A Tale of Two Sisters

[00:00:00] Speaker A: There's a famous lines that open a tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. It goes like this. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, and it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, and it was a season of darkness. It was a spring of hope, and it was a winter of despair. We had everything before us, and we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to heaven, and we were all going direct the other way. This novel's central tension between love and family on the one hand, and oppression and hatred on the other, the book suggests that good and evil, wisdom and folly, and light and darkness stand equally matched in their struggle. The book makes prominent use of doubles to get and also to keep the reader's attention in this passage of scripture that we have in Luke, chapter ten. This passage of scripture also uses doubles, as it were, to teach us a very important lesson. Luke contrasts two sisters, Mary and Martha, and the relationship to Jesus on this particular occasion. I don't want to say tonight that one did bad and the other did good. I think I would rather like to say that one did that which was good and the other did that which was better, best. And I want us to look at this, as many of us are very familiar with this passage of scripture. We begin our reading at verse number 38. The Bible says, then it came to pass that as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. Now, I'm going to be honest with you that Brendan and I, we are the type of people that if we know that we have company coming, we absolutely, Pam, go through our entire house and clean it to top to bottom. I mean, to tell you one thing. I have certain areas that I know that need to be dusted, and I'm going to make sure those areas are dusted. And I want to. I tell Brenda, I'll take care of the vacuuming. And, boy, I take care of doing all the vacuuming, because, you know, what I like to do is whenever people come into the house, I won't. Whenever they walk in there to look, Judy, to be able to see all of those lines in that carpet right there. So, oh, wow. The carpet's all clean and stuff like this. Good. Okay. And, boy, I'll make sure that the yard is cut just right if I have the opportunity now, Lester, I'll make sure I get out there and I edge that yard to where, man? Standing up like a flat top haircut boy. And the yard has all the lines in the right direction and it's all been blown off your thing. You sound like you're fanatic. [00:03:09] Speaker B: No, I just like everything to. [00:03:11] Speaker A: Just to be in order. Whenever I have company come over, I want everything to be dusted. I want everything to be clean. I want all the commodes and everything to be nice and clean. And I don't want anything out of, out of. Out of the way at all. And I stop and think what it must have been like for Mary and Martha to have Jesus come to their house. And I know for some of us. [00:03:33] Speaker B: Here we say, oh, I wouldn't be anything. [00:03:35] Speaker A: Well, I want to say something. It would be something, amen, if we would have. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Knowing that Jesus was going to be coming to my house, man, it would be a wonderful thing, man. Knowing that, man. I mean, I've been talking about Jesus. I've been praying to Jesus all these times, and I know that he's going to be coming to my house. That would be a great thing. Matter of fact, I think I'd be inviting some friends to be able to. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Come over to my house. I want you to come over. [00:04:00] Speaker B: You'll never guess who I'm having to come to my house. [00:04:04] Speaker A: You gotta come. You won't believe it. I'm having the king of kings and Lord of Lords come to my house. I'm having Jesus, hallelujah. [00:04:10] Speaker B: Come to my house. [00:04:13] Speaker A: I think that probably a number of the people that we minister to on a weekly basis, I think I probably wanna have them come to my house too, on that occasion. I know that there's some individuals where Samuel, he goes to work at on a weekly basis. I'm sure that I'd wanna say, you know what? We're just gonna have the house open. We're gonna have everybody come over. [00:04:34] Speaker B: I don't know how we're gonna fit everybody, but we're gonna have them all. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Come over here, because Jesus is gonna be coming to our house. And I know that Jesus is gonna be able to do something for everybody's life there, and it's gonna be a special time. And I think about some of those other passages of scripture where the. The four men brought the man that had cerebral palsy to Jesus. And. And I can imagine that when those four men brought that one man that had cerebral palsy to Jesus, and they got there, and the Bible says that there was standing room only, that there. [00:05:07] Speaker B: Was no way that they could get there. [00:05:09] Speaker A: I'm sure that everybody, Judy was standing outside of that house, and they were listening intently. I could hear him. I can hear him. I can hear as a mother had her crippled son, Jesus, laying his hands on that crippled son, and all of a sudden, you hear the mother crying, cry out because her son has just gotten healed. Listen, I know that sometimes that I might get a little theatric and everything about how that I carry on and how that I try to illustrate things, but I believe that whenever Jesus touched people's lives, then I believe that they. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Got a little excited. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Amen. [00:05:49] Speaker B: I don't think that they just sat. [00:05:50] Speaker A: There and said, oh, wow, you know. [00:05:52] Speaker B: Praise God, I just got healed. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Amen. Isn't that great? [00:05:55] Speaker B: I was. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Amy, I don't know if I said this at Terra Bella one week or not, but I was stumbling across, watching some YouTube videos, and there's this young girl, and she had one of those implants because she was unable to hear, and they had one of those implants in. And the nurse was saying to her, she said, now, this young girl was probably about 27, 28 years old, something like that, and she had never heard any sound her entire life. And the nurse was saying to her, she said, now I'm going to be making some adjustments on this machine, and there's a possibility that you might hear something. And so the nurse went over there and she was making some adjustments, and she said, did you hear that? And the girl started crying. She put her hands in her face and she just started weeping uncontrollably. And the nurse, she said, are you okay? Are you all right? And the young girl, she said, I heard your voice, and I see things like that. And I said, the first time I saw that, I said, praise God. [00:07:18] Speaker B: I said, there's a modern day healing that has just taken place. That girl was touched. [00:07:24] Speaker A: I know that a lot of individuals say, well, don't you know the doctors did that? No, sir. Reed, that was God's touch on that girl's life right there, giving her her hearing so that she could be able to hear. And then there's another little baby. They were trying to fit this little baby with some eyeglasses so that the baby could see. [00:07:40] Speaker B: And, oh, the baby was fighting those glasses. They didn't want those eyeglasses to be put on. [00:07:45] Speaker A: And then when they finally got the glasses put on that little baby's head, the baby, for the first time, was able to see what its mama looked like. And the baby immediately stopped its crying, and the eyes kind of got real big and it looked, and you could see that happiness come over that child's face. Man, I stopped and think that would be a wonderful experience to be in a service like that to where you were able to invite other people and they were able to come to your house. Why? Because Jesus was going to be there. Well, at this particular instance, we know that Mary and Martha and Lazarus, on different occasions, Jesus called them his friends. [00:08:32] Speaker B: We know in John, chapter eleven that. [00:08:35] Speaker A: Lazarus was deathly sick. And Mary and Martha sent word to. [00:08:40] Speaker B: Jesus and said, jesus, he whom thou lovest is sick, come. [00:08:46] Speaker A: And Jesus did something that we think is so unthinkable, that Jesus waited instead of coming to Mary and Martha. And I'm sure that Martha and Mary were probably beside Lazarus, and they were probably taking wet compresses and trying to. [00:09:03] Speaker B: Wipe that fever, trying to get the. [00:09:05] Speaker A: Fever down, trying to help him. And they were probably saying, Lazarus, we've sent word to Jesus, and I know. [00:09:10] Speaker B: That it isn't going to be long. [00:09:11] Speaker A: And he's going to be coming, and. [00:09:13] Speaker B: He'S going to lay his hands on you. He's going to touch you, and you're going to be all better. Lazarus, Jesus is coming. [00:09:20] Speaker A: But Jesus didn't come when they had sent the word for him. And I mean to tell you what, there are some things that will happen in your life and in my life that just will not make sense. And we kind of think at times, you know, God, where are you? You know, why aren't you working this situation out? [00:09:40] Speaker B: In my life, I mean, to tell you something, whenever you don't think that God is working in your life, my friend, I'm gonna tell you something tonight. God is always working in your life. [00:09:50] Speaker A: And in my life, we had a lady this past week, her name's Frieda. Was able to see her today. I might have made mention about this at Terabella that Frida's best friend had said, you know, she had gone to a church where they were teaching a work, salvation. And I think it was a catholic church. And so she quit going to that church, and she began reading her Bible. She started reading in the book of Genesis, and now she's all the way over in the book of Isaiah. And I said, praise God. She didn't give up. Because most people, when they get around the book of Leviticus and stuff like that, with all the laws and stuff, it's like, good gracious alive. [00:10:22] Speaker B: This don't make too much sense to me. [00:10:24] Speaker A: And so. But she's all the way there in Isaiah. And she said to Frieda, the other day, she said, you know, I've been reading through my Old Testament. She said, but the strangest thing that gets me. She said, I wonder, why is God always so angry? Why is he so angry? [00:10:40] Speaker B: And I stopped and thought about it. [00:10:42] Speaker A: I said, well, as a parent, what does it do to our parents heart? Whenever you see your children go the opposite way, in opposite direction, that you're leading them, you're trying to guide and direct them into ways, it's going to be a