Sunday Message - Pastor Steve Sumner (March 03, 2013) | Life Bible Church

blessed as a house when they come to bring their

love and their care. They're just very real people

that really love Jesus and say, Lord, whatever

I have, come and use it to bless the house. Amen.

And I want to welcome Steve Sumner from Shiloh

Church in Oakland. Let's give him a warm life

Bible. Welcome as he comes to the platform. Hallelujah.

Yes, sir. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Let's just

lift our hands to the Lord, amen. Thank you,

Jesus. We thank you for your presence here. Lord,

we thank you, Lord, that your word says that

the rich you send away empty, but the hungry

you fill with good things, Lord. And we say,

we're hungry, O God. We're hungry, Lord. We're

hungry for more of you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Bless your people today. Amen. You may be seated

in the presence of the Lord. Amen. Let's just

give the Lord a hand, clap, amen. Thank you.

Thank you pastor Anthony I just want to thank

you and on behalf of your pastors pastors Brad

and Jen who are traveling to Cambodia Just continue

to I know I know you will but to remember them

in your prayers this week as they travel We prayed

for them in the first service, but just remember

them as special emphasis as you pray this week

that the Lord would cover them we Portia, myself,

Stephen, our son, we just want to thank you for

your hospitality, your love, Pastor Anthony Alton,

all of the staff and everyone here, thank you.

You guys make us feel so much at home. How many

of you know that no matter where you go, where

you travel, that where the Spirit of the Lord

is, there's liberty and freedom. And you could

go to the ends of the earth and you could be

connected to people you don't even know you never

met But when the Spirit of the Lord is he there

he breaks down barriers and it's like you've

known them your entire life And so we feel that

way. That's the kingdom of God. God does that

amen And so thank you pastor Alton for giving

me a new title of my sermon. The price is right

Portia, thank you III heard that and I was like,

well, you know, that's a great title of this

word. The price is right And this is my wife,

Portia. We've been married 24 years. We'll be

married 20, 25 years next January. And our son,

Steven, he's 20 years of age and we have a whole

host of other kids that live with us. Steven's

our only biological son. He's a miracle. Portia,

when she had a surgery several years ago, she

had some complications and they had to take out

one of her ovaries. And the doctor says, it's

a miracle that you ever even got pregnant. And

so... Anyhow, I just appreciate and how many

just appreciate the Spirit of God and what he's

already done here Even the word that pastor Anthony

has has given God has done so much But how many

of you are greedy any greedy people in here you're

greedy You want more amen and so we're gonna

share the word of the Lord. Let's just pray Lord

We just thank you for your word that your word

comes and it gives us life Lord. It's for us.

It comes and strengthens us And Lord, we just

thank you. Let your life and your breath be upon

your word today. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

And as your pastor, Pastor Brad, has been preaching,

you've been teaching on worship. Song that we

sang today step out our church had the opportunity

to do a new worship CD And so if you like to

we have some CDs that we brought and it'll bless

you and your family They're at the table. There's

a cost to these we brought them from the church,

but that song step out and There's a there's

a guitar solo on that song for for you that love

rock and guitars. It's on there And so this is

kind of a rocky album here rock and roll And

our church had the opportunity to do this in

their original songs. There's another song by

Portia and then our own worship pastor at the

church and other ones. And so dudes, why don't

you catch this for me and give it away to somebody

who wants that CD. But worship, amen. The price

is right. Now turn to your neighbor and look

at him. Turn to your neighbor. Get out your bony

prophetic finger. Point it in your chest. See,

got you. You already pointed at them. No, no

pointing of the finger. Put it in your chest

and look at your neighbor and tell them, say,

you look great, but I see you in the future and

you look a whole lot better than you do right

now. Amen. Come on. That's what God has for us.

When he looks at you and he sees us, he says,

you look great, but his future is better, his

more. God has more for us in the future. I mean,

you know that God doesn't want us to settle into

as pastor and he doesn't want us just to camp

out, but God, he allows. times of refreshing

to come to us to enlarge us, to refuel us, to

refill us, to refresh us so that what we could

take off and that we can soar. How many of you

know that serving God is not a hundred yard dash?

It's a marathon. It's a marathon. Amen. And God

gives us the ability to endure, to persevere.

And one way to do that is through our worship.

of the King. So turn with me in your Bible. I'm

going to try to speed up here and get through

this word quickly. And then we're going to have

the worship team. Let's give it up for the worship

team. Amen. They've done an outstanding job.

All of the musicians, the background singers.

Steve, I know I keep stepping in front of these

monitors here and I can't hear myself. If you

can give me a little more juice on them. They've

done a wonderful job and we're going to end with

worship. But here in Mark chapter 14, and this

Mark 14 · chapter mention

passage is also for those of you that like to

take notes and it's good to take notes because

a short pencil is better than a long memory.

