Time With Jesus

We were unequally yoked.

Sorry to have to confess this, but it's true.

You see, she owned a car but didn't have a bicycle.

I, on the other hand, had a bicycle but no car.

Well, we got married and I thought this isn't right.

She needs a bicycle Now.

We didn't hardly have two nickels, but I found one used and I thought I know I will surprise her.

I will buy that bicycle, I'll bring it home as a surprise.

This will be awesome.

Now, what could be cooler than taking and getting this surprise ready for her?

What would be more shocking than putting that bike in our living room?

She got home from work later than I did.

I had the bike set up right there in front of the fireplace.

Many of you have been in that living room.

It is not a large room and when we got married we would typically go sit down in that living room talk for a few minutes.

When she got home and there was that bike right there and she sat right there and not 10 feet away from those fenders, a conversation flowed with no apparent reflection on the fact that there was a bike in that living room.

Two minutes went by, three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes.

Then we disappeared into the kitchen and had supper.

I finally had to point out the fact that in the living room was a bicycle.

You might say that Diana was just a bit distracted.

Now the truth of the matter is, of the two of us in our marriage, I'm definitely the distracted one.

I had her drive here this morning.

She said why.

I said I'm too distracted, but there are so few stories we can tell on Diana.

I had to drive here this morning.

She said why.

I said I'm too distracted, but there are so few stories we can tell on Diana.

I had to tell that one.

She's definitely more together.

By the way, what did the conductor riding the railways say when he got distracted?

Good heavens, I've lost my train of thought.

Folks, I don't have a train of thought.

I have seven trains on four tracks that narrowly avoid each other when their paths cross and all the conductors scream at each other.

That's more like my life Turns out.

Stop laughing.

Turns out we all struggle with this idea of being distracted.

It is just so easy to wander off the path, isn't it so easy to start worrying about something else.

You know it's a problem, though that goes all the way back to Bible times.

It does.

We're headed today to Luke's Gospel.

It's the third book in your New Testament.

If you didn't bring your Bible, why not borrow one of ours?

America's friendliest and finest ushers even now are amongst you, and today, today only, we have a very great special Our note-taking page is free.

Don't miss this opportunity.

As you turn to the 10th chapter of Luke, as always, we like to show honor to the Word of God by standing.

If you're capable of doing that, feel comfortable doing that.

We're going to read out loud together verses 38 and 42 will be on the screen.

Let's begin at verse 38 together, shall we Now?

As they were traveling along, he entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home and she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord's feet and was listening to his word.

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations and she came up to him and said Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do serving myself and that you are to help me?

But the Lord answered her and said to her Martha, martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away.

Thank you for reading that.

It's a great story.

Would you be seated as we look at three powerful insights from this?

Luke 10, passage Number one it's possible to welcome Jesus into your life but then fail to give him the attention he deserves.

If you're taking notes, that's your first set of blanks.

The text says Martha welcomed him into her house.

It doesn't say Mary welcomed him.

It says Martha.

She was the welcoming committee.

She opened the door.

She got him something to drink.

Good for Martha.

That's right Question.

Have you welcomed Jesus into your home?

I'm not talking about the four walls that define the cubicle of whatever is your home.

I'm talking about your soul.

Have you asked Jesus to take up residence there, asked him to forgive you for the wrongdoing that you've done?

That's step one, and if you haven't done that, it's something you ought to do today.

The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.

Believe what In goodness, in religiosity?

No, the Bible says if you will confess with your mouth, that means agree.

Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

He'll be dwelling in your house.

But back to our text.

Don't underestimate this detail.

Martha welcomed Jesus.

That's good.

Here's what's not so good.

Upon letting Jesus into her home, she apparently got lost in her distractions.

She seemingly didn't have time to be with Jesus.

Boy, how many of us are guilty of the same?

I am.

I mean, we're distracted.

We're glad we have the promise of heaven.

We don't mean to give Jesus the cold shoulder, but we're busy, right.

We've got jobs and family and homes, and now it's lawn season.

You got to get out there and mow, and you got jobs and family and homes, and now it's lawn season.

You've got to get out there and mow.

And you've got Netflix and Instagram and we're busy.

And we see the same thing in marriage.

Guys, for just a moment here.

When you first dated your wife, I guarantee you were distracted by her.

You noticed her, you looked at her, you anticipated being with her, savored every moment with her.

