This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
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He never left this place.
He has not left you.
This place is like a cup of cold
water.
I'm going to come back in to his
presence and see you all.
Thank you so much for praying for us.
I can truly say, Professor Carter and I,
we did have a deep rest.
We had a wonderful rest.
And I feel such a peace in my
spirit.
I feel that Jesus Christ is so on
the throne.
And I feel him in my spirit, deep
down inside of me.
And I know there's so many of you
here that every day is that growing realization.
Every time we bend our knee, he is
King.
And he is ruling and he is reigning.
And he's taking us through all the places
we need to go so that he can
prove himself faithful to us.
He's a God that doesn't keep count of
our mistakes and our failings.
He's a God that says, I am with
you and I will never leave you and
I will never forsake you.
Hallelujah.
And the days to come, those that know
that down in their spirit and rely on
him and draw on his life to be
our life, we're going to make a difference.
We are going to make a difference.
And all hell is astounded that you and
I are going to make a difference.
And all heaven is going to be astounded.
But I thank God that when they look
at Christ in his glory and his splendor,
they see all things are possible.
And they're encouraging us, press into him, keep
looking at him because all things are possible
with this God that we serve.
And so I'm just excited in my spirit.
I've had a good rest, but it's so
wonderful to be home.
We went to Canada, the land of our
birth, but we're home.
We're back home.
And, you know, so many times we do
pray for you and I have prayed for
you.
And I thank you for praying for us.
And I look forward to the fall and
I look forward to Jesus riding triumphantly before
us and doing miracles in us and through
us.
And I feel that's the kind of era
that that time, that hour that we live
in.
And so I'm just so good to see
you guys.
I'm glad to see we have a lower
pulpit.
We've got a new pulpit.
That's great.
And the message I have today is very
simple.
It's a very simple word.
But I would like with you, if you
would turn with me to Luke 10, Luke
10.
I want to talk about some very dear
friends of mine in the Bible.
And my message this afternoon is called When
Jesus Shows Himself, When Jesus Shows Himself.
Would you pray with me?
Father, I praise you today.
I thank you for the privilege, Lord, to
lift you up.
Holy Spirit, that you've been sent to reveal
our Jesus.
You've been sent, Lord, to reveal Him in
a way that we need Him and to
see Him and to know Him in an
ever deeper way.
Lord, I just declare today that I have
nothing except what you give.
So, Lord, I just give myself now to
you, Holy Spirit.
And I ask that you come and you
would teach this.
You would bring forth your truth, Lord.
Let them be shining truths that get worked
into us.
Lord, we give you the praise and glory,
what you're going to do in our midst.
We praise you for lifting Him up.
And, Lord, we praise you for the release
and the deliverance you're going to bring among
your people.
For that's our bread because we are your
children.
And, Lord, we give you all the praise
and all the glory for it.
In Jesus' precious name.
Amen and amen.
Luke 10 and starting at verse 38.
And I want to talk about Mary and
Martha today.
You know, if you've been saved for any
length of time, we're all very familiar with
this story about Jesus going to visit the
home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
But even though it's a very familiar story,
I believe that the Lord is going to
show us every time we come to something
that He has written by His Spirit.
It's like a well.
There is a depth and a layer and
a refreshing to it.
And we can go deeper and deeper into
it.
And even though it's a simple word, and
even though we may have heard about them
many times, there's still something new.
And in verse 38, it says, Now it
came to pass as they went that He
entered into a certain village and a certain
woman named Martha received Him into her house.
And I love the way that this starts
because it talks about a certain village and
a certain woman.
This is saying that God has these people
hand-picked for a reason.
That God made a very specific choice because
He uses that word repeatedly.
Certain.
There was a certain woman.
There is a certain house.
There is a certain household.
And I'm moving into that house and I'm
moving into these hearts.
And my presence in their life is for
a purpose.
And now He's sharing for all the generations
to follow them, to look into their lives
and their hearts and their home.
Because Jesus hand-picked them for a reason.
God knows our name.
God knows where we live.
God knows what we're facing.
We are that certain people to Him.
We are that certain woman.
And I like the way it says that
there was a woman named Martha.
She was named Martha.
And Bible, many of you know that that
root word, Martha, is from the root word
marrow, which means bitter and angry, vexed.
It also means, in its most literal translation,
it means trickle.
And now here's this woman and she has
a name.
And she's been named and many times that's
a little window.
God's saying, this is the personality I'm dealing
with.
And this is a person, I've come into
her house.
She's received me.
She's being hospitable.
She wants to honor me and she wants
to be, she's invited me in.
But her name is Martha.
And she's got a trickle of life.
She's got a trickle of understanding.
And the life in her is shut down
to a trickle.
And what I'm trying to say to her
and what I want to do in her
and through her, she's almost shut off to
it.
Her name is trickle.
And it says she received him into her
house.
And I love just a few simple words.
But this speaks to me of a lady
very much inviting Jesus into her world.
Very much coming into a place that she's
the boss.
She issued the invitation.
