The Movie In My Mind

0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.560 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.000 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:10.400 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.440 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.160 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:19.840 we're studying from Luke chapter ten, verses thirty eight through 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:24.880 forty two. Today we're gonna talk a little bit about Well, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:26.760 it's going to be a very practical message. I think 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:30.760 would be a lot of fun too. If you participate, 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:33.839 sometimes you can help the preacher preach better and you 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.640 don't even know it. So I just invite you to 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.680 whatever you want to do. But I'm gonna tell you this. 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.440 The sooner you look like you get it, the sooner 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.320 I can let you go. So you can speed this 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:54.400 along today just by looking interested, to shake your head 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:56.319 like this, we get it, we get it, we get it. 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:00.320 This is one of those little Bible passages just that 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.640 you can't quite figure out why this part got included 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:08.360 in the Bible, because it seems pretty small, little insignificant 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.560 in the scope of the whole narrative of Jesus going 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.200 to the Cross and rising from the dead, and then 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.360 little things like this get told in the Bible. And 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.520 I want to use this for the third installment of 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.680 trigger taking back your mind in the age of anxiety, 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.440 look at somebody and say, you look less stressed than 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:34.920 the last time I saw you. You know, it's always 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.280 awkward because I tell people to say things to their 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.480 neighbors and there's always one person who's like independently minded 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:43.920 and they're like ah ah, But then the person next 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.199 to them is like totally a rule follower, and they'll 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.000 turn to the other person and start to say it 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.840 and then like, oh, you're not actually doing it. You're 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:58.800 a rebel and you're going to hell. So this little 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.080 passage is going to give us some practical insight today 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.880 and help us get our minds focused and help us get, 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.120 you know, a concentration on what matters. At least that's 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.560 our prayer. Luke, Chapter ten, verse thirty eight. And even 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:12.440 the first line has a little message in it as 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.560 Jesus and his disciples were on their way, So something 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.120 is about to happen while they're on the way somewhere else, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.960 and some of God's greatest invitations will happen through life's interruptions. 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.800 It will be places that we didn't plan on going, 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.680 and it will be through conversations that we didn't plan 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.440 on having that sometimes God will give his greatest blessings. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.799 How many can testify to that? Maybe you met your 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.520 wife not even trying to meet a woman. You were 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.880 at the club trying to look like somebody who was 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.360 worthy of a date, and you just you your dance 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.440 moves proved otherwise, and then you just happened to I've 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.840 met people here who signed up to serve on the 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.120 parking team and ended up on a honeymoon in Turks 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.680 and Caicos, And so it happens, right, did that happen? Yeah, Yeah, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.000 it happens. I'm telling you just on the way, And 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.040 I pointed out because since we're talking about distractions today 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.520 and that's our central subject matter, we need to understand 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.480 that not everything that you didn't plan on is a distraction. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.400 Sometimes the distraction is the thing you planned to do 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.040 that God didn't even want you to do. But you 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:19.600 made up your mind what you were going to do 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.040 before you even asked God what you were supposed to do. Amen, 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.679 I am I'm gonna preach this. She said preach that, well, hey, 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:32.160 I'm already halfway there. So study sometime in the Bible 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.200 all the things that happened on the way or along 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.280 the way. You'd be surprised, as they were on their 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.839 way to Jerusalem for a festival. Ultimately, Jesus was going 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.280 to Jerusalem later in order to pay for our sins 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:44.960 and die on the cross. That's what he came for. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.000 And since he knew what he came for, he could 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:52.920 not be distracted by the preferences of people or the 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.880 plans of others. And that's why when Peter said you 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.200 can't go die, Jesus was able to say, get behind me, Satan. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.800 What you represent right now is in opposition to the 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.320 will of my father. So I got to keep moving 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.800 toward Jerusalem. I got to keep moving toward Jerusalem. I 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.119 got to keep moving toward Jerusalem. That's for somebody. You're 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.160 on the right road, and there are a lot of 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.479 things trying to get you off of it. But here's 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.160 what happens in this passage. In a little village called Bethany, 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.520 two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus came to a village where 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:28.000 a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.560 had a sister called Mary, who listened how spiritual this 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:40.320 house sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. Oh, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:45.760 but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.719 to be made, and she came to him and asked, Lord, 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.839 don't you care that my sister has left me to 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.480 do all the work by myself. Tell her to help me. 