Amen. It's good to tell so this passage is also

found in in Matthew 26 and also Luke chapter

Luke 7 · chapter mention

7 We're gonna bounce around in it, but this passage

But I remember when I when I got saved what worship

did for my life I'm the I shared my testimony

last time I was here, but I was a drug addict

even though I was raised in a home I had great

parents I come from a family of ten children

four dogs two parents three bedrooms if you can

imagine that Really we did Four of my sisters

were in one small bedroom with double bunks.

Let's see, three of my brothers were in the other

bedroom with a bunk and a bed. And then my parents'

room had myself, my younger brother and my older

brother. And there were two cribs on the side

of the king bed, and my older brother slept in

the king bed with my parents. And so, anyhow,

that's just how it was. We were a Catholic family.

My and my mother her her maiden name is Schmidt

she she came from North Dakota and then her and

her mother moved to California into Oakland back

in the 40s actually my mother graduated from

the same high school So here it was I'm in high

school and at this Catholic high school I'm smoking

pot doing drugs playing sports doing all this

and I see my mother I mean walk down the hall

you see your mother looking at you You know,

it's like seeing Mother Mary or Jesus, you know,

no, no, but anyhow, but I would see my mother.

There's my 19th class of 1943 graduating class,

Florence Schmidt, and she was from, from North

Dakota. And so, but anyhow, we were raised in

a, in a great home, but you know, it just needed

Jesus. Even though we had a little bit of knowledge

of Jesus, it was just crazy. It was, there was

just, anyhow, you get the picture. But as a teenager,

my oldest sister, The first born, she was my

godmother Rosemary. She was the first one to

get born again and saved. And she, my sister

Rosemary was a cosmetologist. She did hair. And

so she worked at this beauty salon. And here

on a street in Oakland comes Dr. Violet Kitely.

To get her hair done and so she meets my sister

Rosemary and Rosemary starts to do Pastor violets

hair and rose and pastor violet starts to witness

to my sister about Jesus and my sister Rosemary

is the first in the family to get born again

and saved and so she goes to this church called

Shiloh back then it was Shiloh temple Then it

became Shiloh Christian Fellowship. Now, it's

this Shiloh church, but she gets saved born again

and filled with the Holy Spirit and she's starting

to pray for our family. Now there's 10 of us

and so Rosemary is the first, I'm the ninth but

she's my godmother because I didn't by the time

I grew up I didn't have any aunts and uncles

because they were all deceased or anyhow it's

just the way it was and so Rosemary I was special

to Rosemary because I mean you know when you

have a lot of kids you parents you rely on the

older kids to kind of parent your younger kids

and so That's how it is those of you from big

families know that and so Rosemary was like my

second mom And so she was praying for me and

I was 19 years of age I knew about Jesus from

my upbringing But I was full of drugs and and

hurt and pain from just my childhood And so she

was praying for me to come to church and so I

I says well What do I have to lose to give God

a chance in my life? And I mean, you know that

God will bring you to those places of misery

and desperation Because he loves you And he has

more. And also, and I shared this last time,

all of us are products of prayer. Just think

about it. I got saved because someone prayed

for me. My sister cried out to God. So don't

ever diminish your prayers for people that...

you're praying for, whether they're siblings

or unsaved loved ones, family members to pray

for them, because I'm the product of prayer.

My mother, I told someone before, my mother in

high school, she, I went to a parochial school

and we couldn't afford the tuition. So my mother,

she was retired, but she was a retired RN. She

was a nurse. My mother worked graveyard. She

worked from 11 to seven every day and raised

10 kids. And so basically her life was a life

of sacrifice. And so here she volunteered at

my high school as the nurse of the school to

to help pay my tuition. And I was sitting there

getting loaded and just doing crazy stuff. And

I remember a teacher coming. She said, Steven,

you know, your mother, when your mother talks

about you, all she does is cry because she doesn't

know what to do. All she does when she thinks

about you is cry and praise. And my parents were

devout. Now, my parents were devout. They went

to mass every morning, six a .m. They got up

every morning and then they embraced the charismatic

movement. My dad. Really, his roots came from

Amy simple McPherson. He remembers times in his

life where he was a little boy down in Southern

California. He was in these meetings and he remembers

people speaking in tongues and getting healed

and getting up out of wheelchairs. And so he

remembered that. And so this is where I came

from. And so here I am in Shiloh and these people

are playing guitars. They're jumping around,

dancing, spinning, you know, and it's it's wild.

These people are too happy. No one could be that

happy. I want to be miserable. I want to be depressed.

I want to be mad. I want to be, I want to stay

stuck. Come on. You know how you are. You want

to, sometimes you want to stay stuck in your

misery. But I remember the power of God's presence

in worship. I remember sitting in the backside.