But he came.
And then it says that she had a
sister, verse 39, called Mary.
Which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word.
Now here's a sister called Mary.
And Mary is from the same root word
as Martha.
And it also means bitter.
But it's more on the sad side, the
root word of that name, Mary.
Sad and bitter.
And here's these women sharing very similar circumstances.
Here is these women.
But one is named Martha and one is
called.
And when you look at that word called,
it means chosen out and separate for a
purpose.
And there's such a picture of the church.
There's such a picture of the choices that
you and I absolutely have.
Of what our life is going to be
like when Jesus gets invited to the home.
And here's this lady called Mary.
She's been called out.
She's been separated.
And even though her circumstances are not the
best.
You and I know from a simple biblical
study that women in those days without husband,
without family, did not share the same prestige,
did not share the same respect as married
women.
The longing for family, the longing for children
would be as strong in them as it
is for most women.
And yet the scripture tells us it was
two sisters and a brother that lived together.
And their circumstances and what went on in
the depth of their heart, the sorrows there,
the disappointments there, they shared.
These women faced the same disappointments and the
same heartache and the same heaviness.
But one's going to be named and one's
going to be called.
And Jesus says in the middle of that
circumstance you have a choice.
Do you want to be called out and
into something?
Or do you want that to be the
name you label for the rest of your
life even though in spite of, I've been
invited into your home.
Now Jesus chose them.
And the scripture tells us clearly that Jesus
loved them.
In John 11 he says, Now Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
And that's why he enters our lives.
Because he loves us.
And it says in verse 39 that Mary
which also sat at Jesus' feet.
Also sat.
My first question was did Martha sit at
his feet?
It said Mary sat also.
So did Martha sit there?
When Jesus came into the home was there
a time that Jesus came, they offered him
the courtesy, they welcomed him, they sat down
and they sat with him.
And did both these women sat there?
But I love as the scripture so clearly
says that Mary heard him.
And so it says that we can sit
at his feet and not hear him.
We sit at his feet, we sit at
his presence, we invite him into our lives.
And beloved it's such a picture of the
choice we have to make.
Now in this scripture, in this parable it's
not talking about times that we come into
his presence and we're distracted, we have a
hard time being focused, there's many things pressing
in on our mind.
This is talking now about a root that
is in these women.
The presence of Christ is a light and
it's coming down and through this story he's
shining right into their heart, right into their
minds, right into the center of their being.
And they have different reactions.
And I believe that Martha sat there too
but she never heard anything.
But the scripture says that Mary heard him.
And that means that his words that he
spoke had meaning to her.
They had meaning to her.
She understood what he was saying.
And when she began to understand what he
was saying, she was getting a new perspective
on things.
She was being lifted out and lifted up
of circumstances and a hard attitude.
And a mind and a spirit that were
locked sometimes down into hard places.
And she was being lifted up and she
was seeing things.
Because she heard him.
And when we begin to get an understanding,
we get a desire for truth.
Because we're beginning to feel the benefit of
truth, we're beginning, if we respond to it,
to be set free.
And here is this woman and she's hearing
him.
And I started to think, Lord, here's a
lady, what's she hearing?
And a scripture came immediately to mind.
And it said that she was learning of
me.
Not learning about me but learning of me.
And I thought of that scripture that says,
Come unto me, all ye that are weary
and heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart.
And you shall find rest for your souls.
Because my yoke is easy and my burden
is light.
And you know, we will never hear that.
And we would never know the truth of
that except we heard it from God Almighty
himself.
Because as human beings we get so laden
down and we get so heavy that in
our spirit and the messages we get from
the world and the devil, what they do,
they operate ultimately to shut us down.
To keep us under.
To not let us know there is a
greater truth and a higher reality that humans
were created for.
That God put his very breath into humanity
for a purpose.
And we would never think these thoughts and
we would never know that God says unto
me, come unto me ye who labor and
heavy laden, because I'm going to give you
rest.
He says if you learn of me, not
learn about me, but you learn of me.
You learn who I am and then you
begin to say God I want to be
like that.
I want to be like you.
He says you're going to find a rest
in that prayer.
You're going to find a release in that
heart attitude.
I'm going to bring you into something and
teach you things that you never could have
learned outside of that prayer or that truth.
Learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart.
You will find me, Jesus says, meek and
lonely in heart.
That means when we failed him, he won't
turn us away.
That means when we forgot him for days
on end, he doesn't keep score and say
that's it, you've crossed a line.
He's meek and lowly in heart.
That means that in spite of knowing who
we are, he does not despise us or
despise our struggles.
It means that when we play the fool,
it means when we act so proud, it
means when we get deceived in our thinking
and warped in our thinking, he says I'm
going to still reach out.
I'm going to extend my hand and whosoever
will will grasp when they get a ray
of light, if they will reach back, I'm
there because I'm meek and I'm lonely in
heart.
And he's saying now I'm going to give
you a key if you want to find
rest for your souls, if you want to
learn how to live above your circumstance, if
we want to go out on these streets
and we want to have another spirit upon
us with a different understanding, he says you're
going to be meek and lowly of heart
too.
