One Thing - Becoming

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Luke 10, verse 38. As Jesus and

Luke 10:38

the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem,

they came to a certain village where a woman

named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her

sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet, listening.

to what he taught. But Martha was distracted

by the big dinner she was preparing. She came

to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair

to you that my sister just sits here while I

do all the work? Tell her to come help me. But

the Lord said to her, My dear Martha. In other

translations it says, Martha, Martha. Everybody

say, Martha, Martha, and shake your head. Martha,

Martha. But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha,

you are worried and upset over all the details.

There's only one thing. Everybody say one thing.

There's only one thing worth being concerned

about. Mary has discovered it. It will not be

taken away from her. One thing, one thing was

necessary. You know, the food wasn't the most

important thing to Jesus. It was the most important

thing to Martha. And we really dealt with this

last week, and I hate for you not to be with

us where we're moving from. I love that you're

here today, visiting with us. trying us out,

whatever it is that you're doing. You're welcome

to be a part of our family. We would love for

you to be with us. And if you're just here for

this week, we hope that you're blessed and have

a blessed week and a blessed trip back home.

Jesus said one thing was necessary. Food wasn't

the most important thing. Martha invited Jesus.

She's the one who gave the invitation. She invited

him to come to her home. To spend time with him.

To get to know him. Is what we looked at last

week. But now she's in the kitchen working. She

can overhear maybe just the noise of him talking.

But she's not receiving what Jesus is saying.

And that's the one characteristic of Jesus that

was more pronounced than any other thing of Jesus.

Was his words. I mean, we see paintings and pictures.

We don't know what he actually looked like. We

don't know what color his eyes were. I mean,

we know that he was a Jew, so that gives us some

type of look, I guess. But we don't know. Because

those things weren't the most important things.

The Bible says that every time he talked, people

just were amazed. Just said, wow. Because he

didn't talk like everybody else talked. When

he talked about the kingdom of God, he talked

with authority. It wasn't just a suggestion.

It was with authority when he talked. So Jesus

said there's only one thing that's necessary,

one thing that's needed, one thing that should

not be left undone. And Mary... That's what she

did. The necessary thing, the needed thing. I

think this comes out of New King James where

it says, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his

word. Everybody say one thing. Everybody say,

sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word. Now, Jesus

was speaking, but Martha was distracted. Mary

was not distracted. Mary sat at his feet and

heard his word. When you look up that word in

the Greek, in the Koine Greek, that word heard,

here's the full definition of that word, to hear,

to listen. Now, it's easy to hear. You can't

help but hear if your ears work, right? You can't

help but hear. But to listen, it takes some effort.

Most of the husbands are laughing now. I don't

know why. Most of the wives are thinking that,

yeah, selective hearing. There it goes again.

Now, we can hear you. The key is listening. Everybody

say listen. I had a friend, and J .T. was his

road manager for a while. He would always say,

While he was preaching, he would always say,

if you're listening, say, I am. Because when

he felt like people were daydreaming and wandering

off, and, you know, believe it or not, I'm not

just looking at the back wall. A lot of preachers

just stare at the back wall the whole time. I

scan you and look at your face as I'm preaching,

and I can tell if you're listening or not. I

can tell if you're distracted or not. And my

friend Ken would say, if you're listening, say

I am. And that would just kind of shock people.

He would say, I know you can hear me. But if

you're listening, say I am. So Mary wasn't just

hearing, she was listening. She was listening

to understand. This word encompasses both the

physical act of hearing. And the deeper understanding

of what is heard. It's more than just auditory

reception. It's being attentive. So attentive

that obedience follows to what you hear. That

gives us a deeper understanding of what Mary

was doing and what Jesus said was most important.

One thing is most important. Being focused and

intentional. Last week we talked about this.

I hate to re -preach last week's message. There's

a whole lot more to it. You need to hear it if

you haven't heard it. If you were here last week

and you say, if you haven't heard it, get on

the podcast, raise your hand. Just to help all

these other people that didn't hear it. They

need to hear it. But we talked about this. Just

because you're close to someone, it doesn't mean

that there's intimacy. You can live in a house

with the same person. And unless you have focused

attention, you're not experiencing intimacy.