blessing, and their life is going to miss a lot of the pitfalls that you and I have had to experience in life, and yet we put our hand up in the face of Almighty God and says, no, I don't need that direction right now in my life. I said, how in the world do you think it must make God feel? As a parent, I know how it makes me feel when my children disobey. I know how it makes me feel whenever my children say, dad, we don't need your advice right now. We want to learn the hard way in life. I'm thinking, that's so crazy. And Frida, she said, my friend is reading through the Bible, and she is saying, why does it seem like that God is so angry? And I said to Frieda today, I said, Frieda, I said, whenever you see your friend, I said, you need to tell your friend something. This. That all she is seeing is just a small picture about God's dealing with the people of Israel. I said, if God was angry with us each and every day, I said, God would be absolutely pounding us every single day for every little sin that we had ever committed. I said, dictators like Kim Jong young, North Korea wouldn't even be on a mount, mount on the map. It would be an uninhabitable place because of everything that North Korea stands for and everything that that dictator stands for. But you know what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter five? It says that God causes it to reign on the just as well as the unjust. I'm here to tell you today that God is good to everybody. And the reason that God is good to everybody is because he loves everybody, and he wants everybody to know him. We come to this passage of scripture with Mary and Martha and these two sisters. They have Jesus come to their house, and I'm sure that they were probably doing some cleaning and dusting and vacuuming and getting everything ready. And the Bible says in verse 39, and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. But Mary was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me alone? Hath left me to serve alone bidder. [00:13:01] Speaker B: Therefore, that she help me. [00:13:04] Speaker A: One of the things I like to talk about in this passage of scripture is making the right choices in life. And the first thing that I see is choosing the best means, first of all, we need to be in the right place. Choosing the best. Choosing the best, not just choosing something that's good, but I'm talking about choosing the best means that we need to be in the right place. Says in verse number 39, Mary, her sister, which also sat at Jesus feet, heard his word. Mary was sitting at Jesus feet. Martha, I guess we can say that she went to the kitchen. The greek word here for hearing literally doesn't mean just to sit, but it means to sit near. [00:13:55] Speaker B: And I think that it implies that Mary got as close to the Lord. [00:14:00] Speaker A: As she possibly could. [00:14:03] Speaker B: Sitting at the feet of your master in biblical times was the proper place for a disciple to be. As a matter of fact, in acts, chapter 22, verse three, the apostle Paul said that he was brought up at the feet of Camille. [00:14:18] Speaker A: Turn, if you would, please, back to Luke, chapter number eight. Chapter eight. And we're going to look at one verse of scripture down at verse number 35, starting at verse 26 on. It's about the maniac of Gedera, the man that was possessed with a legion of demons. And the demons are cast out of this man. And in verse number 35, those that had come from the city, those that had come to see what had happened to all of the herd of the swine, it says, then they went out to see what was done. That is, the people of the town, and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed. Everybody read that out loud for me. Sitting. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Choosing the best means being at the right place. Now, I want to say that I don't know exactly what Martha was doing. She could have had the Hoover vacuum cleaner going back and forth, vacuuming and, you know, walking around and feeling around and seeing that there's dust man on some of the furniture and realizing that, Mary, I got potato salad in that refrigerator. I got iced tea I'm trying to fix on the stove. [00:15:43] Speaker B: And, my goodness, we got. The bread is in the oven, and it's baking, and I got the chicken I got to prepare and stuff like that. And you're just sitting there at Jesus feet, and I need some help. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Right now. [00:15:57] Speaker B: And as a matter of fact, Martha, she says these words to Jesus. She says the words to Jesus in the Bible. She said, lord, dost thou not care? [00:16:07] Speaker A: I think, boy, that's pretty bold. [00:16:11] Speaker B: Do you not care what it is that's going on in my life right now? Do you not see all the things that's going on with me right now and how that I'm trying to prepare and how that I'm trying to get the food ready for everybody to sit down and have a big meal? And there's my sister. [00:16:32] Speaker A: She's just sitting there. [00:16:35] Speaker B: Now, I'm going to put it in. [00:16:36] Speaker A: The vernacular how that James Burgess would have said it. [00:16:42] Speaker B: I would say, lord, would you please tell Mary to get up off her tail and get in that kitchen and help me? Amen. I'm about work. Slapped to death. I've always kind of wondered what that. [00:16:56] Speaker A: Slap to death really means. Where did that come from? [00:17:01] Speaker B: I need some help. [00:17:04] Speaker A: But you know what? Mary had chosen just not a good thing to do. You know what I think, Ari? She chose the best thing to do because she was at the right place. She was sitting at the feet of Jesus, man. I just think, wow, can you think of any better place to be than being able to sit at Jesus feet, Brother Mark? You know, I just. I think that if, if I could have been kneeling down there and being close to Jesus, listening to his teachings, I kind of think that, Lester, at some point in time, I could almost see Jesus putting his hand on your shoulder as he's talking to you. Or maybe he would lay his hand upon your head and saying, it's all right, Mary. I know what you're going through. But you know the problem with Martha? She wasn't there, right there where Jesus was. I guess I'm trying to say that in the christian life, we can get so busy about doing things that we can miss out on the most important thing, and that is spending that time with Jesus. The second thing that I like to say is choosing the best means, first of all, being in the right place. But choosing the best means listening to the right voice. Verse 39. And she had a sister called Mary, which also said, jesus feet. And it says, and heard his word. Mary heard the words of Jesus. [00:19:13] Speaker B: Martha. Lester, I'm sure that Martha probably heard. [00:19:19] Speaker A: The words of Jesus, but not very well. [00:19:25] Speaker B: I know at our house, if I'm. [00:19:26] Speaker A: Busy working, Judy, if I'm busy getting something done, and I'm really focused on it, Brenda, she'll call my name. James Honey. James Honey. [00:19:37] Speaker B: I've called you three times. I said, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was caught up. I was doing something I was really intent on doing. So she said, well, I called you three times trying to get my attention. [00:19:48] Speaker A: But sometimes we can get so caught up on other things that sometimes we can miss out on the most important thing. While at the feet of Jesus, Mary heard his word. The apostle Paul switches the tense of this verb here to an imperfect tense, which literally means that it was a durative or a continual listening or hearing. [00:20:11] Speaker B: She listened with the attentiveness to everything he said, and she didn't tire of his voice or of his teachings. She said really close enough to hear. [00:20:25] Speaker A: Everything that he had to say. And it also implies that she not only really heard everything that Jesus said, but Pam, after it was over with, she continued to think on those things. You know, they say that in our average church, that the congregation only retains 10% of what has been said during the services. So if you ask an average person, whenever they leave church and they're going home, what did the pastor preach on? They might say something like this. Well, he spoke about the Bible, I know that for sure. Yeah, but what did he speak about the Bible? [00:21:09] Speaker B: Well, I know it was in the New Testament. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it was about the New Testament. [00:21:14] Speaker B: Some might even say, well, I think it was about something to do with Mary and Martha. [00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that was. He said some things about Mary and Martha, but they said that the average parishioner that goes to church only retains about 10% of the things that are said, which I'm going to make this message very brief and simple for us. First of all, if we're going to make the right choices, we need to be at the right place, sitting at the feet of Jesus. If we're going to make the right choices in life, we need to hear the right words. Like Mary. She was sitting at Jesus feet and she heard his words. Not in the sense of tiring of them, but she listened to them over and over again. Thirdly, choosing the best means setting priorities and watching out for distractions. Oh, boy. Mary's priority was to be close to Jesus. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Martha's priority was serving Christ and others. The Bible says that in verse number 40. But Martha was cumbered about much. [00:22:24] Speaker A: Serving that word. Cumbered literally means to be over occupied or too busy. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Is serving bad? [00:22:37] Speaker A: No, no, it's not serving. It's the greek word diokonus, the feminine form of the word that we translate, deacon. [00:22:47] Speaker B: So Martha was literally, she was being a servant at that point in time to Jesus and his disciples, we are told and commanded that we should serve one another. [00:22:59] Speaker A: In Galatians 513. [00:23:01] Speaker B: So what Martha did, it was a good thing. I mean, we can say it was. [00:23:07] Speaker A: A good thing, amen. But it was simply not the best thing at this point in time. Pam, would you want to be worrying about the commodes and dusting or would you want to be right there with Jesus? Mary made a choice. She knew that there were other things that needed to be done, but she purposely didn't do those things. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Instead, she went and she sat at the feet of Jesus. [00:23:42] Speaker A: Verse number 42. The Bible says, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her good part. You could say that. Good part could also be said that better or best part, depending upon what you're comparing it to. [00:24:04] Speaker B: And I cannot think of anything better than for a disciple to be sitting at the feet of Jesus soaking up every word that he spoke. So I think best is the best meaning behind that word good part. [00:24:17] Speaker A: And somebody could say amen right there. Martha was careful and troubled by that which wasn't best. She could have sat at Jesus feet too. [00:24:29] Speaker B: However, she chose the other things instead. She was so busy with the good. [00:24:34] Speaker A: Things that needed to be done, but just not right then. If you'll notice that when Jesus in verse number 41, he spoke to Martha, he says in verse 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, martha, Martha. You know why I think that Jesus said her name twice? Because Martha was busy about just going with a feather duster, with trying to get everything set up. Martha, she wasn't stopping. [00:25:11] Speaker B: Martha. [00:25:13] Speaker A: You know, sometimes we have to do that in our home. Brenda does that with me. Sometimes I try to do it with her. Sometimes we do that with our children. We just don't say their name one time. We say it over again, but then we also kind of raise the volume a little bit. Why is that? Because we want to get their attention. And I think Jesus was doing the same thing there. Distractions. You know, one of the biggest distractions that we have today is something called the Internet. Big distractions that we have are these cell phones that you can just be hooked up online 24/7 many of the churches that we go to, Ari, I know that you think that when we're not here that we're just sitting at home, not going to church. But I can tell you what, we are at different churches all the time. For the most part, when we go to different churches, we're always seated in the back, and it's amazing what you see when you sit in the back. I see young kids sitting back there. Instead of listening to the word of God, they're playing some sort of game on these iPads or tablets or whatever it is. You know, it's a way of keeping the children preoccupied with other things rather than being able to listen and hear the word of Almighty God. I see individuals sitting back and they're more interested in finding out what's going on facebook than they are about hearing what's going on in the word of Almighty God. [00:26:38] Speaker B: I see individuals, man. They're looking at any and everything when they're at church, other than listening to the word of Almighty God. It's gotten so bad that when people come to church, instead of bringing their bibles, they just simply bring their telephones with them. [00:26:54] Speaker A: We're so caught up in this electronic age, and believe you me, there are many distractions that are out there. Years ago, whenever I started going to church, and I'm just about through, I realized that, that you go to church and you'd hear the pastor preach and you'd say, praise God. That's the word of God. But today, Lester, people will fact check you before they ever walk out the door, they're going to look up the God called Google and see what he has to say about it. [00:27:31] Speaker B: Years ago, before you could ever say. [00:27:34] Speaker A: What the greek word was for listening or sitting at Jesus's feet, you'd almost. [00:27:39] Speaker B: Have to go to Bible college before you could ever even begin to look up those definitions and figure out what those words is. But today, it's simply just going on a Google search and putting it in there. And within seconds, you'll have the answer right there at your fingertips. [00:27:56] Speaker A: And so instead of having this relationship of saying, God, will you speak to me, God, will you touch me, God, will you help me? We get distracted by all of these other things in life. Choosing the best means being at the right place. Choosing the best means listening to the right voice. Choosing the best means setting priorities and watching for distractions. I want to be honest with you. I don't know how Pastor Wood does it, but I want to be honest with you about myself. Whenever I get up and I preach to people, I'm basically preaching from my own experiences. [00:28:37] Speaker B: I'm not up here trying to let. [00:28:38] Speaker A: You think that this guy's got it all together. [00:28:42] Speaker B: I don't have it all together. I make mistakes in my life. But you know what I realize that the same mistakes and the same problems that I have is the same problems that everybody else in this church has and that we all experience, because we all need to realign our priorities in life. We all need to look for these destruction, because the devil is, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And he's wanting to get as many people as they possibly can to get. [00:29:11] Speaker A: Their eyes off the Lord. There was a teacher that was trying to communicate the importance of making the right decisions to his class. And he had this large mason jar that he had in front of the class that had a great big mouth on it like this. And as he was speaking to the class, Judy had these big rocks that he had. And he was putting these big rocks in this jar. And when he finally got all these big rocks in the jar, he held the jar up to the class, and he says, now, class, is this jar full? And many of the people, he looked at him said, yeah, the jar is full. Full of those rocks. He said, is it really? He then reached up underneath the podium and he pulled out another container of pea gravel. And he slowly began to dump that pea gravel in on those big rocks. And the pea gravel slowly began to sift its way