Sermon

Truth Bomb: Part 2

Sawyers Creek Sermons

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  1. main idea of our sermon series we're

  2. talking about truth and uh I just want

  3. to point out that there are a lot of

  4. things that feel like truth and seem

  5. like truth but they're absolutely not

  6. truth so what is truth well truth has to

  7. be absolute has to be for everyone

  8. everywhere at all times uh and I'm using

  9. the title truth bomb because it takes me

  10. back it's kind of a nostalgic thing for

  11. me when I was a youth pastor it was kind

  12. of a thing uh back in the early 2000s

  13. really and I remember one time a bunch

  14. of middle schoolers we had a lock in and

  15. they broke into the kitchen where I was

  16. um where where we stored all the food

  17. and I had made the mistake of buying a a

  18. large container of those cheese balls

  19. from Sam's Club and I put them in the

  20. kitchen because we we were going to give

  21. them to the students but of course the

  22. middle school students uh broke into the

  23. kitchen they found the cheese balls and

  24. of course they don't eat them because

  25. why would you eat the food that we

  26. bought for you no they play dodgeball

  27. with them in the Church Fellowship

  28. center with a carpet in there and of

  29. course they step on them driving the

  30. cheese balls into the carpet and when I

  31. confronted all these middle school

  32. students that had done this they said

  33. truth bomb I'm like oh boy they say

  34. truth bomb you shouldn't have bought

  35. those for

  36. us how's it my fault I'm trying to give

  37. these kids a snack and somehow it's my

  38. fault okay so these are um just some

  39. lessons that that we learn from uh from

  40. truth when you're confronted with Truth

  41. uh how how do you react and so truth

  42. bomb number one last week um I felt like

  43. our our services were getting a little

  44. too crowded so I wanted to kind of

  45. preach through this series try to open

  46. up some seats for uh for new people but

  47. uh we talked about the the truth that is

  48. just because you believe it doesn't make

  49. it true just because you believe it

  50. doesn't make it true and if you want to

  51. Le learn more about that you can go back

  52. last week and listen to that sermon but

  53. what we talked about really was there's

  54. a path and it leads to death it's what

  55. the Bible tells us there's a path and it

  56. seem seems right seems right seems like

  57. the thing we should be doing but

  58. ultimately it leads us to a place of

  59. death but we also talked about another

  60. path a path that leads to life and it's

  61. Jesus who paved that path for us so if

  62. we will follow Jesus he will take us to

  63. the truth and the life so let's pray and

  64. then we'll get started on today's truth

  65. bomm Lord thank I just want to thank you

  66. so much for the opportunity to uh to to

  67. be able to share the gospel with people

  68. I'm just humbled by this

  69. uh this calling Lord I don't know why

  70. you would choose someone like me but you

  71. did and so Lord I pray that today I

  72. would uh do a good job of representing

  73. you and your word and that the truth

  74. that we are confronted with although

  75. could seem painful I pray that you help

  76. us to see it for what it is which is

  77. love coming from our heavenly father who

  78. just wants us to be able to be the

  79. people that you created us to be Lord I

  80. know there's so many on our prayer list

  81. that are suffering and hurting we have

  82. uh several at the the rehab center right

  83. now we have one in the hospital and

  84. others who are at home nursing wounds

  85. and and other ailments and diseases and

  86. God I just pray that in all those

  87. situations that you would just make

  88. yourself known to those people Lord that

  89. you would be very practical in the way

  90. that you showed them your love that you

  91. would send the right people at the right

  92. time into those rooms to encourage them

  93. to to help them heal that you would put

  94. the doctors and nurses in front of them

  95. that can figure out exactly what they

  96. need and give it to them when they need

  97. it Lord we pray those things with

  98. confidence because we're praying in the

  99. awesome name of Jesus Jesus Christ

  100. amen do you remember the day when milk

  101. was just milk anybody else I feel like

  102. I'm an old man talking about this but I

  103. do remember a day when milk was milk you

  104. had your whole milk your skin milk your

  105. 1% and your 2% and that was like all of

  106. your milk options and also was wondered

  107. what like what's the other 98% and the

  108. 2% milk but anyway um so you know you go