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:00.320 This is funny to me, and I've read it many 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.560 many times. And then I laugh because he says their 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:09.320 name twice, Martha, Martha. Look at your neighbors, say their 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:16.720 first name twice, Martha, Martha. The Lord answered, you are 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:23.360 worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.760 or indeed, only one. Mary has chosen what is better, 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:33.920 and it will not be taken away from her. And 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.080 the scene ends with this. We don't get to see 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.520 how Martha responds. I'd love to know, but it doesn't say. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.240 It just ends right there. The movie just goes to 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:43.720 the credits right there. And I want to talk to 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.000 you today about the movie in my mind. That's my 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.719 title for this message, is the movie in my mind. 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.719 I wonder do you have a similar movie? Have you 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.120 ever bought a ticket to the theater of your own imagination, 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:05.000 only to demand money back because that plot sucked. Seeing 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.960 the same old things and the same old hurts and 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.800 the same old memories. You know, Sometimes the movie in 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.800 my mind, I edit together scenes that should have been deleted, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.800 and yet they're on repeat in my mind. One time, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.600 Finding Nemo got stuck in our DVD player in the 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.920 in Holly's Yukon, and so we know every scene from 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.480 Nemo because just every time we got in the car. 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:31.920 I feel like certain things in my life are like that. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.679 Just you know, I'm like Dory, swimming around, just barely 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.960 remembering Wallaby Way and just swimming around the same memories. 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.359 The movie in my mind. Now, I need to tell you, 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.440 the movie in my mind is rated R for ridiculous 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.520 and redundant. And I don't know about your taste in movies. 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.359 Usually when I get to know somebody the way that 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.440 I get to know them quickly, I'll say what kind 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.279 of music do you like? And what's your favorite movie? 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.120 And I can tell whether they're worth talking to by 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.000 the answer to that, because if they go, well, I 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.719 don't really like music, I'm done with you. You You have 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:14.520 no soul. And then I'd rather, you're not believe in God, 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.440 but at least I can convert you. But when we 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.080 talk about movies, people act real funny. If they know 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:28.840 I'm a pastor, they'll always say this Christian answer. You know, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:35.679 been her the Ten Commandments start listing every Christian movie, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.320 and I want to stop them. They're facing the giants fireproof, 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.120 and I don't have the heart to tell them. I 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:55.960 don't usually even like Christian movies. I appreciate good messages 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.840 and wholesome family entertainment. It's just as sometimes I like 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:05.200 gritty movies. I don't know why. Maybe I like comparing 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.720 my life to somebody else's worst life. Maybe it's a 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.120 maybe it's a relief to me that at least it's 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:15.640 not my idea of a good movie. Okay, if everybody 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:21.040 in the movie doesn't end up dead, I'm disappointing by 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.920 the end of it. I want the villain dead, the 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.400 hero dead, the dog dead, the fish. I want the 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:33.920 fish during the counter Caspin for Breath, blood everywhere, Blood 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:41.080 of the Lamb. Of course, for the church people, it's 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:42.440 just a different kind of movie. In one of our 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.959 campus Faster Wives, she was telling me, you know, when 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.280 I go to the movies. I don't want anything that 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.880 resembles my real life. I want happy endings. I want 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.079 everything to go well. I get enough of the drama 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.080 in my real life. I'm a third grade teacher. I 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:04.280 don't need drama, need escape. And yet the worst movie 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.400 I ever saw was in my own mind the movies 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.079 that I make. I made one this week. I had 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:13.439 something to do, and when I actually did it, I 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.439 enjoyed it. But I had made a movie about it, 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.000 what it was going to be like, and how inconvenient 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:21.160 it would be, and I probably wudn't be able to 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.760 find parking space, and I was probably done. And by 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.840 the time I got to the event, I was tired 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:33.120 from the movie. You ever done? This movie in my mind? 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.640 And so here comes a scene in the Bible we 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:40.000 just heard about the good Samaritan who stopped in this 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.719 kind of unexpected fashion to help someone in need. In 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.800 Jesus teaching, and the next little inclusion here from Luke 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.360 is about the Lord's prayer father who are in heaven. 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.679 There's this weird little little movie, this little scene, at 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:59.800 least with a really weak plot. You know, Jesus came 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:06.920 to a house and two women had a fight. But 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.160 I'm kind of glad it's in here, because this is 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.400 more like everyday life for most of us. Like most 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.079 of us, our life is not epic all the time. 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:23.560 Most of us don't claim the Promised Land every Monday morning. 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.920 Most of us sit in traffic. My Monday morning usually 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:36.480 isn't you know this miraculous good versus it's just snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze. Okay, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.640 if I get up right now, maybe I won't be late. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.240 You know, the most epic thing that might happen to 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.040 me on any given week. Maybe I'll be able to 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.120 bench press ten more pounds than I did last week, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.280 but probably not because I'm almost forty of my shoulders 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.920 messed up. And so I'm kind of glad that they 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.880 include these little everyday life things in the Bible, where 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.520 it's like Jesus came to a house and one woman 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.560 and another woman got in a fight because one of 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.439 them wasn't doing what the other one wanted him to do, 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.400 and they tried to get Jesus to help, and he wouldn't. 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.720 I like this story. And I got to tell you 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.959 one more thing, and you probably really won't like this 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.920 because you already don't like that I don't like Christian movies, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.360 and you're already considering leaving the church and going to 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.320 a real church with a real man of God. And 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.320 I wouldn't blame you for it. But my favorite character 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:31.640 in this little scene is not the one that Jesus commended, 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.319 because Mary is the one that Jesus took up for. 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:42.240 But Martha is the one that I relate to. I 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.840 don't know if I should say this on YouTube and Facebook, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:50.000 And just like I like Martha a lot more than 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:56.600 I like Mary. One person and he's dressed for work. 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.560 You can tell why he likes Martha because Martha is 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.560 the one that pays the mortgage. Did you read the verse? Oh, 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:09.280 I've heard I've heard preachers. I've heard preachers annihilate Martha 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.800 in the pulpit. And Martha was too busy, and Martha 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.960 was running around and Mark, you know what, Martha is 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.679 the one who pays the taxes and Mary is the 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.439 one with a gofund me. And Mary is the one 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.640 who gets fired, and Martha is the one who pays 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.600 the Like Bill, let's have a south for Martha. She's 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:36.520 not so bad. Martha's and e kids. Mary was twenty 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:43.920 minutes late and complaining because she's an overflow. I like Martha. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:49.120 I like her. She gets crapped on. I want her 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:53.439 on my staff. I told my assistant with a hired her, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.319 I said, she's been with me like eight and a 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:56.960 half years now. I said, I need you to be 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:03.200 kind of saved, but I'm not hiring you to extend 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.600 the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to everybody who 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:07.960 wants to meet with me. I need you to keep 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:13.040 a little bit of flesh a little bit. Come on, 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.240 we need a little bit of Martha. It's Martha's house. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.559 The Bible said a woman named Martha opened her home. 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.600 If it was just Mary in the passage, Jesus would 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.040 I had to eat at the soup kitchen. Mary doesn't 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:37.080 pay bills. It made my job harder to get this 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.200 sermon ready because I kind of wanted to take Marc 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.760 de side. That's right, get Mary off the floor. In 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:51.680 there is Jesus and twelve dudes just rolled up in 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.760 the house, and Mary's over in the corner talking about 0:13:54.920 --> 0:14:02.880 here right to here them to praise ribbons, bow down 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:13.800 here right to Martha, said I am in the kid, 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:22.880 and kid in here and help me. This meal isn't gold, 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:32.200 cook it South. I like that one actor I saw 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.000 him on Twitter. He said something. He said, if you're 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.480 not yelling at your kids regularly, you're not with them enough. 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:44.760 Because you know how Mary can be. She's so sweet. 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:46.920 I never yell at my kids. I never yell at 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:51.480 my kids. You're not paying attention, sweetheart. You're gonna be 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.160 visiting them in prison, sweetheart. If you never yell at 0:14:54.200 --> 0:15:02.000 your kids, You notice the people who never complain. I 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.080 don't complain. I bless the Lord at all times. You're 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:10.280 not paying attention, you're not engaged. That's why you're not complaining. 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.080 Now that I totally messed up the sermon, let's make 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:20.560 five points. What the Lord showed me for my own 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.120 heart and my own life is that it wasn't what 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.120 Martha was doing, it's how she was doing it. It 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.680 wasn't her actions that he found fault with and corrected. 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:37.240 It was her attitude. It was the movie in her mind. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.360 And I'll show you these five components, and I hope 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:40.880 you write them down so you can throw them in 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.440 your husband's face when he starts acting like Martha. This week. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:48.200 Come on, don't you want some ammunition? Write this down. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:56.920 Martha is operating in a spirit of number one manipulation. 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:03.640 And when Jesus said you're distracted or worried and upset, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:11.320 the Hebrew word for anxious is split or divided, And 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.680 so there seems to be some sense of divide happening 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.960 in my mind all the time where I am distracted. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:20.880 The literal meaning of the word distracted by the way 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.040 is pulled apart. And it's not always being pulled in 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.920 a good direction in a bad direction. It's not always 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.680 the decision to whether should I, you know, cook math 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:45.840 or read my Bible? What is wrong with y'all today? 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:53.200 It's like it has to be done. It had to 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.240 be done. Jesus came to mark this house because it 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:01.920 had excellent ratings on Airbnb, and he liked this place 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:03.240 in Beth, and he probably liked it because it was 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.120 clean and orderly. And that was Martha's gift in operation. 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.080 She was good at that, and we praise God for her. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.000 But the fault in her logic is this that what 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.920 is important to me ought to be important to everybody else, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.840 and it wasn't operating in her calling or functioning in 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.560 her ability. That Jesus corrected it was that she expected 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:30.639 others to function according to her priorities. And so then 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:38.720 she crosses the line from management to manipulation, managing the 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:44.600 situation which God wants you to do, stewarding what God 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:49.000 has put in your life, which is your responsibility. Your 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.399 hands need to be on the wheel. Jesus will not 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:59.879 take it. If you wait for Jesus to take the wheel, 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:10.159 you will see him real soon. But now Martha is 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.600 Now she's trying to get She's trying to steer somebody 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:20.640 else's car. I wonder, are you trying to control someone 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.480 else's priorities as a cover up to the fact that 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.320 you don't really have yours straight? Because sometimes in my 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.760 life I cross over and it's subtle, and I don't 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.800 do it intentionally, and it's almost subconscious, but I find 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.440 myself moving from something that I care about and I'm 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.720 concerned about, and then without even knowing it, I start 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.320 trying to control it because I care about it, and 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.720 I care about it so much that I begin to 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.680 try to control it, and then I ruin the thing 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.320 that I love, I ruin the relationship that I love 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.560 because I get confused about where my responsibility ends and 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:04.680 God's sovereignty begins. And then I start manipulating. And it's 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:09.840 my nature to manipulate because I'm Martha. Martha means master. 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:15.399 It's her house. She's the one making the payments, and 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.560 sometimes when you're making the payments, you want to set 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.880 the priorities. And to a degree it's right. But what's 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:22.680 what she does. You can hear it in her language, 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:26.520 and often our language is an indicator of the leaky 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.040 places in our life. We can see where we're losing 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:33.480 our energy, our focus, and our peace through evaluating our language. 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.760 She says, what verse was it? Forty Lord? Tell her 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:45.000 to help me. That's called passive aggressive. Tell her she's 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:49.199 not even saying Mary's name. She's that mad. This is 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:55.280 like Holly, tell your children your children, and they'll do 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.520 this to us. They'll try to manipulate us. Dad, could 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:05.480 you please tell mom that we need more time on fortnite? Well, no, 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.440 as a matter of fact, I can't tell mom that, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.480 and I won't tell mom that because we are united. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:17.159 Whether it's fortnite or whether it's homework or whether it's vegetables, 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.520 you are not going to play me against your mom 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.080 because I was with her first, and I get more 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:26.280 pleasure out of my relationship with her than I do 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.600 out of my I can French kiss her and I'm 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:38.119 not about to lose points with her. Tell her to 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:43.879 help me. Jesus is manipulative. It's manipulative. It's trying to 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.359 get you to do it's trying. Here's what she's doing. 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:50.920 She's saying, Jesus, I wrote a script for how this 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.760 visit is supposed to go. And in my script, Mary 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.520 is here in the kitchen with me. In my script, 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:04.080 my husband comes home at five point thirty. In my script, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.240 my wife acts like his wife acts. In my script. 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.480 My kids are like their kids. In my script. I'm 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.480 married at age twenty three. In my script, say you 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.600 got your script, but Jesus didn't come to read the 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:25.800 lines off of your script. He's the author and he 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:31.040 will not be manipulated. And he's like, no, Mary, don't move. 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:38.640 I think there's a Marry and a Martha living inside 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:45.080 every heart. The more I reflect on this passage, I 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.760 see a contrast not just of two women, but two 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.720 tendencies in me. Not only do Mary and Martha live 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.400 in the same house, they live in the same heart, 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:59.159 and part of me is Martha, and thank God because 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.600 that puts food on the table, and part of me 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:08.320 is Mary and needs to know what's important. I'm really sorry, 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:12.160 by the way, for all of the manipulative, manipulative preaching 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.800 that I sometimes, I'm sure quite often have been guilty of, 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:21.040 and others who stand here because we try to make 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:23.720 we try to make you do the right thing, but 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.239 we sometimes go about it in the wrong way, and 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.800 we need to do better. And in the same breath, 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.320 a preacher will think the tither's in the church, but 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.639 then get mad if the tither has to miss a 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:40.239 week for a trip to work so he could go 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:45.919 make some money and feed the family in tithe. And 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.520 so it's kind of confusing, and there's always cliches that 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.120 we can use about priorities, like I heard this one 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.359 one time. Nobody ever said this is a voice I 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:01.959 go into when I'm were said on their deathbed, I 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.720 wish I'd spend more time at work. That's fine. I'm 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.000 not on my deathbed right now, and right now my 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:13.080 kids need braces. And for my kids to get braces, 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:16.480 I'm gonna have to bring home some money. So before 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:19.280 I get to my deathbed, I've got different things pulling 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:23.000 on me. I got different things pulling on me. Notice, 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:30.080 Martha was distracted, not by candy crush. She was distracted 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:34.879 by something that was important, just not important in that moment. 