He was on the left side of the sanctuary in the

back. And I remember just opening up my heart

and starting to sing. I had never sung before.

Sing? Come on. Guys don't sing. You know, we

don't sing. We're, you know, we're guys, you

know, we don't open up our heart. We don't cry.

We don't do this stuff. You know, that's for

the ladies. That's for sissies. But I remember

the presence of God touching my heart and opening

up my heart and lifting up my hands and singing

and the presence of God coming and washing and

renewing and filling me and coming and trying.

That was the birthing of the transformation because

I didn't know how to change. I didn't know how

to stop doing the things I was doing. But you

know, when you open up your heart to God, how

many know that the word of God says Jesus in

Revelations one, it says Jesus first loved us

and then he washed us. Jesus doesn't wash you

first. He doesn't wash you and then love you.

No, he loves you and then he washes you. That's

the scripture in revelations 1 4 I believe it

is he he loves us and so this love of Jesus started

to overwhelm my soul and I started to worship

and as I worshiped guess what happened the washing

came and the transformation came and and and

those areas in my life that I thought I would

never have victory in God started to change and

I was like wow This is a miracle. This is a miracle

for me to change and so how many no God brings

victory in your life And so that was the start

of my process in worship. So I'm a worshiper.

You're a worshiper. God makes us worshippers.

How many of you love the presence of God? And

that's what the focus is of worship. And it's

tied in with the word. How many of you know you

can't just worship? You can't be a one -winged

bird. If you're just a one -winged bird, you

just flap around. How many of you know you need

balance? You need what? Worship. Praise and worship.

You also need prayer in the word. You need to

have balance We need to have a what to have a

two -winged bird So what that you can soar and

so as we look into the word in this passage here

in mark 14 It says that it was the feast of the

Passover and the feast of the unleavened bread

Jesus was on his way to the cross now Jesus is

on his way to die in The this passage and it

says the Pharisees are trying plotting to kill

him But they say no because of the feast and

then if you look down to verse 10 it says right

after this story of this Exuberant worship which

we're going to look at from verses 2 through

8 It says that after this story his very own

Disciple Judas betrayed him. So this is the backdrop

of the story on his way to the cross on his way

to death His very own person, His very own friend,

His very own disciple is going to betray Him.

But yet there's a story of exuberant worship.

And it says that He was in the town of Bethany.

Now Bethany means misery. He was in the town

of misery. Now aren't you so glad that Jesus

is not intimidated by misery? He's not intimidated

by our doubts or our fears. Jesus is so secure

in who He is as God. That no no matter what the

situation God's not intimidated by any fears

doubts He just he's got and so he comes into

the town of misery and there's this gentleman

named Simon who's a Pharisee God's not intimidated

by religious people come on some of us can get

religious at times we can allow that Pharisaical

spirit to come upon us even though we're saved

filled with the Holy Spirit We have to be careful

that we don't what Pharisees what they just had

the the Letter of the law and they had the pointing

of the finger. Sometimes we could have spiritual

prejudice in our life We could be around church

We get a little bit ingrown and we start to point

the finger if something is not the way we like

it Oh, the music's too loud or this or that come

on We get caught up onto a lot of externals that

don't really matter a whole lot in the kingdom

of God But that's what happens is when you get

ingrown and you don't allow the flow of the spirit

How many know that the healthiest people are

people that pour themselves out? that serve Do

you know there's a study of people that that

live the longest and live the healthiest? Sometimes

people say, okay, when I get to a certain age,

I'm going to retire. And they retire. How many

of you know there's no retirement in God? Come

on, you're never going to retire. So from God,

amen. But sometimes people think, okay, I'm going

to get to this age and I'm going to have this

money. I'm going to stop doing anything. I'm

just going to live for myself. I'm going to just

go out and play golf, fish, hunt, do whatever.

And those people end up dying very shortly afterwards.

But they find out people that Serve that give

themselves away to other people that continue

they live healthy long lives And that's a that's

an illustration to us in the kingdom of God that

you stay healthy as you allow an outflow But

when you become ingrown and that's what Pharisees

they became ingrown you become critical pointing

of the finger until this is the story Jesus comes

to Bethany the house of misery and there Simon

the Pharisee who had leprosy so You had misery,

you had a Pharisee, and you had leprosy. And

I told the other servants, I'm not going to rap

to you, but come on, it all rhymes together.

It's a pretty miserable place. Now, who would

want to be invited to this supper? It's probably

a pretty sad supper. Come on, you're in the house

of misery with a Pharisee who had leprosy. Now,

come on, leprosy, you wouldn't even go there.

In those days, if someone had leprosy, you wouldn't

even go to their house. They were marked. That's

like someone with AIDS. You know, in our day,

you're like, oh, that's homosexual, that fag.