But I'm going to teach it to you.
He says there's another kind of life I
have for you, I've prepared for you.
He says I'm going to lift you out
of your own sadness and bitterness and narrowness
and meanness.
And he says learn of me, I am
meek and lowly in heart.
When he says that the Lord was beginning
to minister to me, he says, Teresa, if
you'll follow me down this path of learning
of me, that I, God Almighty, that I,
Jesus Christ, creator of heaven and earth, have
decided for this period, this dispensation, I'm going
to be revealed as meek and lowly, not
a conquering king, but to those that start
to seek truth and start to seek me,
they're going to find me meek, that's power
with restraint.
When I could crush you, I won't.
When I could keep a list, I don't.
When I could turn away from you, I
don't.
I'm meek and lowly in heart.
He said I'm going to give you a
key that when you go down before me
asking for that kind of heart, I'm going
to lift you up.
The humble shall bow before me and then
I'm going to lift them up because the
humble hearted before me are the ones that
know me, are the ones that find rest,
are the ones that have a peace and
a joy.
He says there is a peace and a
joy and a rest for your souls you
don't find any other way except when you
learn of me.
When you learn of me that I'm meek
and humble.
You know, the humble are the most powerful
in God's kingdom.
They're the most powerful because there is a
deep understanding that God can still use us.
You see, we get a true picture of
us in our humility of ourselves.
But then we get an unclouded picture of
God and we begin to see that if
we've asked Jesus into our heart, the absolute
miracle of blessed is he whose sin is
forgiven, whose iniquity is not imputed to them.
The absolute realization of that begins to flood
us and we begin to see that it's
my privilege to walk cleansed and forgiven.
And when we have to keep availing ourselves
of that, confessing a sin, knowing that we
are forgiven and asking for the power to
turn away from it because we are forgiven.
Because every day we have a new beginning
and every day we have a new hope
because God said it.
He said, that's the way I'm going to
operate.
And he said, you will never reap the
benefit of it to your humble and heart
till we keep admitting who we are.
And then he said, but they get the
eyes of faith that a mighty God uses
flawed people but keep pressing into me.
Because in spite of getting a real revelation
of who we are, if we keep crying
out, God, I want to learn of you
to be meek and humble in heart.
He says, you get powerful.
Because with that kind of revelation of who
we are, we get a faith to learn
to look away from ourselves and keep focused
on Christ.
And beloved, I have found that humility is
the cure for so many troubles.
You know, humility goes to the root of
things.
Humility goes to the root of things.
That's why it brings a rest.
Things really happen.
You know, and when we get to the
bottom of things, when God begins to have
to say things to us and we agree
with him, when he begins to show us
how things really are and what's really in
our mind and our heart, we really begin
to deal with that because we've got a
humble heart saying, God, whatever you have to
speak, you give me the grace to hear.
And you give me the grace to change.
Not my strength, but yours.
And beloved, then, with that understanding, the strength
he gives us starts to get reserved for
the real battle.
We're not frittering away our strength on a
sidetrack issue.
For example, if we begin to say, Jesus,
I want to learn of you meek and
humble in heart, we're not going to get
drawn into the ego battle.
We're not going to get sidetracked by the
wounded pride battle.
We're not going to get the poor, what
about me, trap one more time around our
leg and spirit.
Because when we're humble in heart, we don't
get sidetracked about those issues.
When the wounded pride and the ego issue
and all that come and go, Lord, I
thank you, your light surfacing what's happening in
my heart.
And we begin to say, Lord, these feelings,
if we choose, get resolved, get forgiven, we
get cleansed.
When we experience the forgiveness and love of
Jesus Christ for us at that moment.
And we move on.
And we look away from ourselves.
And then, in this incredible place, our strength
gets reserved for the real battle.
We're not frittering it away on our own
little petty battles.
God says, look, I'm going to deal, I'll
deal with your heart, I'll give you the
strength to turn away.
And a freedom comes into our spirit.
We're not chained to ourselves anymore.
We say, God, I'm going to lay that
down.
That ego, that pride thing, that thing, I'm
going to lay it down.
God, you're going to look after me.
God, you're going to take care of the
pain of my heart right now.
And I'm going to look to you.
And we get free.
We don't get sidetracked.
And Jesus says, learn of me.
Because He says, those that will learn of
me, He says, I'm going to manifest myself
to them.
He says, I'm going to reveal myself and
make myself known to them.
And beloved, in John 14, 21, it says
clearly, if a person desires to love me
and wants to do the things my way,
He says, I will manifest myself.
I will show myself.
I will make myself known to that one.
And then one of His disciples, Judas Not
Ascariot, says to Him, Lord, how is it
that You will show Yourself to us and
You're not going to show Yourself to the
world or the worldly?
Lord, if I hear You right, You're saying
that there are those that desire to love
You and do it Your way, the humble
in heart, and You say, You're going to
show Yourself to them.