Same way with God. You can visit. You can come

to church on Sunday morning and visit and just,

well, I did my religious duty, but if you don't

have focused attention, you're going to miss

out. One thing is necessary to spend focused,

intentional, Or we could even put in the word

intimate time with God and receive a word from

Him. Receive a word. Receive revelation. Receive

spiritual wisdom from Him. Here's the deal. We

can go through the mechanical activities of praying

every day. You can say, okay, it's 2025. I'm

going to pray every day. We can pray every day.

You can read your Bible every day. We have a

Bible reading plan where, as a congregation,

we're encouraged to read through the New Testament

every year by reading five chapters a week, one

chapter a day, Monday through Friday. You can

do that reading plan just going through the motions.

You can attend a worship service or, as people

say, go to church. You can do that every week.

Perfect attendance, 52 weeks this year. You can

do all those things and still not experience

God's presence or hear His voice. And that's

sad. That's sad. To just go through religious

activity and never really connect to God and

experience Him. What's the difference? What's

the difference? Everybody say, want to. You've

got to have a want to. You've got to have a desire.

You've got to have a desire, just like the psalmist

said, as the deer pants for water. Have you ever

been really thirsty? I mean, where you've got

cotton mouth, and if you try to spit, there's

no spit there. We called that spitting dust when

I was... It's just dry. You can get so thirsty

for a drink of water. You just got to have it.

That's the only thing that's going to quench

your thirst. That's a desire that we need to

have for God, for the living God. So we have

to have a desire. And chances are, if you're...

you know, praying and reading your Bible and

coming to church, you most likely have some kind

of desire for spiritual things. What you may

be missing is expectation. Expectation. You may

be a person that's never been told that God will

meet you at the level of your expectation. If

you came this morning really expecting nothing,

you're probably going to leave with nothing.

And this is the thing. I mean, you can sit right

beside a person and they can walk out saying,

I didn't get anything out of that today. And

you could be so full you're about to bust. Two

people seated in the same room. One of them had

a different level of desire and expectation from

the other one. God will meet you at the point

of your expectation. I want to bring a new story

to us today in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel was a young

boy. His mom was older and she didn't have a

child. She made a promise to God. She says, God,

if you'll let me have a child, I'll give him

to you. And she really meant it. A lot of people

have said that prayer before, but she really

meant it. When he got to be about four or five

years old, she even took him to the tabernacle

to live at the tabernacle. Sure, she would go

visit him and things like that, but when she

said, I'm going to give you to God, I mean, she

gave him to God. She kept her end of the deal.

Let's pick up in chapter 3. Meanwhile, the boy

Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli, who

was the priest. Now in those days, this is a

sad statement right here. Now in those days,

messages from the Lord were very rare. And visions

were quite uncommon. That's sad. That's sad.

Most likely due to a lack of desire and a lack

of expectation. One night, Eli, who was almost

blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God

had not yet gone out. And Samuel was sleeping

in the tabernacle near the ark of God. Suddenly,

the Lord called out to Samuel. Samuel. Yes, Samuel

replied. What is it? He got up and ran to Eli.

Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't call you,

Eli replied. Go back to bed. So he did. Then

the Lord called out again. I wish I had a big

booming radio voice right here. Samuel. Samuel.

Maybe that's better. Again, Samuel got up and

went to Eli. Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't

call you, my son. And I can almost think that

Eli might be a little frustrated because he's

old and he's trying to get his beauty sleep.

He's like, I didn't call you. Go back to bed.

Samuel did not get to know. did not yet know

the Lord because he had never had a message from

the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time.

And once more, Samuel got up and went to Eli.

Here I am, did you call me? Then Eli realized

it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he

said to Samuel, go and lie down again. And if

someone calls again, here's what you need to

say. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came

and called as before, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel

replied, speak. Your servant is listening. I

want to tell you something. The Holy Spirit of

God in you desires to speak to you. We're supposed

to be led by Him. We're supposed to walk with

Him. We're supposed to follow Him. And He's speaking.

He's speaking. If you're in Christ today, the

Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Now, it was a

long time before anybody told me that. So I guess

I could see myself during those years as like

Samuel. I mean, God's trying to talk to me. He's

trying to lead me. He's trying to direct my path.

He's trying to help me. He's my helper. He's

my comforter. He was trying to comfort me during

times when I needed comfort, and I didn't know.