You know, when I first started dating Diana, I carefully observed that she was musical.

I like that, plays the flute, plays the piano, sings, traveled with a singing evangelistic group to Mexico, has been to most of Mexico's 31 states.

I noticed she spent more than a cumulative total of one year of her life in Mexico.

How cool is that, I thought.

And I noted as well that she liked Mexican food, which I hated, but doggone, don't you know?

I was able to try a little Mexican food now, and then she's converted me.

You know, I noticed she liked the group Chicago.

So I started liking the group Chicago.

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, why I was falling in love with her.

What about years later?

What about decades into our marriage?

Am I still interested?

Am I still distracted by her To the point she turns my head?

Ladies, your turn.

How often does your husband get your full attention?

Or is it uh-huh?

Yeah, say what?

No, I heard you.

It's not very satisfying.

Is it Distracted?

Whether it's your relationship with Christ or your relationship with your spouse, love dies when we are no longer distracted by the one we love or say we love.

And the same is true with Christ.

When we first knew him, we were distracted by him, from everything.

We read his word with hunger, we prayed with passion, we started out enthusiastic, living our lives with Jesus, and then the machinery of life just kind of kicks in, doesn't it?

Now we're consumed with looking at outlook, the doing of to-do lists.

We've stopped being excited about Jesus in the present tense.

Is it possible that, like Martha, you welcome Jesus into your home, your soul, but then you've been distracted?

Happens for me.

Be careful.

It's possible to welcome Jesus into your life but then fail to give him the attention he deserves.

Insight number two legitimate concerns become illegitimate when they replace time with Jesus.

Let me share with you again verses 39 and 40.

And she, martha, had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord's feet and was listening to his word, but Martha was underline the word distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself?

Then tell her to help me.

That takes a little bit of moxie.

Telling Jesus what to tell somebody else.

Turns out, though, martha had a legitimate concern.

A lot of people had come to see Jesus.

This was a social function, and some sort of refreshments, or maybe a meal, were probably expected.

Was it reasonable for Martha to want to fill that need?

Yes.

Was it reasonable to expect that maybe her sister would give her a hand?

Yes.

So why didn't Martha and that whole thing turn out the way she thought it should.

Why didn't Jesus tell Mary to help Martha?

Because Martha should have been at the feet of Jesus, plain and simple.

On a human level, martha was right.

This was a social gathering.

It required food, but it wasn't a human standing in the next room, it was God.

It was God and she didn't see Jesus for the priority that he is.

Did the crowd need food?

Probably.

Would they have had to gone without it if she hadn't stepped up?

Probably.

But sometimes there are things in life more important than food and social decor, or to-do lists, for that matter.

On this very issue, jesus said to his disciples in John 4.34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Martha was busy making pita bread while the bread of life taught in the room next door.

Think about that.

Think about that.

Think about that.

Everything.

But Jesus distracted Mary.

Speaking of meals.

How often are you distracted enough by Jesus to maybe skip a meal, just to be with him, just to lay out those things you say are heavy on your heart?

You claim are keeping you up at night?

Have you skipped a meal and talked to him about it, just to lay out those things you say are heavy on your heart, you claim are keeping you up at night.

Have you skipped a meal and talked to him about it?

That's the kind of distraction Jesus is looking for.

See, god isn't going to someday fill out a grade sheet, give you a gold star for every day you had your devotions.

No, he wants something more.

He wants to know.

Does he distract you?

He wants to know that you enjoy being with him, talking with him, even if it means skipping a meal, and sometimes it should.

That's biblical.

It's not me, that's your Bible.

You see the danger here.

We are all in the same boat with Martha, distracted by legitimate things.

Boy, your job could be legitimate if it comes between you and time with Jesus.

Your family what could be more legitimate than that Could become a distraction if it comes between you and time with Jesus.

Your ministry, your ministry could become illegitimate as a distraction if it comes between you and Jesus.

Wow, that's pretty dangerous.

Legitimate concerns become illegitimate when they replace time with Jesus.

I take the train down to Moody and for years I've been pretty disciplined in this.

The train ride home is my writing time, blogs and articles and things.

The train ride in, though start of the day.

Oh no, that's my time with Jesus.

Open my Bible, read a passage, pray, that's it, and I've been pretty disciplined.

Pray, that's it, and I've been pretty disciplined.