  109. to the store you buy milk but then they

  110. had this like milk Revolution where you

  111. had the plant-based milk and the toose

  112. free milk and the vegan milk and the the

  113. joh the the um non GMO milk and now you

  114. have like selections such as cow milk

  115. goat milk oat milk rice milk soy milk

  116. coconut milk and almond milk how do you

  117. milk an almond anybody know I don't know

  118. but it's all over the place see my

  119. parents they used to be like normal

  120. people and they had milk in the

  121. refrigerator and so if you wanted cereal

  122. you got milk and you pour it on your now

  123. I go look in the refrigerator they have

  124. everything but milk it's like there's no

  125. option for just normal milk and so me

  126. and my kids wanted milk when we were

  127. visiting cuz we wanted to eat some

  128. cereal and so I decided you don't want

  129. to go to the Walmart at Myrtle Beach

  130. okay just for reference if you're ever

  131. in Myrtle Beach don't go to the Walmart

  132. it's a scary place so uh I went to the

  133. little corner store near their house and

  134. there was one gallon of milk left and me

  135. and this other guy we made eye contact

  136. and we made eye contact with the milk

  137. and I would love to stand up here and

  138. tell you that as a pastor I was like sir

  139. God bless you this is your lucky day

  140. because because God loves you so much

  141. that he sent me to your life to give you

  142. this last gallon of milk because the

  143. last shall be first and the the the

  144. first shall be last and it is better to

  145. give than to receive God bless you I

  146. wish I could say that that's what took

  147. place but that's not what took place I

  148. said hey there's Santa Claus and when he

  149. turned to look at Santa Claus I was like

  150. grab the milk okay that's not true

  151. either truth bomb number one this guy

  152. had on a motorcycle club leather vest

  153. and a huge ponytail and he was like 10

  154. times bigger than me um so he got the

  155. milk because I'm a coward so I was like

  156. he take the milk I'm not I wound up at

  157. Walmart yes yes smart that's survival

  158. skills

  159. man so he got the milk and I wound up at

  160. Walmart and I got my milk eventually so

  161. I could eat my Frosted Mini Wheats in

  162. peace but truth bomb number two the more

  163. important one that we should listen to

  164. today is that putting ourselves first is

  165. one of the most natural things that all

  166. of us do putting ourselves first first

  167. is one of the most natural things that

  168. all of us do you take a group photo say

  169. there's four people in the photo soon as

  170. the photo is taken they show you the

  171. photo who do you look at first yourself

  172. always right and you could have one

  173. friend in the photo whose hair is like

  174. blown into their face their eyes are

  175. closed and they're picking their nose

  176. but if you look good in the photo you

  177. know what you say great

  178. photo all of us are the same we might

  179. pretend like we're selfless but inside

  180. our natural instinct is to put ourselves

  181. first which makes sense because we were

  182. born into a world that is self-obsessed

  183. our natural desire is to be selfish I

  184. mean think about it back in the Garden

  185. of Eden when the serpent approached Adam

  186. and Eve the Serpent's main strategy was

  187. to get them to eat of the fruit that

  188. they were told not to eat from and the

  189. way that he conned them into doing it is

  190. to tell them that if they ate of the

  191. fruit they would be

  192. it's the second chapter in the Bible

  193. this is kind of

  194. scary they would be like what Larry

  195. they'd be like God right he appealed to

  196. their selfish nature and then the Bible

  197. tells us that as we are born we are born

  198. with the sin nature that we inherited

  199. from Adam and Eve so we're

  200. naturally selfish and then we live in a

  201. in a world that's run by Satan and what

  202. was Satan's greatest sin what did he get

  203. kicked out out of heaven for it was

  204. Pride he wanted to be God so our natural

  205. inclination is to be selfish and we're

  206. living in a world that Satan has set up

  207. to appeal to our self Obsession so we

  208. have this gravity that pulls us towards

  209. self we have this nagging desire to do

  210. what's best for us and our family even

  211. when it goes against the very heart of

  212. the

  213. Gospel Philippians chapter 2

    Philippians 2 chapter mention

  214. verse3 says do nothing out of selfish

  215. ambition or conceit do nothing out of

  216. selfish ambition or conceit but in

  217. humility consider others more important

  218. than yourselves everyone should look not