I didn't know. Maybe you could be here today,

and you might not know that. I hope you know

that. But I'm telling you today, God, the Holy

Spirit, is speaking to you. Not just every once

in a while. Not just once a month or once in

six months or once a year. With God in you, the

word from God is not a rare occurrence like it

was during this time in the Old Testament. He's

wanting to work in you. Speak to you. But you

have to acknowledge it. He's not just going to

knock you down and say, now listen to me this

time. It's not the way God works. We have to

be sensitive. Because the Bible says His voice

is a still, small voice. And just like Martha,

many times we're too distracted to hear a still,

small voice. We have too much going on, too many

distractions, too many things that we deem more

important, just like Martha did. And those things

may not be bad things. They may be good things.

But we're missing out on the one thing that's

most important, most necessary. See, Samuel heard

God. Samuel heard God. This was the first time

he heard God. He's going to hear God a lot more.

Right? But hearing God led Samuel somewhere.

It led him to becoming. That word, as we were

studying this week and talking, that word becoming

just, boy, it just, it blew up on the inside

of me. And I want you to get that. I want you

to take hold of that. This word from God, he

was in the tabernacle near the Ark of the Covenant,

and God is speaking to him, and that first word

from God led to a lot of words from God that

led to him becoming. Without hearing God, he

wouldn't have become. He became the last judge.

This is right after the book of Judges. He was

the last judge, and I'm not talking about like

a Supreme Court justice. I'm talking about a

military leader is who the judges were. He became

the last judge of Israel. He became the first

prophet of Israel. Now, there have been some

prophets before then, but he's the first prophet

of Israel. And the priest, a priest of God, who

would anoint the first two kings of Israel. And

one of them wound up being a boy, just like he

was a boy when God first spoke to him. We've

got to remember, he's probably not even ten years

old when God's speaking to him. God spoke to

him. And God speaking to him led to his becoming.

Listen. God speaking to you will lead to your

becoming. You're not going to be the last judge

because there's already been one. You're not

going to be the first prophet because there's

already been one. You're not going to be a priest

anointing the kings of Israel. But you can become

who God wants you to become. You can be empowered

to do what He wants you to do, what He's calling

you to do. One word. Everybody say one word.

One word, a revelation from God, can change the

situation that you're facing today. I'm sitting

on that a minute. One word. I've had one word

from God change the situation I was in. I was

in my darkest point of my whole life. In the

middle of the night. It was bad. The darkest

day I've ever faced. And one word from God changed

my situation. I went from not being able to sleep

and turning and tossing and worrying, being overwhelmed

with worry and fear. And one word from God, in

the middle of the night, I moved from there to

peace and sleeping like a baby. One word from

God. One word from God can change the situation

that you're facing today. One word from God can

change your home. One word from God can change

your business. You can consult someone who knows

everything about everything. One word from God

can change your life. The very first time I heard

the Holy Spirit speaking to me, He was drawing

me to Jesus and drawing me to salvation. That

changed my life. There are also times when you've

got one word from God to get prepared. So that

led me on a course of being prepared. One word

from God to go into evangelism. One word from

God to sell our house and move into an RV for

20 years. One word from God to start a youth

conference. Over 5 ,000 people came to Christ

during that conference. One word from God. We

left the comfort where we were in Myrtle Beach

with a free place to live, all utilities paid

for, and the best salary I've ever had. One word

from God to move to Davenport and start a lesson

church without a salary, moving back into the

bus. One word from God. And as a result of that

one word from God, you're here today hearing

that what you need... What's necessary is for

you to have focused, intentional, intimate time

with God to receive a word for Him about what

you're going through and what you're facing.

Because it'll change your life. It's changed

my life so many times. I grew up. I'm a preacher's

kid. And then my mom was a preacher's kid. My

grandfather was a preacher's kid. Boy, I had

an agreement with God that I was never going

to be a preacher. You know what I'm saying? But

God had different plans. One word from God changed

all that. But I grew up thinking that my problem,

you see, I always thought about my problem. You

know, there were people around me that seemed...

to be more spiritually mature than I was. There

were people around me that were talking about

experiencing God, kind of like we're talking

about today. And I would say, I don't even know

if that's possible for me. For me to encounter

the living God in an intimate way and Him speaking

to me, this sounds foreign to me. So I thought

my problem from a lack of spiritual growth, from

me not experiencing the manifested presence of

God and the Word of God, like it coming alive

on the inside of me, I thought my problem, because

I would always fall to temptation over and over

again, kept falling that same temptation. Anybody

know what I'm talking about? And I just went

through that and went through that and went through

that. I thought my problem was due to my... Level

of dedication. You see, I thought I wasn't dedicated

enough. Anybody ever been to a church service

where at the end of the church service they'll

have an invitation and almost every church service

is like, who wants to rededicate their life to

Christ? Is anybody ready to rededicate? Is there

only like three of us who've ever heard that

term before? I would go to camp. And it's like,

who wants to rededicate their life? I'm trying

to be dedicated. I want to be dedicated. So over

and over again, I had this experience of rededicating

and rededicating and rededicating. And I got

to the point that I rededicated so many times

that I think my rededicator wore out. How can

I rededicate more than I've... I mean, a rededicator

wore out. See, it would last for a little while.

It would last for a little while. I'm not saying

there's no benefit to that. It would last a little

while. But in my experience, it never lasted.

And I'd have to rededicate again about a month

or two later. It's time to rededicate again.

Just got to keep rededicating. I'm going to connect

that one necessary thing to where we are. Because

I believe there's a connection. I believe there's

a connection. I didn't need more dedication.

What I needed was some more revelation. I needed

revelation more than I needed dedication. See,

what I needed, what I was lacking was a hearing

with understanding that would lead to my becoming.

I'm going to say that again. What I was lacking

was a hearing with understanding that would lead

to my becoming. In Ephesians, Paul prays. He

prays a prayer. And this is what he's praying

in his prayer. He's praying that the followers

of Christ in Ephesus, Would receive revelation.

He didn't pray that they would be more dedicated.

He prayed that they would receive revelation.

Spiritual wisdom. Understanding from God. That

would lead to their becoming. Here we go. I want

to read the text. Y 'all got to listen faster

because we're still going to be doing baptism.

So y 'all got to listen fast. How many of you

know I could probably preach until about 2 this

afternoon? It wouldn't bother me a bit. But your

fanny wouldn't handle them seats that long. Ephesians

1 .15 Ever since I first heard of your strong

faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's

people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking

God for you. I pray for you constantly. Now let's

listen to this prayer. Here's what Paul was praying.

Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, to give you something, to give you spiritual

wisdom and insight. Not more dedication. Spiritual

wisdom and insight. Why? So that you may grow

in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts,

will be flooded with light so that you can understand

the confident hope. That's good. The confident

hope God has given to those He called His holy

people. Look to the person beside you and say,

that's me. That's me. are His rich and glorious

inheritance. I also pray that you will understand.

Everybody say understand. We're talking about

spiritual wisdom, insight, the eyes of your heart

being enlightened to the truth, right? That you

will understand the incredible greatness of God's

power for us who believe Him. Let me tell you

a little bit about that power. This is the same

mighty power that raised Christ from the dead

and seated him in the place of honor at God's

right hand in the heavenly realms. That's some

power right there. It's more power than the nuclear

plant. Can't raise anybody from the dead with

nuclear power, can you? Now he, Jesus is far

above any ruler or authority or power or leader

or anything else. Not only in this world, but

also in the world to come. God has put all things,

everybody say all things. God has put all things

under the authority of Christ and has made Jesus

head over all things for His personal benefit.

Somebody help me out. Don't go along with it

if I'm not telling you the truth. God put Jesus,

He put all things under His authority. He's the

head over all things for your benefit. Everybody

say, for my benefit. I mean, if you're in Christ.

If it's the benefit of the church, that word

church means called out ones. That's a direct

definition from the Greek. It's called out ones.

You're called out one. So Jesus is an authority

over everything for your benefit. And guess what?

In the church, everybody say, that's me. In the

church is his body. It is made full and complete

by Christ. The anointed one is what Christ means.

Who fills all things everywhere with himself.

That was Paul's prayer. And I want to challenge

you. Starting this week. And I'm going to challenge

you to continue. I'm going to challenge you to

pray this prayer for yourself. Make this request

to God for yourself every day. Every day before

you pray. Every day before you pick up your Bible.

Every day. Somebody say every day. If you want

the Word of God to come alive to you, if you

want to experience Him, if you want this spiritual

wisdom and insight and understanding, if you

really want to accomplish this one thing that's

most necessary to sit at His feet and to hear

and to understand and to apply, I want to encourage

you to pray this prayer. I double -dog dare you

to pray it. Every day. If you do, and if you're

consistent, I can't make you do it, and I can't

make you consistent, but I promise you, the Word

of God is going to be different to you. It's

going to come more alive to you if you'll do

it. And you might say, well, Dean, didn't you

tell us that we're not beggars? And when we come

to God, we just shouldn't beg. It shouldn't be,

oh God, please. Please, God, please. It's part

of this series too, and we're going to continue

and talk about that. But you're not a beggar.