However, there have been a couple times, I note, where my phone kind of vibrates, maybe and there's a text from somebody.

I've just got to answer it right now.

Oh, there's an email.

I didn't know that and there's an appointment I didn't have on my calendar and I'm going to forget it and miss the meeting if I don't put it in there right now.

And before you know it, you know what I hear over the PA system on that train, next stop, our last stop, ogilvy Transportation Center, meaning I'd let the whole train ride go by without being with Jesus.

And you know you don't get that time back.

Oh, you can do it later on.

Yeah, you can, but you didn't get that time, that first in the morning time back.

See, martha's real issue was not about a single serving of refreshments but a lifestyle of worry and distraction.

Jesus tells us in verse 41,.

The Lord answered and said to her Martha Martha.

By the way, the Lord answered and said to her Martha Martha.

By the way, why do you think he used her name twice.

There are only two occasions for this right.

If you're a parent, you know what it is.

Martha, martha, get up here and clean your room, right, or she's crying and you're saying Martha, martha, you know what?

I believe Jesus was sad for her, sad for the choice that she made.

Martha, martha, you are worried and distracted by where's that word?

Distracted again, by many things.

This was the core issue.

The problem was not that Martha was concerned about the wrong thing.

Martha was worried and distracted by many things, a lifestyle, and boy do I relate to that Guilty.

She was distracted by almost everything, but she couldn't get distracted by Jesus.

As I put it, she was insufficiently distracted by Jesus.

What about us?

I mean, what about us?

Insight number three the one thing necessary for Martha is the one thing necessary for us time with Jesus.

That's the one thing necessary.

Luke 10.42 reads but only one thing is necessary for Martha has chosen the good part and it will not be taken away from her.

Have you chosen the good part?

What are you spending your time on?

What part of your time budget does Jesus get?

The old saying goes Show me a person's checkbookbook and I'll tell you what they really believe about Jesus?

Well, it's true, but show me your time, budget, what you're spending your time on, and I'll tell you the same.

What are you buying with your time?

What is it you spend time on that you believe is somehow worth more than Jesus?

Your work, ouch your worries, ouch your finances?

Why do you like that junk more than Jesus?

By the way, the Apostle Paul tells us it's all junk compared to Jesus, all of it, small chunk compared to Jesus, all of it.

The one thing necessary for Martha is the one thing necessary for us Time with Jesus.

I used to work for an advertising agency and you know I had to bill out my time in increments of six minutes, one-tenth of an hour, absolutely.

And boy, they wanted you billing out your time.

And if you did, when you reached a certain percentage of your day in billable hours, every tenth of an hour beyond that, you got paid real well.

I said I think I'd like to be paid real well.

So you know what I did.

I kept real close track of my time.

Let me tell you To this day I'm really in tune with how long things are, or aren't?

You start noticing what you're spending your time on.

Time is money.

What are you buying with yours?

All right time out for a quick inventory here how many of us bought something on Amazon in the last week?

Raise your hand.

Did you buy something on Amazon?

Okay, a number of us did.

All right, raise your hands down.

Part two how many of us returned something to Amazon in calendar year 2024?

Have you returned anything?

Okay, all right, almost an equal number of hands.

I'm not surprised, because I read recently that the price tag for Amazon returns costs them annually $816 billion.

$816 billion that is virtually equivalent to the entire budget of the United States National Defense.

When you make a return, you usually have to have an RMA right, return Merchandise Authorization Number.

Right, an RMA.

But here's the thing when you miss your time with Jesus, you can't go anywhere for a refund on that purchase.

No refunds.

You bought busyness and you walked away with emptiness.

You don't get it back.

The one thing necessary for Martha is the one thing necessary for us Time with Jesus.

Pt Forsythe said the worst sin is prayerlessness.

We usually think of murder, adultery or theft as among the worst, but the root of all sin is self-sufficiency, independence from God.

When we fail to wait prayerfully for God's guidance and strength, we are saying with our actions, if not our lips, that we do not need him.

Ouch, how much of our service is characterized by going it alone, by the way.

By the way, how are you and I any different from the wicked people around us if we do not seek God in prayer?

Psalm 10, verse 4, says in his pride, the wicked does not seek him In all his thoughts.

Psalms 10:4

There is no room for God.

In other words, prayerlessness is a giant step toward godlessness.

You say, hey, that's not me now.