But He says, the world, they're not going
to know a thing about You.
The world, they're not going to understand the
secrets that You have laid out that You
want to reveal.
Those that are walking high-minded or those
that say they know You, they're going to
be shot out of a reality that's powerful,
that sets us free, that gives us a
testimony in the world, that we're not chained
to ourselves anymore and we start to have
a desire, Lord, to walk in this world
to please You.
It doesn't matter what You've called me to
do or where I am.
God, You're giving me a heart to please
You in all things and I'm being transformed.
And that's the testimony of the body of
Christ.
And beloved, that's the children's bread.
He says, I'm going to reveal Myself to
you.
I'm going to make Myself known to those
that say, Lord, I have a desire to
love You and walk Your way.
He says, I'm going to manifest Myself to
those.
And those that have no revelation and can't
tell you something fresh about Jesus Christ, God
says, no, that's My sign of a worldly
heart.
That's My sign that someone belongs to the
world.
There's no fresh revelation about Me.
They can't tell you one thing new.
They can tell you rote.
They can tell you the phrases.
They can tell you the standard fare.
But when it comes to sharing something that's
burning in their spirit to light the spirits
of those around them, they cannot.
He says, because I manifest Myself to those
that want to love Me and do it
My way.
And He says, if there's no fresh revelation,
if there's not something new, if there's not
something that lights your spirit, if there's not
something that you can't share with someone, and
it is light and it is warm, He
says, that's My plumb line.
There's something worldly going on there.
And Jesus does that because He's making a
separation.
Beloved, I want to tell you today, there
is a season for every Christian where we're
called to live next door to Heaven.
There is a season in every Christian's life
that we climb the mountain with Christ and
we get a new view.
We get a new view of our life
and we get a new view of what
He does for us.
We get a new view of the families
around us.
We get a new view of the heart
He's given us.
There's got to be a time in every
Christian's life that the joy and the peace
that Christ brings passes understanding and He takes
us to a place we've never been before.
And we know in our knower that God
is real.
And we know that He loves us and
we know we are forgiven.
And we know that the release that comes
and the comfort that comes is real and
no man takes it from us.
Hard times can't separate us from us and
those that come against us cannot rob us
of this knowledge when He has taken us
to the mountain.
He's revealed Himself there.
And we're called to live next door to
heaven for seasons in our life.
Now, beloved, if you've never experienced that, I'm
not condemning you.
But I say that if you belong to
Jesus Christ, that's the children's bread.
That's your right and that's my right.
That's my privilege.
And if there are times that we don't
know that abandonment and that times we say,
Lord, I need You to show me now.
I need You to bring me there.
I need something sealed in my spirit where
You're God without a doubt and You love
me and You brought me to a place
that the world can't touch and the devil
can't lie it away from me.
It's a place many times, beloved, the Christians
that find themselves there living next door to
heaven for a season in their life.
They're the people who have been much in
duty and much suffering.
They find themselves there.
There are people who find themselves there.
They've been much downcast.
They've been much bewildered.
There are times they don't understand what's going
on and Jesus Christ reveals Himself in an
instant.
And the comfort He brings is so powerful
and so deep.
You say, Lord, I'd go all through that
suffering seven times over to have You reveal
Yourself like that to me again because He's
worth it.
Beloved, have you ever known that?
Have you ever been allowed to be brought
to the place where there seems to be
no hope and all you can see is
the end of the world and Christ comes
up on your horizon and suddenly everything is
made new and you live in the heavenlies
with Christ?
Beloved, we're called for a season to live
next door to heaven.
And the humble-hearted know what pure religion
means.
And that's it.
That Jesus Christ is real.
And that He loves us.
He walks with us.
And He's making us new.
Now, beloved, I believe that Mary's sitting at
His feet by the creative word that Jesus
Christ was speaking and piercing her darkness and
piercing her confusion and giving her hope in
a place where she has never felt hope
before, where she has felt love, where she's
never been loved before and all of a
sudden she wants to live the life He's
offering and she's sitting there and she's experiencing
this word.
He's manifesting Himself through His word to her
and all of a sudden her sister Martha
comes crashing in on the scene.
And Martha comes in and she's sidetracked and
she's bitter and she's resentful and she's accusing
and she's out of touch with what Jesus
is saying and she's untouched because she's out
of touch.
And she's left His feet and she's gone
to that busy religious kitchen and the Scripture
says in verse 40 that, but Martha was
encumbered about much serving and came to Him
and said, Lord, does thou not care that
my sister have left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me.
And this woman comes in and the Scripture
says cumbered about.
That means to drag around.
Encumbered about means to drag around.
And this woman comes into this room and
she is full of anger and resentment and
accusing.
And she's had it because in her mind
she's the only one doing anything.
And she's come in now totally oblivious to
reality.
Totally oblivious to this Jesus that she's invited
into her home.
Totally shut out to the life He is
offering and what He is doing.
Except it moves her to envy, I believe,
seeing the look on her sister's face and
still sitting there.
And she's shut out.