  219. to his own interests but rather to the

  220. interests of

  221. others doing what you think is best for

  222. you it sounds good and it feels good and

  223. it feels true but if we recognize God's

  224. word as the supreme ultimate Authority

  225. in our lives then we have to decree that

  226. no Behavior no word or deed should ever

  227. be born from selfish

  228. desire and I wish it was that easy but

  229. we have this clever messaging in our

  230. culture that feeds into the self

  231. self-obsession and it's it's so nuanced

  232. and it's so in your face but you don't

  233. really know that it's not true I I just

  234. did a simple uh search of of my social

  235. media feed to look for for posts that

  236. had references to what we're talking

  237. about today and one that came up over

  238. and over again was one that said

  239. something to the line something in the

  240. line of you can't truly love others

  241. until you love yourself wh which is sort

  242. of true but it doesn't seem incomplete

  243. right it's missing something there's

  244. another one I saw it said treat yourself

  245. I like that one um and stuff like you

  246. deserve it you know like I'm awesome of

  247. course I deserve it you know it kind of

  248. appeals to that there's there's one that

  249. says like self-care is not selfish

  250. because you can't pour from an empty cup

  251. which is true 80% but you have to ask

  252. the question what is filling your cup

  253. what are they pointing you toward and

  254. then I saw one that said cut I was like

  255. cut out anyone in your life that does

  256. not manifest joy and I was like I

  257. wouldn't have kids if that was true

  258. they'd all be up for

  259. adoption man but it's it's deceptive

  260. messaging that tickles your ears because

  261. we are naturally lovers of self that's

  262. why the Bible says do not be a lover of

  263. self let's go to Second Timothy chapter

    2 Timothy 3 chapter mention

  264. 3

  265. second CH Timothy chapter 3 starting in

  266. verse

  267. one Paul talking to his Protegé Timothy

  268. who is started to Pastor a church and

  269. he's a young man probably a teenager

  270. early 20s at the oldest and he's

  271. pastoring this this church and Paul

  272. wants to give him some practical wisdom

  273. coming from the Holy Spirit he says know

  274. this Timothy hard times will come in the

  275. last days for people will be lovers of

  276. self lovers of money

  277. boastful proud demeaning disobedient to

  278. their parents ungrateful Unholy unloving

  279. irreconcilable slanderers without

  280. self-control brutal without love for

  281. what is good traitors Reckless conceited

  282. lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of

  283. God holding to a form get this a form of

  284. godliness but denying its power avoid

  285. these people it's a good word avoid

  286. these people he's talking about the

  287. people in the church as well as the

  288. community so Christians are not absolved

  289. from this conversation this is a

  290. horrifying phrase to me when it says

  291. lovers of self because it just hits so

  292. close to home like in our heads we know

  293. that we were created in the image of God

  294. to love God and enjoy him forever and

  295. part of that is serving other people I

  296. mean it's literally the mission

  297. statement of sa Creek Baptist Church

  298. which is love God and serve others but

  299. it's so scary to think that if I'm not

  300. walking circumspectly which is my wife's

  301. favorite word in the entire Bible um and

  302. it means that to watch or to look while

  303. walking so if I'm not taking account of

  304. my motives as I'm going through life and

  305. asking myself why am I making this

  306. decision then I could easily become a

  307. lover of self and in the church context

  308. this presents as a me centered

  309. ecclesiology it it's where the country

  310. club Church comes from it's those Sunday

  311. school groups that become restricted and

  312. it's that service evaluation team where

  313. people can be in a place worshiping with

  314. hundreds of other people and then at the

  315. end of the day if that service didn't

  316. speak directly to them they will go and

  317. say hey we have to change because this

  318. this is not for me it's those types of

  319. things that happen when we become lovers

  320. of self and I want you to know these are

  321. not horrible people these are not

  322. enemies these are people like you and I

  323. that just gradually become people who

  324. fall into this trap of prioritizing

  325. self-care over

  326. selflessness and friends the reason this

  327. is in your Bible is because God loves

  328. you he he's not trying to step on your