If you're in Christ, you're not a beggar. You're

a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

You're not a beggar. I used to pray, and when

I prayed, it's like I was begging God. We're

not beggars. God's Word gives us great and precious

promises that deal with every part of our life,

so we come boldly before the throne of God and

say, God, this is what you said. This is what

I believe, and this is what I receive. That's

the way believers pray. Not as beggars. You might

say, but you told me to pray this every day.

Well, the Bible says, Jesus said in Matthew 7,

7, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and

you will find. Knock and it will be opened to

you. But that's... It's actually saying this,

Ask and keep on asking. Now that kind of sounds

like a beggar, right? Ask and keep on asking.

Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.

That's the tense in the original language. And

it will be open to you. For everyone who asks,

receives, and he who seeks, finds, and to him

who knocks, it will be open. Somebody say, that's

me. See, we ask and keep on asking. We seek and

keep on seeking. We knock and keep on knocking.

Not that we're begging. but because we have received

what we've been asking and we know that there's

more. There's more spiritual wisdom. There's

more insight. There's more revelation from God.

Hallelujah. For those of you visiting, that's

my amen button that the church gave me for my

birthday. I think we just needed some more amens

than we were getting at that moment. We ask and

keep on asking because we've asked before and

we've received before. Hallelujah. I put this

into our words. The same prayer that Paul prayed

for the church in Ephesus. If you want to take

a picture of it, you can. I actually have 40

pieces of paper. 39. I think my wife got one.

I think Ganna got one. 39 pieces of paper. And

if we run out, I'll bring some more next week.

But I want you to take this prayer. It's got

Ephesians. It's got the verses that we just read.

And then it's got the prayer put in our words,

praying to God. It's back on the middle of that

back table. I encourage you to begin to pray

this. Father, I ask you for spiritual wisdom.

I ask you for revelation. I ask you for insight

so that I can grow in my knowledge of you. I

pray that my heart will be flooded with light

so I can understand the confident hope that you've

given me. I want to know. I want to understand.

I want to take hold of the incredible power and

authority you have made available to me. The

same power that raised Jesus from the dead, you've

made that available to me. The same power that

seated him in heavenly places, you've made that

available to me. And I want to know it, understand

it, and take hold of it. Jesus, you're in authority

over all things. You're the head. I'm part of

your body. I'm in you. And you're in me. So all

the things of this world, I declare all the things

of this world are under your feet and under your

authority, and because I'm your body, that means

they're under my feet too. Somebody smile. Some

of you just choked. Some of you just choked a

little bit right there. If he's the head and

we're the body and everything's under his feet,

Is it not under your feet if you're the body?

Come on. It's time that the things of this world

keep beating us up and beating us down. All the

things of this world are under His feet and under

my feet too. So I ask you, reveal to me who I

am in you. Reveal to me. All that you've made

available to me, all that I have in you, Jesus,

reveal that to me. Amen. You see, I improvised

a little bit. I write it one way and then I write

it another way. The main thing is you're not

just reading a piece of paper. Don't say, Jesus

is in authority over. Just use that as a guide

to pray. Ask God for these things. I'm going

to tell you, it's going to help you. I don't

care where you are today. It's going to help

me. It's going to help you. Whether you're spiritually

above me or spiritually behind me, we're all

on this course together. And it's going to help

us. It's going to help us. And when we receive

this word from God, and when we take hold of

it, when we understand it, when we have this

insight, when we have this revelation, when we

have this spiritual wisdom and we begin to apply

it, it's going to work towards our becoming.

It's going to work towards our becoming. Let's

pray. God, I thank You. Thank You for Your Word.

Help us take hold of it with joy today. Help

us to be doers of Your Word. Not just hearers

only. I pray that Your Word would be planted

into our hearts. And it will find good soil.

Not soil that's distracted and can't take a hold

of it and it won't be planted in. But the good

soil of our hearts, where the roots will go down

deep and strong, and a harvest will be produced

in our lives. This online worship experience

was brought to you by the friends and partners

of Eulation Church.