He's gay Yeah, right. Well, that's the big taboo

in our day Right. I know we don't agree but God

doesn't hate homosexual. He hates the homosexuality,

but he doesn't hate people That's a big prejudice

in our day, especially where we live. Come on.

I live in the heart of I live in San Francisco

Right. So that's what that's what leprosy was

like. That was that's Come on, you wouldn't even

go. So here's Jesus. He's really breaking down

all the barriers. Come on. Jesus is on the way

of the cross and now he's going to stop and hang

out with the Pharisee who had leprosy. And so

here he is sitting down and it says there was

a woman that came in that had an alabaster box

of. Worship of ointment. And she just broke it

upon. the head of Jesus, she just poured it out.

This, this oil, this ointment that represented

a year's worth of wages and whatever you make

in a year, how they're small and big. That's

what it was. That's what it was worth. And she

says, you know, my worship, it doesn't matter.

The price is right. Jesus is the price. And I

have to get to Jesus. We sang about stepping

out of the boat today, stepping out, stepping

in to the promise. I believe you, God, for the

impossible. Come on, how many of you have some

impossible situations that you're facing? But

you know that faith is the currency of the kingdom

of heaven? Come on, we sang that. That's why

that song is so wonderful, because we all have

to come to God on the basis of faith. Faith is

the currency of heaven you receive everything

from God on the basis of your faith That's why

it's important to have the word in you because

faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word

of God It produces faith inside of you. And so

we have faith we believe you God for the impossible

here This woman is and she wasn't invited to

the men's party It was a men's party. She was

a woman. There was great social class there.

She wasn't allowed to come in there She could

have been slapped stone beat ridiculed, but she

doesn't care. She says, I'm going to go to Jesus

and she breaks this alabaster box. Now, come

on, she could have just it was worth a year's

wages. She could have said, it's not worth all

that. You know, my worship doesn't really take

all that. It doesn't take that much. You know,

I can just I can just get by with 10 percent.

Come on, you know, it's like a tithe. Come on,

10 percent. She could have just taken 10 percent

of the oil and save the 90 percent. Or she could

have said, OK, God, you're you're you're worthy

of 25 % I'm gonna keep 75 % back for myself or

she go, okay God I'm gonna give you half, you

know, but I'll keep this other half for me But

no, it says that she just broke it She broke

it all come on Isn't Jesus worthy of it all and

she dumped it out now. She didn't just She just

didn't do it before Jesus. She did it to Jesus

Come on say I'm gonna do it to Jesus. Our worship

is not as we say. It's not come on. It's not

a show It's nothing that we do before God, but

our worship is something that we do to God and

God responds to our worship. Come on, isn't that

the kind of worship you want, the kind of worship

that you do to God that causes him to respond

to you? And so her faith was God, I'm going to

give it all to you. I'm going to break this.

I don't care what the cost is. I don't care if

it was worth 10 years wages. It's still not enough

for you because Jesus, she had a revelation of

the beauty of Jesus. And so she just poured it

on him dumped it on his head and just she's just

come on It's coming. No worship can get messy.

Come on. Can you get this picture in your mind?

She's you know, if you had hair More hair than

I have or less here what it doesn't matter But

she's dumping it and she's I think Jesus had

longer hair probably had a beard and you know

The Bible says that's what the the anointing

is like right in Psalms 133 it says how Good

and how pleasant it is for us to dwell together

in unity. That's why the devil hates unity He

fights unity. He tries to divide us from within

kingdoms can only be Destroyed from within think

about your own life, right? God comes to bring

unity in your own world and your own come on.

How many guys Sometimes even your own life you

feel like you can be two and three different

people sometimes come on there come on you just

be honest with me right because he comes to unite

you and bring Solidify your heart to fear the

Lord is what the scripture says and so says beholden

how good and how pleasant it is for us to dwell

together in unity because it's like the anointing

oil that was poured upon Aaron's head and it

ran down his beard and I ran down his garment

Psalms one it says there the Lord commands the

blessing. And it says, it's also going to be

like the dew of Herman. So what the dew of Herman,

that's the, that speaks of us of refreshing.

God comes to refresh us. And so here it was,

she did this. And as she did this, the Pharisees

and the other men there, they started to say,

we could have sold this for more than 300 dinari.

This this could have been there. What a waste

is what they said. They said this is a waste

You know this worship doesn't take all that We're

giving too much of our time in the service to

worship. We need to get to the word Portia says

she yeah, even the jar was worth something. She

didn't worry about the the alabaster jar She

just broke that too. Come on. It was the the

oil and the jar the whole shebang And so they

said, why is she doing this? Why is this exuberant

worship taking place? And then Jesus looked at,

Jesus said, leave her alone. Jesus, I think,

got a little bit indignant here. He said it with

a little force behind him. Like he may have just

said, be quiet or shut up or leave her alone.