  329. toes today he's not trying to beat you

  330. up with the word of God what he's trying

  331. to do is expose something that is bad

  332. for you so as our culture has gone more

  333. and more into this self

  334. self-centeredness it has become the the

  335. most stressed out generation in all of

  336. human history that's the result of

  337. living for self when you live for self

  338. you cut off all the things that are good

  339. and it puts you on an island by yourself

  340. and when you're on an island by yourself

  341. that is when you get stressed out and

  342. anxious and depressed so the truth bomb

  343. is maybe our problem isn't that we don't

  344. love ourselves enough maybe our problem

  345. is is that we love ourselves too

  346. much they're never going to get an amen

  347. after these statements am I that's cool

  348. I

  349. understand Mark chapter

    Mark 12 chapter mention

  350. 12 says this is Jesus someone is like

  351. hey what's the most important command

  352. great question Jesus says love the Lord

  353. your God with all of your heart with all

  354. of your soul and with all of your mind

  355. and with all of your strength the second

  356. one is like it love your neighbor as

  357. yourself there is no command greater

  358. than these so first of all we need to

  359. learn to love God with all of our heart

  360. soul and strength secondly we also need

  361. to love our neighbor and they go on to

  362. ask well who is our neighbor because

  363. they're trying to limit that command as

  364. our neighbor in like a 10 mile radius of

  365. our house like they want to know

  366. specifics and so Jesus tells them the

  367. story of the Good Samaritan which the

  368. the point of that Parable is that um the

  369. the neighbor is anybody that has a need

  370. even if they look different than you and

  371. talk different than you that's what

  372. Jesus says so defining your neighbor is

  373. Broad it's everybody anybody that has a

  374. need that's in your sphere you should

  375. love so some of you are like well I

  376. don't love myself right I don't I don't

  377. love myself I I get stressed out too

  378. easily I cry over the silliest stuff I

  379. know people that hate their feet like

  380. lit they'll never be seen without socks

  381. on because they hate their feet They

  382. Don't Love themselves but I would argue

  383. that actually that that level of

  384. critical

  385. self-evaluation shows that you love

  386. yourself way too much otherwise you

  387. wouldn't notice these things so like in

  388. biblical counseling if someone comes in

  389. presenting with those kind of issues we

  390. would help them to see that it's their

  391. their the fact that they are so

  392. self-focused and they see the world

  393. through this myopic lens that it's

  394. actually what's causing them to feel

  395. like they don't love themselves when

  396. actually truth bomb they love themselves

  397. too to much so we give them the care

  398. they need uh to help them see themselves

  399. the way that Jesus does so notice in

  400. this passage Jesus doesn't command us to

  401. love ourselves here because it's kind of

  402. a given most of us naturally just love

  403. ourselves but there are people who

  404. legitimately do not love yourself and I

  405. just want you to to understand that you

  406. are fearfully and wonderfully made God

  407. knit you together in your mother's wound

  408. you were on God's mind at the creation

  409. of the universe you were the joy that

  410. was set before Jesus as he died on the

  411. cross you have dignity you have value

  412. you have purpose Jesus died for you so

  413. that you could be through faith adopted

  414. into his kingdom and become Sons and

  415. Daughters of God so do not ever look in

  416. that mirror and not love yourself

  417. because Jesus loved you for God so loved

  418. the world that's you that he gave his

  419. only begotten

  420. son so we have people that truly don't

  421. love themselves but for the most part

  422. many of us do so let's assume that we

  423. love ourselves as this passage is

  424. assuming he tells us then that we must

  425. love God so we can do that we can love

  426. self we can love God I mean after all

  427. God sacrificed his son because he loved

  428. us so much that those two things are

  429. really easy but then he says to complete

  430. what love actually looks like there's a

  431. another command and that command is to

  432. love your neighbor as yourself so to

  433. complete the greatest command it's has

  434. three things you love yourself you love

  435. God and you love your

  436. neighbor salvation is this beautiful

  437. celebration of

  438. submission so Jesus made this very

  439. difficult statement in Matthew chap 16