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.160 So it says that she got into a manipulative state 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.800 of mind. Tell her to help me. And the reason 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:49.840 she did is because she herself was being manipulated. She 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:52.720 herself was being pulled. There was something guilty in her, 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:56.520 there was some perfectionist tendency. Any of Graham one, Holly's 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:59.679 doing this new personality thing. Well, it's not a personality 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:04.760 thing of witchcraft or horoscope or something. No, it's really 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:07.679 actually good. And she said that the tendency of my 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:11.040 personality is it could always be better, It could always 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:14.800 be better. Perfectionists perfectionist. And so I feel Martha because 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:17.399 there's something pulling on her to make it nice, because 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:19.880 she respects her guests, and somebody has to do it. 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:21.640 But it gets out of order because you can see 0:24:21.640 --> 0:24:22.920 it in in her langage. You can see an age and 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:24.480 tell her to help me, and then you can see 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:26.200 it in the language of the text. Even it says 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:29.520 she was distracted give me that same verse again. I 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:32.639 think it's the same one by all the preparations that 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:36.840 had to be made, here's the phrase that had to 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.159 be made. And now she's operating not out of a 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.880 sense of privilege to get to do it, but out 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.840 of a spirit of obligation. I've got to do it. 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:54.479 The preparations that have to be made obligation. Sometimes you 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:57.280 will pray and ask God to give you an opportunity, 0:24:58.520 --> 0:25:00.679 and then you will praise God when he does it, 0:25:01.800 --> 0:25:04.399 and then give it a year and your prayer request 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:07.080 will be the same thing that was a praise report 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:12.240 a year ago. Because what starts out as an opportunity, Hey, 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:15.840 let's have Jesus over, now becomes an obligation. So you 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:18.480 find yourself like me. I was walking out the door 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:20.720 a few years ago to preach on a Saturday Night, 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.240 and I guess I wasn't in the best frame of mind. 0:25:24.240 --> 0:25:28.080 The movie, in my mind was probably really busy, lots 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:30.960 going on. The kids are pulling me, and this is 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:33.160 pulling me, and maybe I didn't have my message right 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:35.879 like I wanted to. Saturday Night is interesting because a 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:38.840 lot of times I'm still trying to get it exactly right. 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:41.720 So I'm just I'm divided and I'm thinking about this 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:44.400 and the kids are doing that, and the kids were 0:25:44.400 --> 0:25:49.480 the distraction, even though they're the priority, because in that moment, 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:51.480 I had somewhere to be that I needed to be. 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:53.720 And I looked at him and I said something We've 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:57.199 all said thousands of times and I still say it 0:25:57.480 --> 0:25:59.439 all the time, but it was the way I said it. 0:25:59.520 --> 0:26:03.439 I said, get off me, I gotta go preach. Spirit 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:05.639 of God spoke so clearly in my heart. No, you 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:09.560 don't gotta. I know it's bad grammar and God probably 0:26:09.600 --> 0:26:12.040 uses correct English, but this is how he spoke to me. 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:17.040 You don't gotta do any of it. They kind of 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:20.440 stop me on my tracks, and I start planning it out. Well, 0:26:20.480 --> 0:26:25.800 if I don't show up, who's gonna preach somebody? Hmm? 0:26:27.280 --> 0:26:29.960 That's true, isn't it. And if I don't want to 0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:37.440 do it, somebody else does. Huh? Okay, kids, not right now? 0:26:37.920 --> 0:26:39.800 I get to go preach for the glory of God 0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:41.879 to shepherd the flock over. I didn't say that. I 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:44.720 wish I was as spiritual. It takes me longer than that. 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:48.320 You know, here's a good exercise to do if you've 0:26:48.320 --> 0:26:52.280 been distracted, pulled apart, go home if you got time tonight, Martha. 0:26:52.320 --> 0:26:55.000 I know you're busy, but before, before the day is over, 0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:58.240 sit down and make a list of all the things 0:26:58.280 --> 0:27:01.919 in your life that you've got to do every I 0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:08.119 mean detail, dishes and phone calls and bills and appointments 0:27:08.400 --> 0:27:11.400 and messages and all of it. And then go back 0:27:11.440 --> 0:27:13.920 through the list and cross every one of them out 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:17.199 because you don't got to do any of it. That 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:22.080 is horrible grammar and great theology. Tell somebody, I don't 0:27:22.080 --> 0:27:28.960 gotta do none of it, none of it, none of it. Well, 0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:32.160 I gotta go to work, No, you don't, don't go, 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:37.280 but I gotta pay the bill. No, you know you 0:27:37.320 --> 0:27:40.359 don't have to live indoors either. You don't have to 0:27:40.400 --> 0:27:42.320 do any of it. Hold on, let me make a 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:45.520 quick announcement. This is probably really bad for church growth. 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:49.720 You don't have to come to church now. Don't come 0:27:49.720 --> 0:27:53.240 here because you have to come here because I owe 0:27:53.320 --> 0:27:56.320 him the glory and God has been so good to me. 0:27:56.840 --> 0:28:00.639 I can't wait to give him the praise. O my life. 0:28:01.320 --> 0:28:11.000 Let everything that breadfrais the Lord. High five. Your neighbors 0:28:11.040 --> 0:28:14.040 say you don't have to. And if they don't, high 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:17.480 five you back, say you don't have to. You don't 0:28:17.560 --> 0:28:20.080 have to. You don't have to do any of it. 0:28:20.359 --> 0:28:22.560 You don't have to study for your test this year. 0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:27.320 You don't have to pass your class. You don't have 0:28:27.359 --> 0:28:29.240 to get a job or ever be employed, or have 0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:31.879 any money with which to enjoy your life. You don't 0:28:31.960 --> 0:28:37.160 have to. I get to. I want to. I want 0:28:37.160 --> 0:28:40.320 to get a want to back in our worship. You 0:28:40.360 --> 0:28:43.160 know what I'm saying, where the worship leaders don't have 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:47.280 to work so hard and play your song and that's 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:50.840 my jam and I just love that song. I want 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:52.880 you to be able to throw up your hands to 0:28:53.040 --> 0:28:56.520 anything they sing that mentions the name of the one 0:28:56.520 --> 0:28:59.840 who sets you free. And if you're singing about Jesus, 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:02.680 I don't care if I'm watching on a screen on 0:29:02.800 --> 0:29:06.120 an iPhone or at rock Hill. I'm not praising him 0:29:06.120 --> 0:29:09.280 because the preacher told me to. I want to give 0:29:09.360 --> 0:29:12.760 him praise. I want to give him glory. I want 0:29:12.800 --> 0:29:21.920 to if you want to, if you want to. There 0:29:22.000 --> 0:29:26.160 was a girl who came here from church from Danville. 