Because what she's doing to me is a beautiful,

one translation says, what she's doing to me

is a beautiful thing. And that's what our worship

is. It's beautiful. to Jesus. That's what we're

doing. We're worshipping him. We're we're we're

lavishing our praise and our love all the areas

of our life. And he says, the poor you're going

to have with you always. But me, you won't have

with me. And he was talking about the cross.

And you think about it. What is the time frame

of our worship? There's a story of a lady. She

was working for a company and the employer wanted

to Give her the option of going into early retirement

and so she wasn't sure she'd been working for

this company for a long time and she wasn't sure

if she should take the the The deal that they

were offering and just take the money and go

for early retirement or should she wait out?

Another five ten years and so she went to her

pastor. She said pastor. I'm struggling with

this decision What should I do? And so the pastor

he prayed and he came back to her and he says

well Miss miss Smith I think you should just

go ahead and take, take it now, take the settlement

now. And that's what I think the Lord wants you

to do. And so they prayed and that's what she

felt she was to do. So she did that. And as it

turns out, five to 10 years later, this woman

suffered some illness and she didn't even know

her own name. She had a dementia and illness

that came upon her. So what's the point of is

not so much her illness, but the opportunity

that we have is now. The opportunity we have

to pour our treasure boxes upon Jesus is now

we don't have tomorrow You know, you're you're

not promised tomorrow. We can't say oh next week

I'm gonna do this or you know when I get this

right with my life or when this happens Or well,

you know, we want to make plans. We said wait

God when this is when you do this Then I'm gonna

do this. No now everyone say now is the time

now is the time for us to worship with exuberant

worship, amen so we're gonna look at this story

here from another passage and Clip over in your

Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 7 because

Luke 7 · chapter mention

I really like this story in the book of Luke

The way he says it so here it is in Luke 7 I

believe it's chapter our verse 37 36 and It says

one of the Pharisees. I like the way Luke says

he says a woman from the city who was a sinner.

Come on. How many of you know that Jesus likes

sinners? He likes, you know what? He likes you

and you're a sinner. Whether you like it or not,

you are. Okay. Now we don't practice sin, but

come on. We're sinners saved by grace. Amen.

So here was this woman who, who was identified

as a sinner of the city. And so Simon says to

come down and sit. And it says that this woman,

she's Come on, just get the picture here. So

Jesus is at Simon's house with the boys and they're

sitting down eating and this woman is on the

outskirts. She's probably looking through the

doorway or looking through the window. Now, she's

not invited to this party, but yet she has faith.

If I could just do something to Jesus, it's going

to change my life. And she's probably sitting

there, probably contemplating. All of the doubts,

the fears, the unbelief, what are they going

to think about me? Because once I step through

that threshold and get out into the open, there's

no turning back. There's going to be the opinions

of men, there's going to be ridicule, there's

going to be all these thoughts, these accusations.

But you know what? Her worship, she didn't care.

Come on, how many know that you have to have

a I don't care what people think about me type

of worship? And it says that she came behind

Jesus and she fell at His feet. And it says that

she began to cry. She began to weep. She wept.

And then she washed Jesus' feet with her tears.

She wiped His feet with her hair. She kissed

His feet with her mouth. And she anointed His

feet with oil. And as she was doing this exuberant

worship, Simon says within himself, how many

of you guys talk to yourself? Come on. Now, if

you start talking back to yourself after you

talk to yourself, then we'll let you see Pastor

Anthony or somebody. But come on, how many of

you talk to yourself? So Simon is talking to

himself and he says, if this man truly were a

prophet, if he really was the son of God, he

would know what type of woman this is. And Jesus

knows what he's thinking. That's even scarier.

How many know that God knows your thoughts? Come

on, he knows your thoughts. He knows what you're

thinking and he's still not intimidated. How

many know if we were to display all of your thoughts

from yesterday, the good, the bad, the ugly,

how many here would, everything that went through

your mind, would you stay and watch the show?