down amongst all those rocks. And finally, after bumping the jar a few times, the pea gravel filled the jar up. And he asked the class again, he said, is the jar full? And at this point in time, Walter, there's not too many people in the class that were wanting to say anything. And so he reached up underneath the podium again, and he pulled out another container of fine sand. And he began to dump the fine sand in there and shake the jar. And Joseph, that fine sand began to trickle down and fill up all the little gaps there. And finally, the fine sand kind of reached to the mouth of that big old jar. And he held the jar up, and he said, is the jar full? And one of the students says, well, maybe. And he reached up underneath the podium again, and he pulled out a container of water, and he poured that water in on top of those great big old rocks. And the gravel. The sand. And brother Vernon, finally the water filled that jar completely to the brim. And he asked the class, he said, is the jar full? And they all said, yes, it's full. He then asked the class, he said, what is the purpose of this illustration? And Joseph, one of the students, spoke. They said, well, it just goes to show that no matter how full your life is, there's always room for something else. He said, no. He said, that's not the purpose of this illustration. He said the purpose of this illustration is to illustrate the importance of making the right choices about the right things in life. He says the big rocks represent the foundational principles and things in life that we need, that you must have if you're gonna make it through life. A person needs to be saved. They need to know Jesus Christ as their savior. Person needs to have a relationship with the Lord. A person needs to have a good church family to be a part of. A person needs to have a Bible study, prayer, life, a devotional life with God. A person needs to have a love for family. You know, go on and on. Those are those foundational stones there, he said. He asked the class, he said, now. [00:32:30] Speaker B: What was the first thing that we. [00:32:31] Speaker A: Put inside the jar? The big rocks. That's right. [00:32:37] Speaker B: And what was the last thing that. [00:32:39] Speaker A: They put in the jar? The water. He said, reverse the order, Pam. If you would reverse the order, that would mean that the first thing that would go into the jar would be the what? Water. Okay, what if you. Then after you filled it up with water, you start trying to put the rocks in there? What would happen? The water is going to spill and it's going to create a big, what? Big mess. And that's exactly what happens in believers lives. They don't have those foundational stones established in their life. We waste so much time, Sister McLean, with those insignificant little grains of particles that really have no meaning to them at all. We waste so much time on the pea gravel of life when God is wanting us to focus on the foundation stones of life. And so many people, Miss Sister Betty, they wait to the very end of their life before ever trying to get those foundation stones in, only to find out that sometimes it's too late because they got so much other stuff packed in there that there is literally no room for those important things. What is the lesson that we can learn from Mary and Martha? Make sure you're listening to the right voice. Make sure that you're listening to Jesus. Can I say that you'll never go wrong in life following Jesus? Amen. [00:34:21] Speaker B: I've been saved 42 years, 42 glorious years. And I looked back at my life and I never looked back at my life and said, what? Why in the world did I do that? Why in the world did I follow the Lord? Why in the world did I want to pray and follow Jesus? No. I look back at my life and I say, thank God that I follow Jesus. Thank God that I listened to his voice. He made all the difference in my life. And I'm telling you what? As a preacher, I'm trying to encourage you today to make that choice in your life right now. Don't allow the devil to throw you a sidetrack to get you distracted about those insignificant things of life. Commit your life to Christ. Committing my life to Christ is not something that I do once in a lifetime, but, Joseph, it's something that I do every day of my life. [00:35:07] Speaker A: I commit my life to Christ every day. [00:35:10] Speaker B: I submit my life to him. Why? [00:35:13] Speaker A: Because I want him to have the lordship of my life. You know, there's that song that we sing all to Jesus. I surrender all to him. I freely give worldly treasures all forsaken. Take me, Jesus, take me now. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed savior. I surrender all. You know what that song is saying? That I need to be surrendering and giving myself to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus has given his all for me and for you. Lord, I pray that tonight you'd help us to make those right choices and decisions in life. Help us, dear God. Lord, to listen to your voice and to follow you. God, I know that this is a Wednesday night prayer meeting, but, dear God, I feel like that there's probably somebody that's here right now that you're speaking to their heart. Maybe it's a relationship problem, dear God, maybe they just got distracted by other things. Maybe they're like a Martha. Dear God, we're just kind of busy about life. Just busy. And yet, Lord, you're trying to speak to us and say, you need to make some time for me. You need to listen to my voice.