And she comes in and she's accusing and
she's dragging around every sorrowful thing, every injustice,
everything that's ever been done to her at
that moment.
Because I'll tell you something, when Jesus Christ
is in your home, there are no halfway
things.
His very presence in our home drives things
up that we're shocked at.
Because we are His, He doesn't deal in
halfway measures.
And His very presence, He is absolute truth
and He is absolute light.
And in His presence is this kind of
light that drives everything up.
You know, I believe she went back in
the kitchen absolutely shocked.
Saying, Lord, don't you care?
Tell her to come to me.
Tell her to come back to me.
Tell her to get up and help me.
Lord, acknowledge that I'm alone out there doing
something for You.
And where is everybody else?
Tell her to come back.
I'll tell you something, one thing I do
know about my Jesus, those that come to
Him, He never sends them back there.
He delivers them from that mindset.
He delivers them from that kind of busy,
empty religion that leaves us accusatory, bittered in
our soul.
He delivers us from that.
She never went back.
He would never send her there.
Now Jesus knows that Martha has not heard
a word, but He loves her.
He loves her.
And so Jesus gives her a very direct
word.
Jesus gives her a word that is going
to sift her, if she can hear Him.
Jesus is going to liberate her, that's His
desire, with an answer to her that will
sift right through her confusion and her anger
and her resentment and that trickling little bit
of life in her.
He's reaching out a hand with His word.
He wants to reveal something to her if
she can hear Him.
And so He sends this word to her.
And He says in verse 41, He says,
Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful.
One thing is needful.
And Mary which has chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her.
Now if the Lord ever wanted to get
a Martha's attention, He would say, one thing
is needful.
This is a woman that is consumed with
doing.
This is a doer.
This is the type of personality that walks
in the room and sees everything to be
done.
This is the kind of woman that has
a job for everybody.
And for Jesus to say to her, Mary,
Mary, describe her to a T, you are
troubled, you are anxious, you are dragging around
your discontent and your anger.
But one thing at this moment in your
life is needful and it's not the pots.
One thing is needful.
And Mary has chosen it.
Now beloved, I would have loved all my
Christian life to know what that one thing
needful was.
I would like somebody when I was two
months saved to get up and preach one
thing needful and say, here it is, here's
the one thing needful for your whole Christian
walk.
I would have loved that.
So would you.
But you see, the one thing needful is
at that moment in our life when Jesus
Christ, if he can even get a trickle
of our attention and a trickle of our
anxiousness and get a hold of us and
he's going to say something that's going to
speak right to the root, right to the
problem, right to the contention, our lack of
peace and our off course when we are
off course because of it.
What he has to say at that moment
is the one thing needful.
Because he does not speak in vain.
And he sees that woman walking in a
wrong direction.
He sees that woman and he sees her
beginning from the end.
And in his great love he wants to
turn her.
And she's got an example before her.
She's got a flesh and blood example of
a sister that's moving into a life she
doesn't have.
But he speaks a word to her.
And beloved, that's what he does to us
today.
He gives us flesh and blood examples but
he speaks a word.
You know one time there was a parable
and a man went to hell and he
said, oh let me go back and testify
that there is a hell to my brothers
who are still alive so they'll never come
here.
And Jesus says they have the prophets and
they have Moses.
They have a word.
Let them hear that.
What that man in hell knew that for
so many when Jesus speaks they can hear
and everything depends on their hearing and our
hearing.
And so Jesus says to her, one thing
is needful.
And that's the one phrase that would get
her attention.
That's the one thing that when she went
to bed at night lying there going one
thing is needful.
One thing is needful.
What is needful?
Why would he say that to you?
What is one thing needful?
But you know beloved, when we go all
through this woman's life, if she asks that
question she never asked it long enough.
She never considered it deep enough.
She never took those words and laid it
to heart.
She never said, Jesus what are you saying
to me?
Why didn't you answer me?
Why didn't you answer my question?
Why didn't you send Mary back into the
kitchen?
Why all of a sudden is it my
problem here when all I'm trying to do
Jesus is serve you?
Why all of a sudden is the spotlight
on me and you tell me one thing
is needful?
And Jesus was saying to her partly, he
was saying many things but I think one
thing he was saying to her is all
your service to me Mary is rooted in
yourself.
You can't hear what I'm saying.
You don't know what I'm trying to reveal
to you.
The mysteries and the glories and unspeakable things
that will never be thought of by a
human mind.
I'm trying to give you a vision and
I'm trying to give you a perspective that
humanity cannot have apart from me and it
is only given to me to those that
say Jesus I desire to love you and
I want to follow you.
And Martha though you have all the words
and you have the testimony you are not
following me.
Your service is your own.
You've manufactured it.
You've designed it.
You like what you do.
You get to direct it.
You get to choose the time and place
You get to stay in charge.
I don't ever have to speak to you
about something fearful about something that may move
you out of your comfort zone of laying
something down that I may give you my
life.
Nope.
Service your way.
And it's bearing the bitter fruit of the
religious self-directed life self-directed service.