How do you would run for cover? No, no. So Jesus

knows our thoughts. So he knows what Simon is

thinking and he turns to Simon and He says, Simon,

I'm going to tell you a story. He says there

was a story. There was a story of a creditor

who had two debtors and one of the debtors owed

500 denarii, which is over a year's wages, and

the other owed 50. But the debtors had nothing

whereby to repay the creditor. But the creditor

freely forgave both of their debts. He says,

Simon, which one? is going to love or be more

appreciative of what the creditor did and Simon

said the one whom more was forgiven and Jesus

says Simon you have answered correct come on

let's think about that to the revelation that

you have of how much God has forgiven you That's

going to be the level of your worship. And my

prayer to God is, God, let me always remember

the price that was paid for my salvation. Let

me always have lavish love for you. Let me always

have wonderful worship to you. Let me always,

let me never grow cold in my understanding or

my revelation of the price that was paid for

my salvation. Let that produce exuberant joy

and exuberant love out of my life. And that's

what God wants. He says this to Simon to get

him to understand and then he he looks at the

woman While he's still talking to Simon and he

says Simon. Do you see this woman? He says I

came into your house and you gave me no water

For my feet, but this woman has not ceased to

wash my feet with her tears He says Simon. Do

you see this woman? You greeted me with no kiss

which was the custom of the day But this woman

has not ceased to kiss my feet out of love Do

you see this woman Simon you gave me no oil for

my head? But this woman has anointed my feet

with precious costly oil I tell you Simon her

sins that are many are Forgiven and then he says

to me he says go in peace your faith has saved

you Your faith. Come on, this woman, this act

of faith. Worship is an act of faith. Our worship

is an act of faith. Sometimes you think we feel

like singing songs? Do you just get out of bed

in the morning? This is the day. This is the

day. No, sometimes you got to kick yourself in

the rear and say, come on. Flesh, come on. You

got to say it's a faith act. Come on. How many

of you know that your feelings will catch up?

You know that sometimes you do it because it's

based upon God's Word you base you do it out

of obedience to the Word of God You do it because

God says to do it and you don't worry about your

feelings. What did we think? I'm not gonna live

by what I see I'm not gonna live by what I feel

Right, isn't that what we said and that was the

act of faith That was the act of faith of this

woman and it brought her what it saved her Her

faith saved her. Her worship saved her. And it

didn't just save her, but it also brought peace

to her. Now, in this story, Jesus declares back

in Mark, he says, wherever this gospel is preached,

what this woman has done is going to be remembered

with the sharing of the gospel. You go ahead

and read it read it in in mark 14 read it in

in Matthew 26 what wherever the good news of

the gospel is preached What this woman has done

for me as an act of worship is also going to

be told as a memorial to her Come on. This is

Jesus talking This is this is Jesus's prophecy

about this woman and so mark I'm not mark, but

John if you look at John chapter 11 when Jesus

John 11 · chapter mention

is going to to Mary and Martha's house when,

when Lazarus is sick, he's dead. John chapter

John 11 · chapter mention

11, verse two, it says, this is the Mary who

anointed Jesus's feet with oil. So John echoes

the voice of Jesus. John declares that this is

the Mary that worshiped. With exuberance you

see how powerful this is. This is throughout

the Bible So turn with me over two chapters or

three chapters to Luke chapter 10 and we see

Luke 10 · chapter mention

another unfolding of Mary Worshipping Jesus Luke

Luke 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, you know the story very well and

then we're going to I'm gonna share another verses

of Scripture and we're going to worship and close

the service but We know this passage. This is

the story of Mary and Martha. It says verse 30.

It says now it happened as they went that he

entered a certain village. I think it was the

village of misery again and a certain woman named

Martha welcomed him into her house and she had

a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus's

feet and heard his word worship. Think about

it Mary and Martha are both sitting at Jesus's

feet Worshipping hearing his word, but if you

look at their names what their names Martha and

Mary Their names are derived from the same root

word. It means rebellion It comes from the root

word Miriam in the Old Testament. How many of

you have some rebellion in you? Come on. There's

some rebellious areas in your life Both of these

sisters had it This rebellion come we do we have

that nature in us that doesn't want to do what

God wants us to do But they're sitting at the

feet of Jesus and God wants to transform their

nature. But Martha gets distracted with much

serving. Come on, how many of you know some people

that are all there? And sometimes we could be

like that. We want to deal with our issues through

being busy. Doesn't work. We want to deal with

our issues that we have through serving. You

know anybody that wants to serve? There was a

young man that used to serve in our church. I

was like, Vernon, just sit down and be still.

Let God touch you, but he was always running

around the church busy busy duty duty. That's

good. That's good. There's nothing wrong with

serving But God wants you to serve from a heart

of worship Because there's something more that

God wants to do in your life Vernon There's a

deeper place that God wants to go and it's only

going to be on this area of rebellion in your

life It's only going to be driven out by sitting

at Jesus's feet not through serving It's not

that serving is not important. We need to serve.

I'm not saying don't serve. We need to serve.

Jesus said what? A servant is the greatest. Hear

me correctly. But it's the priority. What is

the priority? Because if we're just a Martha

and not a Mary, then we're not going, we're going

to serve in the wrong attitude. How many has

ever served, found someone doing something, but

they do it in a bad attitude? You know, if Portia

ever asked me to do something and I do it in

a bad attitude, she'll say to me, I wish she

just wouldn't do it. Right. All right. Have you

ever asked your wife to do something she doesn't

have bad at? Right. Come on. We want to serve

what out of out of worship. That's why we serve.

