you would ponder a scripture. There was a time in your life where you had family altar with your family. There was a time in your life. But you left. You got up. You remember that time in your life where you were on fire for God and you could not get enough of God? When it came to drinking, they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Your life was completely different. You felt filled. You felt fulfilled because of taking in the word of God. Now you don't have that. And I wouldn't say you're miserable, but you're not happy. You're cantankerous sometimes, and you get angry sometimes, and you don't have that peace that you had. All of that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, all of that comes from being filled with the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. Spirit is being filled with Scripture. And guess what that is? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word. Have you left it? Have you gotten away from that time that you couldn't wait to get to a church service that how God was gonna speak to your heart as you opened up the scripture? Listen to me, there's some Christians, are you with me this morning? There are some of you this morning that when you came to church service, you brought your Bible and you brought a pen and you would mark things in your Bible and you would underline and sometimes you would take notes. And now you come to church and you forget your Bible at home. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word, have you left it? Church family, it's not church, it's Him. And to be honest with you, it's really not preaching, it's Him. It's the Word of God. It's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It's when we opened up the story this morning and turned to Luke chapter 10, verse number 38, and we read about Martha and about Mary and what Jesus said to Martha, and as we hear Jesus' words, it's that that changes us. Jesus sits here and he says, listen, Martha, there's one thing that's needful, which means it's necessity. Listen, Martha, there's one thing that's needful and Mary hath chosen, it's a choice. Listen here, Martha. He said, Martha, there's one thing that's needful and you were sitting here. You're not sitting here anymore. You're washing dishes. You're dusting furniture. You're cumbered about. You know, it's interesting. Did you see that word, cumbered? Are you a woman of sworn still? Are you still a woman of sworn? I know this is a familiar story. I think sometimes the familiar ones, we lose sight of what the Lord wants to say to us. But that word, it says that she was cumbered about much serving. Did you see that phrase, cumbered about much serving? You know what that word, cumbered, means? It means distracted. I think a lot of Christians have become distracted with what God's really trying to do in their life because they stop reading their Bible because they come to a church service and think, how long is this gonna last? Distracted. Distracted. There's only one thing that's needful. I want you to see one last thing with me. I normally only have three thoughts. I want to share this last one with you, if you don't mind. Verse 42. Verse 42 says, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part. Look at the last phrase, verse number 42. Which shall not be taken away from her. Martha and Mary, come here for a second here. Bethany and Hannah, come here for a second, if you don't mind. This last phrase, I want you to think about the one thing that is needful. Listen to what Jesus said, will not be taken away from her. All right? Come over here real quick here. I want you to illustrate one more time if you don't mind. Mary, you sit here. Martha, go over here and act like you're cleaning again. The other disciples are there. Mary and Martha. Martha was there. Mary's there now. Martha gets up and she begins. She's cumbered about much serving. She's distracted. Jesus is speaking and she's thinking about, man, those dishes are still in the sink. Jesus is teaching her and all these people are in the room and she's thinking to herself, you know what, I should have put the flowers out to make this a more beautiful room. She got distracted. She comes to Jesus now, Martha, come over here. She comes to Jesus. He says, Jesus, would you please tell Mary to get up and help me? Says, Martha, Martha, one thing's needful. It's a necessity. She's chosen. And then Jesus makes this statement at the end of verse 42. It shall not be taken away from her." Now, I don't know what that does for you, but you know what I think about what the Scripture says, draw nigh to God and He will? It shall not be taken away from you. What was she doing that Jesus said wouldn't be taken away from her? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word. Behold, I stand at the door and If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him." Gentlemen, do you understand that you have a promise from God that if you sit, you'll hear? It shall not be taken away from her. You say, Pastor, man, I sit and I don't get, I don't hear. Gentlemen, I want to tell you something. You hear more than you think you hear. All right? Don't go anywhere. Stay where you are for a second here. Matthew, I want to read one more verse to you here. Matthew 24, verse 35 says this, "'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.'" shall not pass away." We have a promise from God that if you show up, He'll show up. Where did you get that? I just quoted him a minute ago, "'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him.'" We have a promise from God, draw an eye to God and He'll draw an eye to you. God said, James 4 verse number 8, God promises that if you would sit at His feet to hear His Word, He'll show up. I'll be the first one to say, man, I've read my Bible and I'm thinking, okay, God, what are you trying to teach me? I think I missed it. But you don't miss it because God always shows up when his word is there. The problem is we don't show up. So the one thing that's needful, God promises I'll never take it away from you. That book you hold in your hands, a promise, by the way, you know what the promise is? I'm never taking it away from you. What a wonderful thing that we can actually hold in our hand the actual words of God. And yet we go home and throw our Bible on the counter and don't pick it up throughout the week. Hey, I want to tell you there's one thing that's needful. You know what's unfortunate? There's some people inside this auditorium right now. You're Martha. Martha was a good woman. She was loved by Jesus Christ and she served. But she wasn't doing the one thing that was needful. and that was sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. Church, man, I'm just trying to tell you, every day of your life, your day ought to start conscious of God throughout, and it should end with sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. And I know sometimes you're tired in the morning or evening, and you think to yourself, I'm not getting anything out of it. But I'm just telling you, it's impossible not to get anything out of it, because God promised his word would not return void. And when you think you're getting nothing out of it, it's still helping you. You know, I look across the room, and I want to tell you something. There's all different kinds of people, and we're all different sizes. Amen? My size is getting bigger all the time. But I didn't get to this wonderful size by accident. I got to this size because I ate. And I ate yesterday, and I ate the day before, and I ate the day before that, and I ate the day before that. And I want to tell you something. If I ever stop eating, which I don't think is going to happen, if I ever stop eating, I'm going to start shrinking. and I'm starting to get smaller and smaller until eventually I'm just going to die if I don't eat. And there are Christians who have done the same thing. You stop eating and you're shrinking. And the only reason there are some of you that are still in church and you're still serving God is because you're still eating. And you sometimes you think, I don't know what I'm getting, but because you're eating, you're still spiritually living. Hey, don't forget, there's one thing that's needful. Not two, not three, not four, not five. Listen to me, one. Did you get up and have your devotions this morning? Did you get up and have your devotions yesterday? Have you spent any time with God prior to coming to this church service this week? I'm telling you, your job is not the number one thing. And your exercise, and your education, and your recreation. I'm gonna tell you what number one is. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. You say, Pastor, I wish I could do that, but it's just such a struggle for me. Listen, when you eat a sandwich, you don't eat the sandwich all at one bite. You take one bite at a time. If you're gonna have your devotions, don't try to swallow five, 10 chapters. Take one bite at a time. Get yourself on a schedule. My personal schedule for my personal devotions, not talking about my study time, but my personal devotions is I, and I'm not telling you to copy me, I'm just telling you it's what I do. I read three chapters a day. Right now I'm in, this morning I finished up at Nahum. I read two chapters in Revelation, because I want blessed, and Revelation says if you read it, you're blessed. I read one psalm, sometimes two psalms a day, because I need joy, and psalms is just full of joy. And that's my personal devotion. That's not my studying, that's not writing, it's just my personal. You figure out what you're sitting at the feet of Jesus is, and do it. Because there's some of you, you're Martha this morning. You're a good person, and to be honest with you, in the sense of being a good Christian, but you're missing the one thing that's needful. We all need to be where Mary is, sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. Would you bow your head and close your eyes this morning? Thank you girls for your help.