0:29:26.520 --> 0:29:30.160 Whereas Danville I don't know. They said it was like 0:29:30.200 --> 0:29:35.720 an eight hour drive. She drove eight hours. Somebody else 0:29:35.760 --> 0:29:40.840 wouldn't drive eight minutes. But that's all right, does God 0:29:40.920 --> 0:29:46.800 will always have somebody who wants to waiting to take 0:29:46.840 --> 0:29:50.240 the place of somebody who wants to complain. This is 0:29:50.240 --> 0:29:54.360 starting to hurt about what I gotta do. I want 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:57.480 to raise my kids. I don't always feel like it. 0:29:57.760 --> 0:30:00.280 But what does feeling like it have to do with it? 0:30:00.840 --> 0:30:04.400 I want to kill this lion. I want to kill despair. 0:30:04.960 --> 0:30:08.200 I want to sonic a liah. I want to sit 0:30:08.280 --> 0:30:14.520 it his me some privilege. It's a privilege. You gotta 0:30:14.560 --> 0:30:19.040 fight Martha. Martha will make you miserable. Yeah, I gotta 0:30:19.480 --> 0:30:21.200 you gotta go, you gotta gotta got it. No, no, 0:30:21.200 --> 0:30:24.080 no, no no no, I'm going, and I want to go. 0:30:25.360 --> 0:30:32.280 I want to. I want to. Man, there's nothing worse 0:30:32.320 --> 0:30:35.840 than having somebody doing something for you because they ought to. 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:42.280 It doesn't feel right. It makes me nervous when somebody's 0:30:42.320 --> 0:30:48.240 doing something because they should. I don't want your should, 0:30:48.800 --> 0:30:55.120 love should. I don't think God does either. And the 0:30:55.160 --> 0:30:59.880 worst word we use is ought. I ought to. That's worse. 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:04.200 And I've got to because now you're obligated and you're 0:31:04.240 --> 0:31:06.760 not even doing it. So now you got all the 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:09.960 burden of obligation with none of the efficiency of commitment. 0:31:15.760 --> 0:31:18.400 Buck is so funny. Now you never heard him make jokes, 0:31:18.440 --> 0:31:20.440 but he is hilarious. You just gotta give him the 0:31:20.480 --> 0:31:22.440 right thing. We were working out one day a few 0:31:22.520 --> 0:31:24.640 years ago and he made me a workout and I 0:31:24.680 --> 0:31:30.000 went in. I looked at the workout. It was some legs, 0:31:30.000 --> 0:31:34.920 some burpies. I said, he said something. You know, he 0:31:35.000 --> 0:31:39.840 respects me in and I pay his salary. But he 0:31:39.880 --> 0:31:43.520 said it. He said it so cool. He said, what 0:31:43.640 --> 0:31:47.920 kind of workout do you like? I heard him. I 0:31:47.960 --> 0:31:50.280 heard what he was saying. You make that same noise 0:31:50.320 --> 0:31:51.880 every time you walk in here, no matter what I 0:31:51.920 --> 0:31:58.560 write on the board. You hear Martha in the kitchen. 0:32:00.040 --> 0:32:02.320 You know she's making all kinds of noise in the kitchen. 0:32:02.920 --> 0:32:06.160 She makings from Mary and Jesus can hear banging pops together. 0:32:11.840 --> 0:32:15.840 And what's really weird about the passage is Martha is 0:32:15.880 --> 0:32:20.360 simultaneously the judge who is telling Mary what she needs 0:32:20.400 --> 0:32:26.600 to do, and the victim. Because this is the third 0:32:26.640 --> 0:32:30.120 attitude that causes us to be distracted. Remember, distracted is 0:32:30.160 --> 0:32:34.000 not an action, It's an attitude to a state of mind. 0:32:35.200 --> 0:32:38.760 So now she's in the third element that makes a 0:32:38.800 --> 0:32:41.360 really bad movie in your mind, stresses you, out keeps you, 0:32:42.200 --> 0:32:44.360 keeps you from really entering into the joy of the Lord. 0:32:44.400 --> 0:32:52.040 And that is victimization, is taking on the victim mentality Lord, 0:32:52.760 --> 0:32:56.120 she left me to do all the work by myself. 0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:02.680 On the surface, this has since, but being mad at 0:33:02.680 --> 0:33:07.719 Mary doesn't make your life any easier. You know, like 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:12.960 maybe Mary should help, but that's not your place. You 0:33:13.000 --> 0:33:17.960 can't make Mary do anything. And so she's she's judging 0:33:18.000 --> 0:33:21.760 one minute, and she's a victim the next. And that's 0:33:21.760 --> 0:33:24.200 why the Bible says that you don't want to get 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:27.080 in this habit of judging, because you too will be judged. 0:33:27.360 --> 0:33:32.520 You will become the victim of your own judgments. When 0:33:32.560 --> 0:33:34.440 you don't let other people operate in their grace, you 0:33:34.440 --> 0:33:36.720 will find very little grace for yourself when you need it. 0:33:38.880 --> 0:33:42.280 You know, you start scrolling, and you know, for a 0:33:42.280 --> 0:33:47.080 few pictures you're okay, Ah, their baby is kind of cute. 0:33:48.320 --> 0:33:50.120 The real stuff that you don't say to them, you know, 0:33:50.360 --> 0:33:58.000 kind of cute. No, they're on vacation again. May know 0:33:58.040 --> 0:34:05.480 they can't afford to be on two vacations. Martha's getting mad, 0:34:05.680 --> 0:34:11.280 madder and madder and madder with every flick of the finger. Huh, 0:34:12.080 --> 0:34:17.960 must be nice. Does she think she looks good in that? 0:34:18.440 --> 0:34:23.080 Somebody needs to tell her? Tell her Jesus, tell her 0:34:23.120 --> 0:34:26.000 that's too tight, Tell her that dress fit her in 0:34:26.080 --> 0:34:34.040 a previous lifetime. Was someone y'all should come to the 0:34:34.120 --> 0:34:42.799 nine thirty. That's when I'm fresh, alert and guarded. So 0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:46.040 Martha is mad, and in a sense she has a 0:34:46.120 --> 0:34:49.000 right to be. But remember something now, he said in 0:34:49.360 --> 0:34:51.120 verse thirty eight, where it says, not only was it 0:34:51.200 --> 0:34:53.640 Martha's home, her name was under deed, but it was 0:34:53.680 --> 0:34:58.359 Martha's idea to begin with. As Jesus and his disciples 0:34:59.000 --> 0:35:02.160 were on their way into a village where a woman 0:35:02.480 --> 0:35:08.880 named Martha opened her home to him, Now touch the 0:35:08.920 --> 0:35:14.200 person next to you and say this was your idea. 0:35:16.280 --> 0:35:18.839 Come on, now, you're the one who wanted to have 0:35:18.920 --> 0:35:23.360 Peter and Bartholomew and Judas. It was your idea to 0:35:23.440 --> 0:35:26.560 let all these former fishermen up in our house. Don't 0:35:26.600 --> 0:35:29.320 get mad at me because you wanted to have a party. 0:35:29.520 --> 0:35:32.360 But now you want me to panic because you over committed. 0:35:35.040 --> 0:35:39.880 Don't move Mary. Don't let people who over commit drag 0:35:40.000 --> 0:35:44.840 down your priorities into the chaos of their urgency because 0:35:44.920 --> 0:35:48.280 they made bad decisions. And don't do it to yourself either. 0:35:49.719 --> 0:35:53.920 Don't make yourself the victim. Everything that I'm stressed about 0:35:53.960 --> 0:36:00.520 today is something that I committed to yesterday, about a 0:36:00.600 --> 0:36:05.920 schedule that I made. I'm gonna take these kids to 0:36:05.960 --> 0:36:12.160 the game. No you don't. You do not have what parents? 0:36:12.200 --> 0:36:15.280 Since when did we get in this prison of having 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:22.080 to be at everything? I'm okay this side. Holy Spirit 0:36:22.239 --> 0:36:25.920 just left that part of the church. Some of y'all 0:36:26.120 --> 0:36:29.319 need to drop your kids off at soccer and go 0:36:29.360 --> 0:36:33.320 out on a date with your wife because your kid 0:36:33.480 --> 0:36:38.160 is an average soccer player and they're not gonna score anyway. 0:36:38.800 --> 0:36:46.640 So go to Bonefish. Not every game, go to some games, 0:36:46.680 --> 0:36:49.520 but god, my god, every once in a while, it's 0:36:49.560 --> 0:36:51.919 good for our kids to get the message the world 0:36:52.160 --> 0:36:56.920 does not revolve around you and your dance recital. If 0:36:56.920 --> 0:36:59.960 you want to dance, baby girl, I'll be there. It's wonderful, 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:02.080 and I'll saw up when I can. But I might 0:37:02.120 --> 0:37:03.920 not be there every time, and I'm not going to 0:37:03.960 --> 0:37:05.879 be many places at once, so i gotta be where 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:11.040 I am and be okay with that. I feel freedom 0:37:11.120 --> 0:37:17.600 breaking out in the church right now. Now go to 0:37:17.640 --> 0:37:22.479 the next game. Don't let Martha, who comes to every game, 0:37:22.880 --> 0:37:25.480 make you feel bad because you couldn't make that one. 0:37:25.760 --> 0:37:30.600 It's okay. This is therapeutic. This is one hundred and 0:37:30.680 --> 0:37:35.520 fifty dollars an hour work right here, trying to keep 0:37:35.560 --> 0:37:37.680 you off that expensive couch and just give you this, 0:37:40.800 --> 0:37:44.520 this teaching from the Word of God. Because when you 0:37:44.600 --> 0:37:49.760 live in that place of manipulation, obligation, victimization, the next 0:37:49.760 --> 0:37:54.120 thing that happens is interpretation, and the skill of interpretation 0:37:54.320 --> 0:37:59.520 is so important. It's like your life is a is 0:37:59.560 --> 0:38:03.520 a foreign film, and what God has planned for you, 0:38:03.600 --> 0:38:05.799 the events that happened to you, you don't always know 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:12.000 what it really means. And when you're under pressure, and 0:38:12.040 --> 0:38:16.040 when you play the movie in your mind where you 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:19.440 remember different ways you were offended, which I do so often, 0:38:20.280 --> 0:38:23.080 and what I've got to do, and how it's not 0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:26.040 fair and how others don't and how others should, and 0:38:26.120 --> 0:38:28.560 all these things that I can tend to dwell on 0:38:30.640 --> 0:38:33.600 like Martha, that Martha in all of our minds will 0:38:33.640 --> 0:38:36.279 start to come to this conclusion This is the interpretation. 