And so Jesus looks at Martha. Listen what Martha

says in verse 40. He says, Martha, you're distracted

with much serving. But first, Martha complains

to Jesus, Jesus, this is not fair, Jesus. Aren't

you concerned that I'm the only one serving?

Look, I'm doing all this work, work, but Mary

is just sitting at your feet. In renewal time.

She's just floating around. I won't even go there.

Let me just get back to the verse here. Verse

40, but Martha was distracted with much serving

and she approached him and said, Lord, don't

you care that my sister has left me to serve

alone? Therefore tell her to help me. And Jesus

says to her. Martha, Martha, you are worried

and troubled about many things, but one thing

is needed. And Mary has chosen that good part,

which will not be taken away from her. She chose

it. Come on, say we got to choose it. You have

to choose it. She chose the one. Everyone say

one thing. She's chosen the one thing and it's

the best thing and it's not gonna be taken away

from her and it's the same way in our life that

we could choose the best thing and the best thing

and The highest thing is to be at the feet of

Jesus There's a song we used to sing about worship

at his footstool and worship at his footstool

There's so many songs and you read the Psalms

as talks about worship at the footstool There's

another song we used to sing that down at your

feet. Oh Lord. It's the most high place When

we humble ourselves Before the Lord guess what

in his grace and his mercy he he lifts us up

and This was the place of worship. You know,

I was preparing for this thinking about the price

is right There's a story in the book of Ruth

there's another woman and we know this in Ruth

Ruth 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 Turn this and we're gonna we're gonna

wrap up here in Ruth the book of Ruth chapter

Ruth 3 · chapter mention

3. There's the story Naomi and Ruth and we know

this Ruth was a Moabite Moabite means the house

of incest Moab came from when the daughters of

Lot had had sex with their daughter and that

the son was named Moab and so it came from this

and the Moabites were not a part of Israel's

lineage or heritage and this is where where Naomi

And her husband, it says in the beginning of

Ruth, it says that there was a famine in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem means the house of bread. And it says

there was a famine in Bethlehem. And so they

journeyed down to Moab. And we know the story.

What happened? Her husband died. The two sons

took wives of Moab, Ruth, and the other wife.

And the two sons died and all that Naomi was

left with was her two daughter -in -laws. And

we know the story how Ruth clave unto Naomi and

says, no, where you go, I'm going to go. Where

you dwell, I'm going to dwell. Your people are

going to be my people. Your God is going to be

my God. And we know the story. And then when

she comes back into the house of bread, they

find out that there's a kinsman redeemer named

Boaz. And Boaz. represents Jesus in our life.

He's the one. And in Ruth chapter three, let

me just, for the sake of time, let me get through

this, but I want to share these scriptures about

being at the feet of Jesus. And let me just read

this in Ruth 3 .3. It says, Naomi's talking to...

Ruth and says therefore wash yourself and anoint

yourself put on your best garment and go down

to the threshing floor But do not make yourself

known to the man until he has finished eating

and drinking Then it shall be when he lies down

that you will notice the place where he lies

and you will go in and uncover His feet everyone

say feet and Lie down and he will tell you what

you should do and she said and he and she said

to her all that you say to me I will do. Can

you make that declaration to the Lord? All that

you say to me, I will do. That's obedience. And

this was an act of obedience. Come on. It's the

same story here with Ruth. Ruth going in and

uncovering a mature man's feet. She could have

been stoned. She could have been killed. Boaz

was a noble man of his city and this was another

act of faith. This was another act of worship

She had to be obedient, but it was crazy Exuberant

worship it required her to do something that

she had to risk it all so to speak This was the

back to this was her act. It wasn't just like,

you know skipping along the Hill and Dale to

get there. No, this was life and death worship

Verse five and she said to her all that you say

to me I will do verse six so she went down to

the threshing floor and did according to all

that her mother -in -law instructed and after

Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was cheerful

and he went and lied down at the end of the heap

of the grain and she came softly and uncovered

his feet which speaks to us of progression and

Laid down and it happened at midnight that the

man was startled and turned to himself And there

a woman was lying at his feet. And he said to

her, Who are you? So she answered, I am Ruth,

your maid servant. Take your maid servant under

your wing, for you are a close relative. That

was her worship. That was her song. I told the

first service as a song and that I think Portia

wrote one verse 10. And he says, Then he said

to her, Blessed are you. of the Lord, my daughter,

for you have shown me more kindness at the end

than at the beginning and that you did not go

after young men, whether poor or rich. And now,

my daughter, do not be afraid, for I will do

for you all that you request for all the people

of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.