Come on, be careful.

I pray a little bit.

Good for you.

You're a little bit less ungodly.

Are you okay with that?

I'm not.

The hum of activity is a poor trade for the hush of just sitting down with God.

Busy rarely equals holy Oof, write that down.

Busyness rarely equals holiness.

I just need this so much.

In his book An Unhurried Life, alan Fadling asks is the pace of my life Christ-like?

That's quite a question.

Is the pace of my life Christ-like?

What about my life if anything would press another to admit you know what you were doing could only exist if God's favor were with you.

Or is the fruit of my life the result of my busyness, my nonstop activity?

From which source comes the more lasting fruit.

What if I learned to work from a place of unhurried abiding?

Isn't that what Jesus did?

Unhurried abiding?

I like that Sounds nice.

So what holds us back?

Not the same problem?

Martha faced distractions and worries.

You know, folks, I would be very, very, very productive, but I keep getting distracted by two things, just two things, anything and everything.

It's true, we were together with our good friends Charlie and Kathy Dyer at the Saguaro National Park in Tucson, arizona.

Some of you have been there Beautiful, amazing cactus things, and of course I had the camera there.

Of course I'm absorbed in trying to get the best shot of everything, and there was one I wanted to shoot and I couldn't quite fill it quite right as I'm standing on the path.

So I stepped back a little bit.

I stepped a little over to the side, a little further to the side, a little further to the side, and bang, I got popped in the thigh with a couple of quills from the jumping cholla cactus.

It looks like a teddy bear, stings like a hornet and your instinct is to grab these puppies, but they're barbed.

You pull them out and, oh, I'm in pain and for the next hour I've got the shakes I feel like I got the flu.

All of that because I got distracted by my photo.

Now our good friends Charlie and Kathy decided this was such an egregious error they would commemorate the moment by kindly having this apron made for me with the jumping cholla on it.

You get a little bit of a better picture of what these things look like.

It was a distraction I would like never to repeat.

Let me tell you that, hey, jesus wants to know this morning, does he distract you?

Does he distract you?

Does he distract you?

Every morning, as part of her getting up ritual, diana spends time before the mirror putting on makeup and all these things, and I call it getting beautiful, getting beautiful.

Our little grandkids have noticed this too.

And boy do those girls like to be in the bathroom with her when she's getting beautiful.

Our little grandkids have noticed this too.

And boy do those girls like to be in the bathroom with her when she's getting beautiful.

They want in on that.

And Diana patiently puts a little blush on, maybe a little of this or that.

And Emma says to me the other day she comes out and she says well, I got beautiful, I'm beautiful.

Well, okay, good for you.

But the finishing touch in Diana's procedure is she spritzes on some marvelous perfume.

Oh, I just love it.

Now I'm a couple rooms over right, but invariably, invariably, the fragrance kind of wafts its way into where I'm typing away.

I'm working on that computer.

I've got to stop what I'm doing.

I'm so distracted.

I go in there.

I've got to get a better close-up smell.

Oh, fantastic, and I've got to get a kiss.

I'm distracted.

Jesus wants to know.

Does he distract you?

Does he turn your head?

Does he occupy your thoughts?

Are you fascinated with him?

When was the last time that you rearranged your day because of something you got from Jesus?

In short, are you distracted by Jesus?

Let me suggest three quick checks you can use for kind of a self-assessment here.

It's in your note page.

Number one am I regular in my time with Jesus?

Am I regular?

Am I committed to beginning or ending each day in time with Jesus?

Am I seeking God?

Do those around me know this commitment is sacred for me?

Have they caught me doing it or do I just talk about it?

Am I regular?

Number two am I real in my time with Jesus?

Am I real?

Am I just reading a devotional booklet or book, the latest thing by Beth Moore or Max Lucado great writers.

I wish my book sold like theirs, but that's not really being with Jesus.

It's reading about him.

Am I seeking God for something in his word, some treasure, something I'm desperate for in prayer, or am I just putting in my time?

Am I honest with Jesus about my disappointments, my sins, my distractions?

I have to regularly confess while I'm praying that I got distracted.

I can think terrible thoughts while I'm praying.

I'm just telling you this is how it is.

While I'm praying, I'm just telling you this is how it is.

Am I real?

Number three am I relaxed in my time with Jesus?

Am I willing to set aside a generous chunk of time to be with Jesus?