I'm not showing myself to you Martha.
You don't have any secrets.
You don't know what I'm trying to say.
You're deaf.
And beloved if we can hear Him if
we can hear Him we're going to hear
Him say that true service is not what
you do for me but true service is
who am I to you?
Who am I to you?
Will you lay down all your ideas and
your preconceived ideas of what it is to
follow me and to serve me?
Lay down your fears.
Lay down your resistance.
Lay down your failures.
And let me speak a word into you.
Jesus is saying to His body I know
how many times you've failed me but He
says I'm still speaking life to you.
I'm saying if you will turn to me
He said what you've known is repeated failure
I will turn it about because I am
God.
Your service to me is rooted by turning
to me because I'm going to speak a
life-giving word if you can hear it
yes, even to you and yes, even to
me.
But we can't hear those thoughts apart from
His Spirit.
And many times our whole idea of service
is locked into our performance.
And when we have performed we think He's
well pleased.
Beloved, it's about the heart.
We can perform and be so far from
Him.
What do we do when truth comes to
us?
What do we do when truth visits us?
Are we going to be Mary or are
we going to be Martha?
When God begins to say something in the
midst of our confusion our pain and we
don't understand or in the midst of our
apathy in the midst of the battle for
our spiritual life and the great temptation to
give up that it's proved to be just
one unending battle and it just looks so
easy just to loosen up and I'll say
Jesus, I love you with the best of
them and I'll go to service and I
will give lip service to prayer but God
knows and you know that there's a slipping
away.
What do we do when truth comes?
You know the Scripture says that we can
do nothing against the truth.
That when Jesus speaks we've got to do
something about it.
Jesus says in His Word we can do
nothing against the truth.
We can do nothing against it.
Nothing can come against truth once spoken.
We can't hurt it.
We can't harm it.
We can't change it.
We can't erase it.
It will remain and it will follow us
to the judgment.
And Mary embraced it and heard what He
had to say.
But beloved many, many people who say Jesus,
I love you are going to fall into
an end time trap.
Are going to decide after Jesus comes into
the house and into the home that they
prefer the Martha service.
You know Martha stood before Jesus and said
Lord, I know at Lazarus' tomb Lord, I
know that You are the Son of God.
I know that You're this and I know
that You're that.
She had a testimony.
But when Jesus said to her if you
believe you will see the glory of God.
He said, I am the resurrection and the
life.
And He that comes to me though He
were dead yet shall He live.
Do you believe this?
Oh yes Lord, I believe that You are
the Son of God.
She didn't hear Him.
He asked her a direct question.
Martha, you're trickling.
Your spiritual life is dwindling.
You've tried and tried in your own flesh
for your service but I even though a
man were dead yet can He live if
He'll turn to me because I am resurrection
and I am life.
Do you believe that Martha?
You know the Pharisees once came to Jesus
and they are the epitome of the end
time battle for the church.
They are the epitome of a Martha service
that says God how I understand service to
be and what I want to do for
you and I understand spiritual truth all the
while getting more and more shut out of
the reality of Christ and the power of
Christ and the glory of Christ is typified
when this Martha spirit was typified when the
Pharisees came to Jesus one time and they
said to Him they were religious people not
interested in truth.
That's what a Pharisee is.
Religious people not interested in truth.
And they didn't want to be honest with
Jesus because they weren't interested in truth.
And they came to Him to ask Him
a question and even though they would never
be honest with Him He saw their hearts
but they would never speak the truth but
they demanded that He be honest with them.
Now that is a religious heart.
That's a heart that says God, you know
I can put up a blind, a shield,
a mask on my heart and spirit but
God just answer me this will you How
come?
But if we're living in silence concerning spiritual
things, beloved we may be on a wrong
path.
And the Pharisees came to Him and they
said to Jesus they said by what authority
do you do these things you're preaching and
who gives you that authority?
And Jesus knowing that they you know if
He gave them the right answer they'd still
be unmoved.
If they really wanted to know the answer
that He would have given them that answer.
But they weren't concerned by whose authority and
who told you you can preach in the
temple.
And so they weren't interested in truth but
also Jesus knowing them says wait I have
a question to ask you.
The baptism of John was it from men
or from heaven?
And they mulled it over and they said
you know if we answer this He's got
us there and if we answer this then
we're caught here and they thought it over
thought it over and realized somehow uncannily one
more time He had done it again He
turned the tables and they were left speechless.
So they came to Him and they said
we don't know we can't say.