It was her worship. Dudes of you in the worship

team if you guys want to just make your way back

to the stage because we're gonna end here with

a time of worship But the point I'm bringing

out is it was at the feet of Jesus. It was at

the feet Uncovering the feet the feet speak of

our walk. They speak of our progression And this

is was the act that Ruth did And Boaz responses

that everything that you're requiring everything

that you want everything that you're requesting

of me I'm going to do it for you How many know

that when your ways please the Lord and your

worship? There's not anything the scripture says

no good thing will he withhold from them Psalm

84 11 no good thing will he withhold from them

that walk up rightly Now Think about the story

back in Luke and I want to share this and we're

gonna worship Portia We'll share a little bit

and we're just gonna worship here, but you know

the part back in Luke chapter 7 verse 38 Where

Luke 7:38

it says Mary it says she wept And then she had

tears and she washed and she wiped and she kissed

and she anointed Think about that. There's five

W's I wrote down she wept she had a cry What

is God saying to us? He wants a cry to come forth

in our life that produces a moisture of the spirit

that washes that wipes away That brings us into

intimacy kissing that worships And it causes

us to have a new wonder of our God. There's like

five W's there weeping washing wiping worshiping

and wonder And I looked at this verse and I said,

you know, God, this is what you did to me. Jesus,

this is what you did for my life. You had a cry

for your church and you washed it with your own

blood and you wiped away all of our sins and

you cast them into the sea of your forgetfulness

and you bring us into a place of intimacy with

you. You kiss us. Come on, you know the story

of the prodigal son. What did the father do?

It said he hugged his son's neck and he kissed

him. And then it says he anointed him with oil.

Isn't that what God does for us? That's what

God does for us. So I want you to stand to your

feet right now. Just lift your hands and open

your heart. Just think about the alabaster box

of your worship. I hope the revelation of the

word there of what Jesus has done for you, that

he cries for you. He cries for his church. There's

a cry in God's heart. He washes. He weeps. He

renews. He kisses. You know, Pastor Patrick Kitely,

he said this in other service, and my husband

said this, but he didn't say it in this service.

So I just want to share real quick. He was telling,

asking the church, you said, what is your greatest

weapon? And he said, is it? prayer and all the

intercessors. Yes. Yes, prayer. I mean, you can't

do nothing without prayer. Prayer is definitely

the greatest weapon. He says, what about worship?

Oh, no, no. The worshipers know that. That is

the greatest weapon. Worship is definitely the

greatest weapon that you could have because you

know, I've been in the presence of god when I

worship. He says, well, what about the word?

All the word people. Oh, yeah. That's the sword

of the spirit. Yeah. That's it. That's the one.

The sword of the spirit is the greatest weapon.

And he says, yeah, those are one all powerful

weapons, but it's not the greatest. The greatest

weapon is obedience. Obedience is the greatest

weapon. So I was like, God, help me to be obedient.

My husband was looking at, I want you to look

up that song for me really quick. As he was ministering,

I was thinking about it. You know, this woman,

people were talking about, I mean, Jesus, Jesus

was in trouble because he hung around with people

that nobody liked. He hung around with people

like. I mean, even if Simon was a former leper,

somebody said Simon was a former leper, but some

people won't even go to the people's house they

used to be sick. Okay, you know what? That was

a former leper. I don't trust that former leper.

He said, I ain't going to that house. You see?

So a lot of times we can become religious people.

Oh, I ain't going around that. Oh, she was a

prostitute. She was this. Oh, I ain't going around

them. But Jesus didn't care. And that's that

was one of the problems. that the Pharisees had

with Jesus was that Jesus did not care about

who that person was. He saw a picture of them

later on and that's how he sees us. He sees a

picture of us finished. You know what I'm thinking

about the subject of worship, Cece Winings. She

sings this song about the alabaster box. I just

want to share a little bit of that song which

you just read it for you and I want you to think

about your life. because a lot of times people

say you know i don't really take all that dancing

and praising you know but she has a song that

breaks it down for us it goes like this the room

grew still as she made her way to jesus she stumbles

through the tears that made her blind she felt

such pain some spoken anger heard folks whisper

there's no place here for her kind still on she

came through the shame that flushed her face

until at last she knelt before his feet and though

she spoke no words everything she said was heard

as she poured her love for the master from the

box of alabaster and I've come to pour my praise

on him like oil from Mary's alabaster box don't

be angry if I wash his feet with my tears And

I dry them with my hair. You weren't there the

night he found me. I'm gonna say that part again.

You weren't there the night he found me. You

did not feel what I felt when he wrapped his

love all around me. And you don't know the cost

of the oil in my alabaster box. I just want you

to think about that. This woman did not even

recycle the jar. She just didn't care what nobody

else was thinking. You know, while he's with

you, worship him. Five years from now, you might

not even know your own name. But today, today

you can come, just come on up. Today, just worship

him one more time, just a few more minutes. Today,

you can worship him. Today, that you hear his

voice. Today, you can sit at his feet. Today,

not tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised, but while

you have Him with you, you can worship Him. You

can worship Him.