Is that pre-slotted?

So you know you got the time.

You're not in a hurry.

Am I willing to let that time go longer if God seems to be dealing with me?

Am I learning the art of just being still?

I'm flunking that art, thank you, just so you know.

Transparency, but that's where we're supposed to be.

Bonus tip here's a thought when you have finished reading the Word, talk to the living Word about what you've just read.

Some of you are doing this already.

I know I just find I keep a journal, so my habit is I'm going through a book of the Bible, I'm just reading this.

Only as far as I feel like I've been hit with something from the Lord, I stop there.

I jot on one page what God is speaking about, what the passage seems to be speaking, how that applies to me.

The flip side is a short prayer about that.

But now I close that book and it's my time to pray.

Now we've moved on, now we're praying, thank you Lord.

But if I ponder and speak back what God seems to be showing me, I have to keep going back to that journal, opening it up, because there are new gems, new things that I'd never thought of.

I have to sometimes open up two and three times.

It's amazing.

In a world of distractions and worries, though, only one thing is worth pursuing Jesus.

Jesus wants to know, has a right to know.

Does his bride distract him?

We were just at a wedding down in Florida.

What if the bride had walked down the aisle and the groom was kind of like, or vice versa Didn't happen.

Let me tell you, they were both quite distracted.

We were in Hyderabad, india.

The purpose was to visit a slum and capture some compelling video of India's lowest caste.

Now, this was no iPhone video.

Where you go?

Oh, there you go.

No, this thick, heavy tripod, big camera, microphones, cables, headphones all of it dragging through the filth of this slum.

Now, shooting decent video, as Brian will tell you, is tough enough under optimal circumstances, much more so walking through unimaginable filth.

These people urinate and defecate at will right there in the.

They do Wretched, smelling air, and my microphone cord is dragging all through it.

How do you like that, brian?

I'm not a happy camper.

On top of this, I learned there was a slum boss Now slum boss who's in charge and is not happy with our being there at all.

So the instructions are get in and get out, get the shots and get out.

But the slum guide who lives, who's local and lives there, he's got a different plan.

In the middle of all this, he introduces me, as we're trying to shoot video, to a girl who is blind.

Would I please stop and pray with her?

The mother asks how do you pray for a girl who's blind?

Well, I did stop and we did pray, and then we had to get back to work.

I'm trying to get these shots done and now there's some pigs running through this slum and I'm getting shots of that.

But would I please stop right there.

Would I pray for someone else, a woman who was requesting prayer for some cancer that she was battling.

Would we pray for her?

There's a shot of her you can look at.

She doesn't even look right.

Would we pray for her and her cancer?

So we prayed.

We were then guided into another hut where we prayed for still another.

By now I gotta tell you I'm not just concerned, I'm frustrated.

I've been told get in, get the shots and get out, and I'm being asked to pray.

It's just not working.

How are we ever going to get this done?

Only later that night did I finally understand.

I did indeed have work to do in that slum.

Nvidia was a part of it.

But the real work, the real reason, was the one thing necessary.

I was there to spend time with Jesus and some of the least of these.

I was there to bring them to him, imperfect as I was, rushed as I was, probably unkind as I was, and to think, it took a little blind girl to help me see my own blindness.

It's interesting we're not told the end of Martha's story, are we?

We're never told that Martha said okay, I get it, I get it.

Jesus, I must be with you.

Snacks can wait.

Doesn't tell us that.

Did she trade Martha Stewart for Martha Student, or did she remain distracted by her kitchen?

Or was she finally able to be distracted enough by her king?

We're not told.

You know what?

Your story is not told either.

More chapters, more moments, more decisions, lots of decisions, and every one of them will carry with it the choice between being distracted or time with Jesus.

Which will you choose?

Busyness, distractions, worries, or will you choose the one thing necessary?

There's an old hymn I Need Thee Every Hour.

Few of us still remember it.

And there's a great chorus.

But still remember it.

And there's a great chorus, and if you know it, would you sing it with me?

I need Thee.

Oh, I need Thee Every hour.

I need Thee, oh.

Bless me now, my Savior.

Bless me now, my Savior.

I come to Thee.

Lord, we do need you every hour, but we're distracted every hour.

Would you help us learn what it means to choose the one thing necessary?

We want to be distracted by you, nothing less, nothing other.

Help us.

I pray in Jesus' name, amen.