0:38:36.719 --> 0:38:39.200 Jesus will not do what Martha wants him to do, 0:38:39.239 --> 0:38:42.839 and Mary won't do what Martha wants Martha Mary to do, 0:38:43.200 --> 0:38:46.480 and nobody is saying their lines like Martha wrote them 0:38:46.520 --> 0:38:50.720 in her mind. So here's what she says next. Lord, 0:38:51.520 --> 0:38:55.279 all this is in verse forty. Lord, don't you care? 0:38:56.960 --> 0:39:00.600 You see it? Since she can't control everybody, she thinks 0:39:01.440 --> 0:39:07.840 that nobody cares about her. Since she can't control the situation, 0:39:08.040 --> 0:39:13.440 she interprets the situation, Lord, don't you care? And Jesus 0:39:13.520 --> 0:39:17.640 is like, no, not really. I care about you, but 0:39:17.680 --> 0:39:21.400 I don't care about what you're cooking in there right now. 0:39:22.400 --> 0:39:26.520 I came to be with you. And since I can't 0:39:26.560 --> 0:39:28.920 accept the fact that God loves me more than he 0:39:29.000 --> 0:39:33.440 loves what I can do for him, I interpret the 0:39:33.480 --> 0:39:35.839 fact that he's not doing exactly what I want him 0:39:35.880 --> 0:39:37.600 to do, and others aren't doing exactly what I want 0:39:37.680 --> 0:39:41.120 him to do. I interpret that to me that they 0:39:41.120 --> 0:39:48.400 don't care about me. I imagined it so many different ways, Martha, Martha. 0:39:48.480 --> 0:39:53.000 Because he said it twice, Martha, she didn't listen first time, Martha, 0:39:54.400 --> 0:40:00.279 or like this, Martha, Martha. I've been here in it 0:40:00.320 --> 0:40:07.960 more tenderly lately Martha Martha. So I always thought that 0:40:08.000 --> 0:40:12.560 this passage was about work in worship. I thought that 0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:18.600 Martha was working, Mary was worshiping, and that worshiping was 0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:24.040 better than working. But really you can't make that case 0:40:24.040 --> 0:40:26.920 if you read the Bible in context, because Paul said 0:40:27.719 --> 0:40:32.040 that to live your life as a sacrifice is your 0:40:32.080 --> 0:40:35.520 spiritual act of worship, and that has nothing to do 0:40:35.600 --> 0:40:38.400 with a song that has nothing to do with Sunday morning. 0:40:40.239 --> 0:40:45.800 So if he's not contrasting work in worship, maybe he's 0:40:45.920 --> 0:40:51.680 advocating that the two should become one. That there should 0:40:51.680 --> 0:40:54.040 be a way that I try to live my life 0:40:54.040 --> 0:40:57.160 by the grace of God and move into that is 0:40:58.040 --> 0:41:01.239 more like Mary. Not to kick Martha out of the 0:41:01.239 --> 0:41:04.200 house because it's her house, and not to stop being 0:41:04.239 --> 0:41:07.400 busy or start feeling bad about how you've been spread 0:41:07.440 --> 0:41:11.160 so thin, but to blur the line between work and worship. 0:41:11.200 --> 0:41:14.840 A few weeks ago, we were having a staff event 0:41:15.320 --> 0:41:18.200 and our interns were serving our staff on this particular day, 0:41:18.239 --> 0:41:20.560 and they had put in a very long day. But 0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:22.920 at the end of the day, we're having a worship 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:27.719 service with our staff, and it was so strong what 0:41:27.840 --> 0:41:30.759 was happening in the auditorium that the interns on their 0:41:30.800 --> 0:41:34.080 way to tear down chairs and tables and clean the 0:41:34.080 --> 0:41:38.200 floors and do the work, got caught up in a 0:41:38.440 --> 0:41:40.680 spirit of worship. There was a TV in a room. 0:41:40.760 --> 0:41:43.400 One of our interns, Ellie, pulled out her phone and 0:41:43.480 --> 0:41:46.520 she caught this moment when they stopped working for a 0:41:46.560 --> 0:41:58.000 moment and started worshiping. And see how Martha can become 0:41:58.080 --> 0:42:04.319 merry and Mary needs Martha because you see that girl 0:42:04.360 --> 0:42:07.360 on her knees right there, and that you see that, 0:42:08.000 --> 0:42:12.040 see that girl head banging right there. See that white 0:42:12.040 --> 0:42:17.080 guy clapping off rhythm right there. All that is worshiped. 0:42:17.080 --> 0:42:20.600 But then what they did in video is when they 0:42:20.640 --> 0:42:23.879 stopped singing and started serving, and they took that same 0:42:23.960 --> 0:42:29.200 spirit with a mop and a broom. And my goal 0:42:29.320 --> 0:42:31.719 in worship today is not just that we have a 0:42:31.760 --> 0:42:35.279 moment in the presence of God, but that when we 0:42:35.400 --> 0:42:38.520 leave and we grab our mop and our job and 0:42:38.560 --> 0:42:42.680 our kids and our responsibilities and yes, our tests and yes, 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:45.480 our books and yes the things that we have to do, 0:42:45.920 --> 0:42:49.640 that we work like we worship, and we worship like 0:42:49.680 --> 0:42:54.120 we work, and we find ourselves with extraordinary joy in 0:42:54.200 --> 0:42:59.120 the congregation, and extraordinary joy in the kitchen, and extraordinary 0:42:59.280 --> 0:43:04.560 joy that spills over and overflows, and this becomes a 0:43:04.600 --> 0:43:10.560 way of life. I know you got to go. I'm 0:43:10.560 --> 0:43:14.040 almost done because the fifth thing that I want to 0:43:14.040 --> 0:43:16.640 discuss with you is the most important of all, and 0:43:16.680 --> 0:43:22.440 it's expectation. More than anything else. This movie in my 0:43:22.520 --> 0:43:27.520 mind is about my expectation. And when the movie in 0:43:27.560 --> 0:43:32.239 my mind doesn't match the scene in my life, there 0:43:32.280 --> 0:43:36.080 is a tendency for me to begin to think that 0:43:36.120 --> 0:43:40.280 maybe God is not the author of my story. Bring 0:43:40.280 --> 0:43:42.879 my chair real quick. This is the way I saw 0:43:42.920 --> 0:43:52.960 the movie. In my mind. I saw Martha who saw 0:43:53.000 --> 0:44:02.080 herself as a director, and I saw how Jesus wanted 0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:06.880 her to be an extra. And now she's acting extra 0:44:09.920 --> 0:44:14.760 because she's trying to direct a movie in her mind 0:44:15.920 --> 0:44:23.920 that was not hers script. And I wonder if you've 0:44:23.960 --> 0:44:27.520 been sitting in the wrong seat, and God gave me 0:44:27.600 --> 0:44:32.560 this message so you could switch positions and sit like 0:44:32.680 --> 0:44:36.920 Mary for a little while at his feet and say, God, 0:44:37.160 --> 0:44:42.400 this is your movie, These are your gifts, this is 0:44:42.640 --> 0:44:48.920 your temple my body, this is your assignment. God. You 0:44:48.960 --> 0:44:52.120 know why Mary was so good at interpreting what Jesus 0:44:52.200 --> 0:44:55.560 was doing because she did something Martha didn't do. She listened, 0:44:57.360 --> 0:45:08.799 She listened, and Martha, Martha's too busy giving directions. She 0:45:08.920 --> 0:45:10.680 took a while to learn this. It took a little 0:45:10.680 --> 0:45:13.400 while of learn this. It takes a while to learn 0:45:13.560 --> 0:45:19.799 that this is not your place. Everybody that said amen, 0:45:19.920 --> 0:45:28.480 just now is over fifty. It takes that long. I'm 0:45:28.520 --> 0:45:33.040 telling you, you don't want this seat because you get 0:45:33.080 --> 0:45:34.759 it one way in your mind, how it needs to be, 0:45:34.760 --> 0:45:39.040 how it should be. And now you're miserable, like Martha. 0:45:39.360 --> 0:45:43.800 Didn't the universe get my script? Didn't my future husband 0:45:43.800 --> 0:45:50.520 get my script? Where is he future wife? Whatever? Everybody said, 0:45:50.520 --> 0:45:52.080 why you always put it on the women. You're such 0:45:52.080 --> 0:45:55.520 a sexist. I'm not a sexist. I'm an equal opportunity offender. 