Jesus said to them neither do I give
you an answer because when I speak truth
He says it's a plumb line and you
can't see it Pharisees but this man John's
ministry was a plumb line and it was
a separating ministry and those that could hear
Him He was preparing them to hear Me
and the true believers could begin to recognize
what He was saying and recognize His voice
and it paved the way for them to
hear Me and it was a separating ministry
and that's what truth is and if we
don't want truth Jesus is not going to
answer our questions and if we don't want
truth He's not going to explain to us
the path that we're on He says I'm
going to release you to a Martha's service
and you're not going to I'm not going
to reveal myself to you and that's got
to be a sign He says that's going
to be a sign and so at the
end we see these two ladies one last
time in John 12 we see them and
this is now after Lazarus their brother had
been raised from the dead we have to
think about this you know when Lazarus died
both Martha and Mary came to Jesus with
questions and you know for a season even
Mary was confused because you know Martha who
seemed so confident and so reasonable many times
that divided heart can sound so logical and
even now Mary's beginning to take up a
rite of glory if you'd been here my
brother would not have died and we see
now a place where Jesus there's so many
questions but when Christ's presence when Mary comes
to His presence she falls at His feet
and it's like okay you know what because
your presence is here it's enough and I
don't even need the questions answered for this
moment you're here and she falls to His
feet and then you know the story how
Jesus turns to the tomb Martha rebukes Him
Lord He's been dead four days He's now
a rotting corpse Jesus speaks truth to her
again and then He says Lazarus come forth
and a man four days dead in a
Mediterranean heat comes forth whole and they unwrap
him alive and now John 12 shows us
a Martha after Lazarus a believer who now
in her home in her life a powerful
resurrection has happened in her midst to one
more family member beloved we have many people
come into our midst and you're looking on
your left as a Mary bursting into freedom
and a Lazarus on your right broken into
resurrection life and all things have become new
but the Martha sits there and truth given
week after week after week and beloved the
truth the questions Jesus asks for our liberation
He goes right to the core of the
problem if we can hear Him the most
precious thing we have is that we love
truth our prayer needs to be today Lord
in this hour of deception I want to
be a believer Lord no matter what question
whatever you are turning in the midst of
my turmoil the question you're turning to me
Lord I'm going to trust it goes right
it's not off topic it goes right to
the center of who I am and what
my problems are it goes to the core
it goes to what will liberate me if
I can hear it Martha after Lazarus after
a powerful testimony it tells us in John
12 that she served Jesus and when you
look at that word served it means with
the emphasis on the doing and not on
the relationship and so she served and here
she is all again once engrossed on doing
the work on getting the work done as
she sees fit as she sees what needs
to be done there's a party here celebrating
Lazarus and her whole life is becoming beside
the point and her testimony to the world
is lost and it's swallowed up and hidden
by her so called service to Christ you
know Jesus said Mary's chosen that good part
that shall not be taken from her and
the inference is Martha what you're going to
give your life blood to what you're going
to give your time to what you're going
to give your life for is going to
be taken from you it's not going to
last what you've esteemed so highly and you
worked so hard for and you put everything
you had into it he says it's not
going to last it's going to be taken
from you and she is there serving with
all her energies and directed at doing the
task and not about the relationship between the
Lord and the servant and beloved you know
something it's so easy for the enemy to
stop that kind of service so easy it's
birthed in flesh carried out in the flesh
all the enemy has to do is just
begin to to intimate that that service is
not appreciated or somebody is doing it better
or you've got the lowly place a number
of things in any heart that's not humble
will fall for it's a kindergarten tactic but
it's very effective and so many in the
body of Christ get nullified and their service
amount to nothing because they can't hear what
Jesus is saying beloved is Jesus Christ giving
you a fresh revelation of himself he says
I'm going to manifest myself to those that
love me and will follow my way beloved
that's a promise to us that's a promise
to us that's as good as the bank
he says I'll do that he says I'll
come in and I will sup with you
I will have intimate you will know me
in a reality like you've never known me
before he says that's a promise I'm going
to show you things about myself that nothing
can be it can never be taken from
you but who wants it I'm going to
speak things to you puzzling that's going to
go to the center of the problem of
your confusion of the stronghold of the besetting
sin of the reason why we're not moving
forward with our eyes up ourselves and focused
on Christ he says I'm going to speak
to it and reveal it will you hear
me because in the last days with a
Martha church and a Pharisee church they're going
to be full of good deeds but no
revelation and no power to go on and
fight the real battle fight the Lord's battle
know the Lord's victory Jesus loved Martha
he loves us and what he speaks to
us beloved is precisely what we need to
hear what he will show us we need
to take time we need to say Lord
you know Jesus doesn't speak in mega in
those mini bites sometimes we have to meditate
on his words sometimes we have to begin
to think from the beginning when Jesus said
to her there's only one thing needful Martha
that was designed to make her think to
stop in her tracks to turn around and
say who is it that's speaking to me
and what does he mean and beloved God
was going to do that for us if
we can hear him Jesus says I'll show
myself to those that will learn of me
who will be humble in heart and will
agree when I speak who will seek me
will not have nothing to hide and nothing
to protect if I speak to them you'll
say Lord whatever you show me whatever you
manifest to me in your word and what
you've been speaking to me for many here
he's been speaking over and over the same