  440. ver 24 he was telling his disciples and

  441. other people that if you want to be my

  442. disciple you must do these things he

  443. says if anybody wants to follow after me

  444. that would mean that you love yourself

  445. and you love God right if you want to

  446. follow after me let him deny himself

  447. here's the hard part take up his cross

  448. and follow me so let the weight of that

  449. statement hit you you know I got people

  450. in my life they're like this is my cross

  451. to bear you know it's like I got a nosy

  452. neighbor oh it's my cross cross to bear

  453. I got a difficult math teacher oh it's

  454. my cross to bear they didn't give me my

  455. hot sauce with my tacos oh it's my cross

  456. to bear you know we use that phrase and

  457. we really take the meaning out of it

  458. when Jesus said this to his disciples

  459. when he says deny yourself and take up

  460. your cross the disciples likely gasp

  461. they're like is he serious does he even

  462. understand what he is asking us to do

  463. and the reason that the weight of that

  464. statement doesn't hit us is because a

  465. lot of us don't have the context for

  466. what it actually means you see 30 years

  467. earlier when Jesus was probably three or

  468. three to five years old there was a

  469. thing called a Jewish rebellion and you

  470. can read about it in uh Acts chapter 5

    Acts 5 chapter mention

  471. it's where the Jews Ro rose up against

  472. the Romans because of the the ludicrous

  473. taxes that they were being asked to pay

  474. to Rome and in this Uprising the Jews

  475. were

  476. absolutely slaughtered most most of them

  477. were killed but a lot of them were taken

  478. captive and those that were taken

  479. captive were led into the streets by the

  480. Roman centurions and commanded to take

  481. up their cross to take the Cross Beam

  482. and to March down the streets of their

  483. town to the other beam that was already

  484. in the ground or was laying beside the

  485. road and they would nail the two

  486. together and then hang the people on the

  487. cross on the side of the road as if they

  488. were human Billboards and Rome did this

  489. as a reminder to everybody that would

  490. see see this that if you rise up against

  491. the paana or the Roman peace this is

  492. what would become of you and your people

  493. and it's most likely that as Jesus was

  494. traveling as a young man from from

  495. Bethlehem to Nazareth to Jerusalem that

  496. he saw these people on the side of the

  497. road because history tells us that they

  498. were left up there for sometimes over a

  499. year as an example to the people that

  500. would see them so when Jesus says if you

  501. want to follow me take take up your

  502. cross this is a serious command but we

  503. should not react in

  504. horror the disciples didn't either

  505. because they understood they understood

  506. what was going on see we don't have to

  507. react in horror to that statement

  508. because we can actually take up our

  509. cross since Jesus Took up his cross

  510. before we did see Jesus went to Calvary

  511. for us so now our Act of taking up the

  512. cross is not going to the hill to pay

  513. the pr price for our sin that's already

  514. been paid for our Act is simply

  515. obedience following after Jesus

  516. following in his footsteps we can

  517. actually take up the cross and deny

  518. ourselves because Jesus already took up

  519. the cross for himself so serving others

  520. is not torture it's actually the

  521. expression it's a way to celebrate our

  522. Salvation because salvation is a

  523. celebration of

  524. submission it it's the moment where

  525. Jesus buries our old selfish life our

  526. old selfish ways when he forgives us of

  527. our sin and raises us to New Life with a

  528. new heart and a new attitude in two

  529. weeks we're going to have another

  530. baptism and I love baptism because of

  531. the symbology behind it the reason we

  532. dunk people in the water is because

  533. number one that's how they do it in the

  534. Bible but number two it's a picture of

  535. Jesus on the cross and Jesus in the

  536. grave and Jesus raised to life and then

  537. individually for us it's the symbol of

  538. how we were dead in our selfishness and

  539. our self-centeredness and our sin and

  540. then all of the sudden God comes into

  541. our life through faith and he washes Us

  542. in the blood of Jesus and he raises us

  543. to a new life in Christ where we have a

  544. new heart and a new

  545. attitude service though and this is

  546. where I want to dig in just a little bit

  547. because I know a lot of us are kind of

  548. thinking probably about other people

  549. that are selfish but I I want us to

  550. understand even in a church setting that

  551. our actual religious Services can become

  552. self-serving so for example last week

  553. there were those crazy winds like 23 M

  554. hour gusts and I decided to go to

  555. Walmart because I knew nobody would be

  556. there um so I'm at Walmart I get stuff

  557. and go back to my car and all of a

  558. sudden I see this person and they're

  559. like two just two spots down from where

  560. your your cart return thing so they put

  561. their groceries in their car and they

  562. leave their cart right there beside

  563. their car and I'm thinking 23 mph gust

  564. that thing is a

  565. missile the wind hits it right

  566. somebody's car is getting destroyed so

  567. you know what I did because I'm a good

  568. Christian because I'm a pastor and I

  569. represent Jesus in all that I do I went

  570. and I took that cart right in front of

  571. and I put it and the cart returned and I

  572. looked at them and I was like Praise

  573. Jesus that's not at all I did get the

  574. cart and I did put it in the cart return

  575. but that look had nothing about Jesus

  576. that look was shame on you horrible

  577. people get your life right go to church

  578. that's what that look

  579. was I just wanted to shame them publicly

  580. honestly that's just that's what

  581. happened in my heart in that moment and

  582. after like you know some time went by

  583. I'm like oh my goodness I did that for

  584. the wrong reasons but here's the point

  585. service service can actually be self

  586. serving which is why I love the story of

  587. Mary and Martha let's look at Luke chap

  588. 10

  589. now Luke chapter 10 we're going to jump

    Luke 10 chapter mention

  590. to Luke chap 10 verse

  591. 38 while they were traveling Jesus and

  592. his disciples they entered a village and

  593. a woman named Martha welcomed them into

  594. her home she had a sister named Mary who

  595. was also who sat at the Lord's feet and

  596. was listening to him but Martha was

  597. distracted by her many Works her many t

  598. asks and she came up and she asked Lord

  599. don't you even care that my sister has

  600. left me to serve alone so tell her to

  601. give me a hand and the Lord answered her

  602. Martha Martha you are worried and upset

  603. about many things but one thing is

  604. necessary Mary has made the right choice

  605. and it will not be taken away from her

  606. so you got the Marys and the Martha

  607. we've done this before but Marys are

  608. contemplative and Martha are active and

  609. Marys are like to talk and Martha's like

  610. to work and Mary's like to be and

  611. Martha's like to do and Mary's like to

  612. be in the presence of others and

  613. Martha's like to be preparing for others

  614. and Mary's are worried about the

  615. relationships and Martha's are worried

  616. about the responsibilities and let's be

  617. honest Marys generally annoy Martha okay

  618. just being honest but but which of the

  619. two does Jesus tell us to be most like

  620. in this story this true story what does

  621. he say who chose the good

  622. portion Mary did the good portion I like

  623. that I always think about the the corner

  624. Brownie and the tray you know cuz I love

  625. the corners like that to me and my

  626. worldview that's the good portion and so

  627. that's what Mary chose she shows the

  628. good portion there's still good brownie

  629. in the pan that's what Martha got but

  630. the good portion that that went to Mary

  631. because she made the right choice but

  632. and you would say but wait whoa whoa

  633. whoa Martha's get stuff done like Martha

  634. invited Jesus and by the way he had 82

  635. disciples at this point people following

  636. him so Jesus plus 82 to their house

  637. right and if it wasn't n for Martha then

  638. Mary never gets to set at the feet of

  639. Jesus so we could just justify this

  640. thing all day long but the truth is

  641. According To Jesus that Martha's service

  642. in this moment was actually

  643. self-serving doesn't it look great on

  644. the outside all the stuff that Martha

  645. did right it does yes it's good it's

  646. good work but in this moment that work

  647. was being done in a self centered way

  648. see service without Jesus will never

  649. lead you into happiness it'll never lead

  650. you into to meaningful relationships or

  651. daily purpose or inner peace because

  652. selfishness here's another truth bomm is

  653. the enemy of Happiness the enemy of

  654. relationships it's the enemy of purpose

  655. it's the enemy of peace I mean just look

  656. at how Martha reacted in her service it

  657. says she was distracted by much serving

  658. she's overextended she's like we have to