0:45:58.560 --> 0:46:03.480 I'll try to make everybody in the sermon, but this 0:46:03.640 --> 0:46:08.560 is not mine place. And see, it makes sense that 0:46:08.640 --> 0:46:11.520 this scene, this little, weird little scene. Now that we've 0:46:11.520 --> 0:46:16.040 spelled movie, we spelled movie, we got we understand how 0:46:16.080 --> 0:46:20.640 this works. Yeah, but to really understand the scene, you 0:46:20.640 --> 0:46:22.160 have to put it in context of the whole story, 0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:27.920 don't you don't you you can't understand the movie just 0:46:27.960 --> 0:46:33.200 by one scene. The reason this simple little introduction to 0:46:33.239 --> 0:46:35.480 Mary and Martha is made here in Luke ten is 0:46:35.520 --> 0:46:40.279 because of what the Bible records in John eleven. That's 0:46:40.320 --> 0:46:46.359 where their brother Lazarus gets sick unexpectedly and they send 0:46:46.480 --> 0:46:49.880 for Jesus to come heal him. So go get that 0:46:50.000 --> 0:46:55.440 rabbi that stayed at our house, that rabbi who ate 0:46:55.560 --> 0:46:59.520 my Brussels sprouts and tell him to come heal my brother. 0:47:01.080 --> 0:47:05.440 And Jesus doesn't show up for his casting call. He misses, 0:47:05.600 --> 0:47:07.879 you know, Martha. Martha's got it all scripted out. Oh, 0:47:08.000 --> 0:47:10.880 Lazarus is sick and and and Jesus is gonna come 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:16.440 heal him. Lights camera, Jesus. Jesus don't show up until 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:20.840 after Lazarus died, and Mary, the director of the movie, 0:47:21.800 --> 0:47:26.279 now has to reconcile what happened in her life with 0:47:26.360 --> 0:47:29.239 the way she planned it in the movie in her mind, 0:47:30.680 --> 0:47:35.319 and she's frustrated and angry. In fact, you're gonna laugh 0:47:35.360 --> 0:47:39.600 at this verse in John eleven, after Lazarus died and 0:47:39.680 --> 0:47:44.880 Jesus shows up late. Mary, this is funny. Can I 0:47:44.920 --> 0:47:55.880 read you this? You got a few more seconds, Martha said, Uh. 0:47:56.000 --> 0:48:00.000 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, this is twenty Yeah. 0:48:00.160 --> 0:48:05.000 There she went out to meet him. She's waiting at 0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:08.360 the road when he arrives. She's got her hand on 0:48:08.440 --> 0:48:12.000 her hip and Mary stayed home. Mary's got her head 0:48:12.000 --> 0:48:15.399 on her pillow. They're both playing their role. Mary's like dead, 0:48:15.440 --> 0:48:18.839 there's nothing to do. Martha's like, it's about time. Did 0:48:18.880 --> 0:48:21.320 you not get the script? Did you not get the 0:48:21.960 --> 0:48:24.920 missed You missed them. You didn't say you were supposed 0:48:24.920 --> 0:48:26.960 to say, be healed, and he was supposed to be well, 0:48:27.000 --> 0:48:31.640 and you did it. Jesus didn't come to read your script. 0:48:33.080 --> 0:48:34.920 He came to flip the script and to show you 0:48:34.960 --> 0:48:37.719 something that you never could have expected, a movie you 0:48:37.760 --> 0:48:41.279 didn't know to write, immeasurably more than you ask her. Imagine, 0:48:41.400 --> 0:48:44.080 I feel the spirit of God on this message right now. 0:48:46.840 --> 0:48:48.759 I know you wanted me to show up and heal him. 0:48:48.760 --> 0:48:51.080 I didn't come to heal him. I came to show 0:48:51.120 --> 0:48:54.920 you something greater. And one time God showed me that 0:48:55.040 --> 0:48:58.040 the reason he can't meet all of our expectations is 0:48:58.080 --> 0:49:01.359 because if he always met my expects, he would never 0:49:01.400 --> 0:49:07.080 have the opportunity to exceed my expectations. He's making this movie, 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:11.719 not you. He's written this script, not me. And so 0:49:12.040 --> 0:49:14.279 Martha's like, you should have been here. This is not 0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:16.120 the way I wrote the movie. This is not the 0:49:16.120 --> 0:49:18.200 way I imagined it. And she's waiting at the rod 0:49:18.320 --> 0:49:21.799 verse twenty one. But even if you you would have 0:49:21.800 --> 0:49:23.759 been here, my brother wouldn't have died Verse twenty two. 0:49:23.960 --> 0:49:26.840 But I know that even now, God will give you 0:49:26.840 --> 0:49:30.040 whatever you ask. You see, you're getting out of the 0:49:30.080 --> 0:49:33.520 director's chair a little bit. She's still working. Jesus, by 0:49:33.560 --> 0:49:40.360 the way, I know you can still do it. Come on, 0:49:40.440 --> 0:49:44.960 women do this to men all the time. How do 0:49:45.040 --> 0:49:51.920 you carry all those groceries, you big strong man. I 0:49:51.920 --> 0:49:54.279 know you still do it. It didn't go the way 0:49:54.280 --> 0:49:56.799 I wanted. And she said, your brother will rise again? 0:49:56.920 --> 0:49:59.120 What she still got her script? I know he'll rise 0:49:59.120 --> 0:50:02.040 again on the resurrection the last day. I know, JESSI no, no, no, 0:50:03.239 --> 0:50:08.840 I came not just to read my lines in the 0:50:08.840 --> 0:50:12.520 script that you wrote for your life. But I came 0:50:13.640 --> 0:50:18.920 to change your expectation for something greater than you even 0:50:19.360 --> 0:50:24.120 knew to ask for. And Jesus said to her, watch, 0:50:24.760 --> 0:50:29.520 I am the resurrection and the life and the one 0:50:29.520 --> 0:50:32.640 who believes in Me will live even though they die 0:50:32.800 --> 0:50:36.319 next verse, and whoever lives by believing in Me will 0:50:36.360 --> 0:50:38.960 never die. Do you believe this, that's the question. Do 0:50:39.000 --> 0:50:44.440 you believe this? Do you believe that you are not 0:50:44.520 --> 0:50:50.080 the one making this movie? That this is not my place? 0:50:51.080 --> 0:51:03.239 This is this is my place. So let's take a 0:51:03.280 --> 0:51:08.240 moment in God's presence today and just consider that maybe 0:51:08.280 --> 0:51:10.959 it's not our life that's making us anxious. Maybe it's 0:51:12.160 --> 0:51:17.680 the movie in our mind, what we wanted it to be, 0:51:18.840 --> 0:51:23.239 what we always imagined it would be, what we think 0:51:23.280 --> 0:51:28.160 we have to be. The saddest thing about Martha is 0:51:28.200 --> 0:51:33.960 that she's frustrated trying to meet an expectation that Jesus 0:51:33.960 --> 0:51:38.320 did not even have of her. Jesus never even asked 0:51:38.320 --> 0:51:42.480 her for all this. Jesus came into her house to 0:51:42.520 --> 0:51:47.399 be with her. Are you frustrated with yourself because you're 0:51:47.440 --> 0:51:51.279 expecting something of yourself that God never even put on 0:51:51.320 --> 0:51:54.800 you to begin with? I came to day to break 0:51:54.800 --> 0:51:58.920 the spirit of manipulation, to break the spirit of obligation, 0:51:59.360 --> 0:52:03.719 to break the the victim mentality, to let you know 0:52:03.760 --> 0:52:07.759 that just because God isn't doing it like you want 0:52:07.800 --> 0:52:12.640 him to do. It doesn't mean he stopped caring about you. 0:52:22.640 --> 0:52:28.640 I'm really thankful for one thing says that Jesus raised 0:52:28.719 --> 0:52:31.680 Lazarus from the dead, which Mary never would have put 0:52:31.719 --> 0:52:35.759 in her movie. She didn't know it was possible when 0:52:35.800 --> 0:52:39.520 you let him sit in this seat. What he has 0:52:39.600 --> 0:52:42.120 for you is so much better than what you have 0:52:42.320 --> 0:52:44.960 for you. I'm telling you by faith what I know 0:52:45.040 --> 0:52:55.719 by experience. Let's just stand up like you're in a hurry, 0:52:55.719 --> 0:52:58.239 because it'll pressure me to finish this. I could talk 0:52:58.280 --> 0:53:02.640 to you all day. I love this stuff. In John 0:53:02.719 --> 0:53:06.040 chapter twelve, verse one, it says that a little bit later, 0:53:06.120 --> 0:53:10.880 on six days before the Passover, Jesus came to bethany 0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:14.880 where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 0:53:14.960 --> 0:53:18.520 Now watch verse two. This is gonna bless you here 0:53:18.520 --> 0:53:26.479 at dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served. See, 0:53:26.520 --> 0:53:31.800 she finally got it. She's not talking, she's not manipulating, 0:53:32.640 --> 0:53:36.640 she's not serving out of obligation and guilty anymore. She's 0:53:36.680 --> 0:53:40.920 serving because she has seen God do what only God 0:53:41.000 --> 0:53:44.479 could do. And I am here at your service God. 0:53:44.560 --> 0:53:46.840 What you want me to be, I'm ready to be 0:53:47.040 --> 0:53:50.720 that now, and so I throw off the expectations of others, 0:53:51.120 --> 0:53:56.920 and I throw off the expectations of self. Do what 0:53:56.960 --> 0:54:01.359 you wanted do God, this is your story, this is 0:54:01.400 --> 0:54:05.600 your movie, and I am your child, and I am 0:54:05.600 --> 0:54:09.880 at your feet and I trust you in this season 0:54:11.560 --> 0:54:15.440 of my life. Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. 0:54:15.640 --> 0:54:17.759 If you did, there are just a couple things I'd 0:54:17.800 --> 0:54:21.120 love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. 0:54:21.200 --> 0:54:24.239 That way, the most recent episode will always be in 0:54:24.280 --> 0:54:28.360 your feed, waiting for you, ready when you are. And Secondly, 0:54:28.440 --> 0:54:30.880 if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to 0:54:30.880 --> 0:54:33.279 help us continue to reach others, you can click the 0:54:33.320 --> 0:54:35.719 link in the description and you can give now and 0:54:35.920 --> 0:54:39.280 I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast