You don't have your days mixed up. I am posting the Weekend Sermon on Thursday. There is supposed to be a major snowstorm tomorrow where I live, and there is supposed to be more snow on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't want to miss posting a sermon, so I am just going to post it today. I hope that everyone is doing well this week. Please pray that the winter storm is not too bad. I am so tired of the bad winter weather this year.
I am having a lot of problems with my health right now, and I would ask that you please pray for me regarding this. My kidneys are not totally back to normal, and the arthritis in my hands is getting worse. Thank you for your prayers.
I don't want to sound like everything in my life is bad or that I'm complaining. The Lord has been very good to me. I am so thankful that He has allowed me to be a writer and to be able to post on this blog. I am thankful for all that God has done for me.
In other matters, please continue to pray for those in Congo who are dealing with the Ebola outbreak. Pray that the sick will recover. I heard on the radio that there is an experimental vaccine being used there, and it has shown good results so far.
Please pray for peace in the troubled areas of this world. This week, let us focus our prayers for peace in Yemen. The situation in that country is very bad right now.
For our prayer focus countries, let us be in prayer for those who live in Eritrea and Brunei. Pray that many will hear of the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Over the course of the last few weeks, we have been studying the teachings of the Lord Jesus. During the course of this blog, I've had the privilege of sharing a lot about Jesus and what He taught and did on this earth. We will continue with our current series for a few more weeks, and then we will move on to a series that I've been planning for awhile.
Today, I would like us to focus our attention on Luke 10:38-42. In this passage, Jesus and His disciples were invited to the home of Martha and her sister Mary. We know from other passages of Scripture that Mary and Martha had a brother named Lazarus. Jesus spent time in this family's home on several occasions. John 11 records that Lazarus died, and Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead four days later. This was shortly before Jesus died and rose again from the dead.
At this time, Jesus was teaching His disciples while they were in the house. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him teach. While this was going on, Martha was busy preparing the meal for Jesus and His followers.
At one point, she became upset that her sister wasn't helping. She wanted Jesus to have her sister come and help her. Jesus said, "Martha, Martha. You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
The Bible doesn't record what Martha said to Jesus after this. This is something I would like to know, but I will just have to use my imagination on this one.
This passage has some very interesting things to teach us. One of those things has to do with the respect that Jesus had for women. In the time in which Jesus lived on the earth, women were not accepted to be disciples. The vast majority of teachers would not have allowed Mary to take the place of disciple.
Jesus had a high regard for women. It was so high, that Jesus entrusted the message that He had risen from the dead to Mary Magdalene. She was the first one to tell others that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
In the churches I grew up in , women weren't allowed to do much of anything. They were often put down. I don't think that that is in keeping with the actions of Jesus.
Jesus loved and respected those that other rejected. Jesus let the let children come to Him. Jesus loved and cared about people that were sick and those who were poor. If others rejected someone, that is the one who Jesus went to and helped.
This passage teaches us something that is really important. It teaches us that the most important thing that we can do in this life is to learn about Jesus and serve Him. Mary wanted to learn about what Jesus had to say. It was of primary importance in her life.
Often, we are like Martha, and we are distracted by many things. There wasn't anything wrong with what Martha was doing. She was just doing it at the wrong time. It would have been better if she would have delayed the preparations and listened to the teachings of Jesus as her sister was doing. When Jesus was finished with what He wanted to say at that time, the meal could have been prepared. From what I know of Jesus, He would have been OK with that.
In this life, we can spend our time on so many things that seem important, but they aren't as important as learning about Jesus and doing what He has taught us and commanded us to do. We work at careers and on hobbies, and often we forget to study the words of Jesus or we neglect spending time in prayer with Him.
There is nothing in life more important than our relationship with Jesus. Our entire eternity depends upon our relationship with Him. I urge you to make it a priority to spend time with Jesus each and every day.
Even more than that, I urge you to make Jesus the center of your entire existence. I believe that was the point Jesus was making. Jesus is Lord. He wants us to make Him the Lord of our lives. In my understanding, that means that Jesus is at the heart of everything that we do. He is the bedrock and center of all. Nothing compares to Him. Nothing can take the place of Jesus at the center of our being.
Next week, we will continue with our series about what Jesus had to say and what He did. I will probably post the sermon on Friday next week. I will try to post the verses on Monday, but it is weather dependent at this point. I will also try to have a review on Wednesday.
As of next week, the blog will be eight years old. I thank the Lord for allowing me to post messages for the last eight years. I have enjoyed it immensely. Lord willing, I will carry on with this into the future. I don't know how many of you have been reading the blog since it started. I do thank each of you who has read the blog over the years. May God bless you all. Amen.
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