thing but we've been afraid to approach it
we're afraid what it means we're afraid of
the failure we're afraid of so many things
there's a deep resistance in us Jesus said
I'm Lord of even that resistance I can
take it down if you'll turn to me
and say Lord I'll go your way you'll
give me the courage and I'm going to
know a victory that I've never known even
though my past history has been in this
particular time a complete failure I will not
be turned from you because you're going to
give me a revelation that's going to set
me free that's going to break the power
of hell off my life and my testimony
Hallelujah Hallelujah Beloved we'll pray for the grace
to hear what Jesus is saying will you
stand with me Hallelujah Jesus will give us
a sifting word so that when we stand
to speak it'll be something so fresh and
vital and will make a difference in us
and those that hear us will we believe
him for that kind of life that kind
of word beloved there's some of you that
have been resisting what God has been saying
to you this altar is open for those
there are those that are saying Lord I
need to break through I need you to
reveal yourself to me I need a revelation
like that I need to live beside heaven's
gates for a season I want that revelation
of you that you are so powerful a
revelation that can't be taken from me by
the world of the flesh or the devil
something that puts a radiance in me and
a peace and a joy that comes in
because I know you like that there's some
of you that are saying Lord I need
that touch I want to seek you to
you give that to me will you come
those beloved when Mary heard Jesus he
was able to release her from her fears
he was able to release her from everything
that she'd been holding and trying to manage
herself and keep to herself because while Martha
served she took that alabaster jar broke it
anointed the Lord her story still lives she
had such an absence of fear she could
come and give it all it symbolized an
abandoning and a giving it all and there
was such a joy and a peace because
Jesus would never fail her it was going
to be a God who would die for
her and I believe she was one of
the first to hear it that's why she
anointed him what the disciples couldn't hear was
made manifest revealed to her and she could
give it all Jesus could touch anything and
she gladly gave it all because she knew
what she was giving was worthless compared to
what she was getting and what a testimony
and beloved that can be our testimony that
can be our life that Lord you can
touch anything in my life and Lord with
it you give me the grace to give
it and then I'm going to flow in
a freedom and a release and a joy
and a peace and it's going to astound
everybody who knows me and those that meet
me I believe that and I believe he's
taking us to the shores of that place
where we can just break it all open
and give it all to him he understands
the struggle and he understands the fear but
he says I give you the power if
you'll turn to me and you hear me
and beloved those that have come and are
troubled and anxious about many things Jesus said
I'm going to give you a word that
will liberate you I'm going to give you
a word you can build your life on
it release it all to me so that
I may pour into you that I may
bless you that I may give you more
than you've ever had that the riches of
heaven will never be denied you beloved that
is the gospel of Jesus Christ and he
understands why we're troubled and anxious but we
make a determination Lord I'm going to have
a choice you said Mary chose something Mary
had an understanding heart she looked at me
she looked at her fears and glory to
God she said it is a greater than
my fear is present here and she gave
it to him and he never failed her
and he filled her and she never lacked
she was a radiant testimony speaking to us
even to today beloved we've come many have
come now with a Martha's care and anxiety
but with the cry Lord I want to
have Mary's abandon to you I'm going to
hear you whatever you have to speak I'll
hear it because in you is liberation and
peace beloved those that want that today will
you just raise your hands and you know
for many of you what you are releasing
for many it's the fear and the failure
in certain areas that have been over and
over that have been trying to rob you
of your testimony and your faith and your
confidence in God but God's saying because though
you know repeated failure in a certain area
means that I brought you to a desperation
point where you're not trying to do your
service in this you know you've got nothing
and count on and when you give it
to me I come in and I give
you the power and he says keep turning
to me keep turning to me keep turning
to me I will not fail you I
will change you I will break the stronghold
beloved that's going to be our testimony that's
going to be the testimony of the church
that we're getting free in Jesus Christ that's
the children's bread deliverance is the children's bread
hallelujah now beloved he knows you don't need
to say an audible prayer he knows your
heart he sees it he knows the cry
of your heart and now by an act
of faith we're going to bring a sacrifice
of faith and a sacrifice of praise a
sacrifice of faith Lord I'm going to believe
you for this and a sacrifice of praise
that says God your word has created something
in me Lord you are manifesting yourself you're
being real to me at this minute my
fear is not real you are real you're
bigger than the fear you're bigger than the
doubt you've created and revealed yourself to be
a God to me to be God to
me hallelujah the only God now beloved let's
just praise him this is real this is
real his deliverance is real his presence is
real hallelujah his word is true Lord
we praise you today Lord we come to
you weak empty we come as failures so
many times but you love us you love
us you love us and you've forgiven us
it's under the blood it is forgiven when
we belong to you and Lord you're giving
us a new beginning even this moment no
matter how many times the devil has said
you failed we say I have a new
beginning in Christ and I turn to you
for the power I turn to you for
the strength I have a humility in my
spirit that says I can't but says Lord
you can and I'm going to see the
devil under my heel because you Jesus are
with me and I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me hallelujah beloved give
him the praise give him the praise for
he is worthy hallelujah thank you Jesus hallelujah
I praise you I praise you my Jesus
for a new beginning I praise you for
the new beginning hallelujah in Christ hallelujah