  659. get this stuff done

  660. and it says she went up to Jesus and

  661. said Lord do you not care so now she's

  662. frustrated she's like no one is working

  663. as hard as me then she said do you not

  664. care that my sister has left me to do it

  665. all alone now she's feeling isolated

  666. like she's the only one pulling her

  667. weight in the house and then she says to

  668. Jesus tell her to give me a

  669. command she speaks to the Son of God and

  670. commands him to do something for her

  671. that's how far irritated she is right

  672. she's bossing Around Jesus she's like

  673. Jesus if you would just make Mary help

  674. then I could have the dinner served if

  675. you would make Mary help I would have

  676. your laundry clean if you would make

  677. Mary Help the beds would be made and all

  678. the Martha is in the room I know you're

  679. not going to do it out loud but you're

  680. like you go girl

  681. right it's

  682. fine Jesus says in this moment in this

  683. context Martha Martha you are worried

  684. and upset what did I tell you what

  685. happened when we become self-serving

  686. Even in our Christian service when we do

  687. things for the wrong motives we become

  688. anxious stressed and depressed well

  689. guess what it's been that way for 2,000

  690. years look at this Martha Martha you are

  691. worried and you are upset about many

  692. things Jesus cares more about your heart

  693. than he does your hands and the reason

  694. it was so vital in this context for

  695. Martha also to set at the feet feat of

  696. Jesus is because Jesus knows that he's

  697. getting ready to go to the cross and

  698. these are two of his best friends in the

  699. world and if Martha spends the whole

  700. time doing Christian service and not

  701. sitting at the feet of Jesus then she is

  702. wasting this one last opportunity to sit

  703. there with one of her best friends and

  704. her Lord and Savior Jesus

  705. Christ so what's the point the point is

  706. that we need to learn to worship like

  707. like Mary before you work like

  708. Martha so if you

  709. worship if you worship which means that

  710. you're practicing self-care in a

  711. Biblical way worship is singing songs to

  712. Jesus worship is studying your Bible

  713. worship is preserving this beautiful day

  714. of rest called the Sabbath that God

  715. created for us worship is meditating on

  716. God's word if you're doing those things

  717. that act of self care in order to get

  718. yourself mentally and emotionally and

  719. physically and spiritually healthy so

  720. that you can then love God and serve

  721. others then that's no longer being

  722. selfish so we have to worship like Mary

  723. before we work like Mar

  724. Martha and you know what that does it

  725. sets you up to do something very

  726. important because the most important

  727. thing that you will ever do other than

  728. give your life to

  729. Jesus is to love other other people so

  730. I'm going invite the worship team up on

  731. the stage but as they're coming up here

  732. don't lose your concentration I want to

  733. go to Galatians chapter 2 verse

    Galatians 2:20

  734. 20 Galatians Chapter 2 verse2 Paul says

    Galatians 2 chapter mention

  735. I have been crucified with Christ and I

  736. no longer live but Christ lives in me

  737. the life I now live in the body I live

  738. by faith in the Son of God who loved me

  739. and gave himself for me life is no

  740. longer about me it's it's not about my

  741. wants or my desires or my wishes I'm

  742. dead to that sin I'm dead to myself I'm

  743. dead to my desires it's Christ that

  744. lives within me so when my selfish

  745. desires rise up and they say it's all

  746. about you Kevin you know what I say I

  747. say self you dead you might want to

  748. learn those three words I say self you

  749. dead when self says no you got to treat

  750. yourself

  751. you got to you got to fill yourself up

  752. so you can pour yourself I'm like nope

  753. self you dead I say Jesus killed you the

  754. day that I placed my faith in him self

  755. you are dead because Jesus put you down

  756. that day in elener West Virginia at

  757. ellar Baptist Church under the great

  758. hand of Reverend Panero when I got

  759. baptized in those Waters that was Jesus

  760. drowning my old self and raising me to a

  761. new life that part of me is dead self

  762. you are dead and I don't listen to dead

  763. people but you know who I do listen to

  764. people that used to be dead and came

  765. back to life they got something for me

  766. I'm going to be listening to what they

  767. say and that's exactly who Jesus is

  768. Jesus is Alive and Jesus tells me to

  769. love the Lord your God with all of your

  770. heart with all of your soul with all of

  771. your mind and with all of your strength

  772. and then he says the second command is

  773. so great to love your neighbor as

  774. yourself so one of the most important

  775. things that I'm ever going to do is to

  776. love my neighbor Jesus didn't call us to

  777. promote ourselves he called us to Humble

  778. ourselves Jesus didn't call us to pamper

  779. ourselves he called us to deny ourselves

  780. he did not call us to serve ourselves

  781. but to serve others to share the gospel

  782. with them to meet their practical needs

  783. both of those things at the same time he

  784. he called us to not put ourselves first

  785. but to put ourselves last he called us

  786. to not seek our own pleasure but to

  787. pursue God's purpose even when it hurts

  788. so maybe today you've located an area in

  789. your life where you have been selfish

  790. even in your Christian service maybe

  791. you've noticed an area where you are

  792. doing things and the wrong

  793. motives just listen to what God's truth

  794. says listen to what Jesus has to say he

  795. says look I've killed that part of you

  796. when you gave your life to me that part

  797. of you died you no longer live for self

  798. you live because Christ is in

  799. you so I'm going to ask you if you would

  800. to just kind of bow your head for a

  801. moment let's do some introspection

  802. before we pray and sing a worship

  803. song ask yourself it is

  804. life simply about me

  805. is it my

  806. wants is it my wishes is it my

  807. will or is it Christ that lives in

  808. me have I really truly allowed Jesus to

  809. kill that part of myself that sin

  810. selfish nature have I let him drown it

  811. in the baptismal Waters is it truly

  812. Christ that lives within me when that

  813. selfish side of me Rises up and it will

  814. every single day when it rises up and

  815. says you deserve this don't worry about

  816. them treat

  817. yourself am I able to say the word self

  818. you are

  819. dead do

  820. listen so today Father we

  821. pray I pray for

  822. myself because this is a battle that I

  823. face all the time

  824. I pray that today that you

  825. would put this scripture in my heart so

  826. I might not sin against you help me to

  827. dwell and meditate on the fact that I to

  828. love you with all my heart soul and

  829. strength but also to love my neighbor as

  830. well and and whatever that means

  831. whatever needs are in front of me

  832. whether it's a they need salvation they

  833. need an invite to church they need a

  834. handicap ramp built they need us to go

  835. all the way to the western part of the

  836. state and and help them to get back into

  837. their homes whatever that need looks

  838. like Lord I pray that we would be

  839. sensitive to it not out of selfish

  840. desire to prove ourselves or to show but

  841. Lord to to truly just want to show the

  842. love of Christ to people in very

  843. practical

  844. ways to tell them the

  845. truth so Lord I Thank you for a church

  846. that is built on this Foundation of

  847. selflessness and I know we all struggle

  848. but Lord we we seem to be doing a pretty

  849. decent job here but I know that the

  850. enemy hates that and so I pray that any

  851. that are having their hearts turned

  852. inward right now would then have their

  853. hearts turned outward that they would be

  854. outward focused looking for needs and

  855. opportunities living out this this

  856. command that you have given us to die to

  857. self to take up our cross and to serve

  858. other

  859. people Lord I pray that a Revival would

  860. start in this

  861. community and Lord that you would allow

  862. us to just be a part of it and we know

  863. for that reeval Bible to start we have

  864. to start focusing on the truth of God's

  865. word so this month as we dig into these

  866. difficult truths I pray that you would

  867. help us to see that these These are good

  868. prescriptive words for us that will

  869. simply help us live life in abundance so

  870. father as we worship you today with this

  871. last song if there are any in this room

  872. that that need to just pray where

  873. they're at and say self you are

  874. dead I pray that you would give them the

  875. courage to do that Lord if there are any

  876. that need to come up to the altar or

  877. even pray with me I pray that you would

  878. give them the the boldness to step out

  879. and do what the holy spirit is command

  880. you to do in these moments Lord have

  881. your way freely in our hearts in Jesus

  882. holy and precious name I pray

  883. amen let's stand and worship together

  884. [Music]

  885. you're

  886. the that

  887. my

  888. [Music]