Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201333
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01:32 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time....
01:35 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:44 It Is Written 01:46 Sharing messages of hope around the world 01:59 The year was 1962, Dick and Judy Hoyt were looking forward to the arrival of 02:05 their new baby boy. However, during the birthing process something 02:09 happened. The child, who they were to name Rick, was deprived of oxygen for 02:15 a prolonged period of time. As a result the young child was diagnosed 02:20 as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. The doctors told Dick and Judy 02:26 that Rick was destined for a life that was anything but normal and the best 02:31 thing they could do for him was to institutionalize him 02:33 because he had no chance of recovery. Dick and Judy made a choice to not 02:39 institutionalize young Rick and attempt to give him every opportunity at a 02:45 quote unquote normal life. Even though Rick could not walk or speak, it was 02:52 clear that his mind was functioning quite well. As he would look at his 02:57 parents, his eyes would follow them around as they moved around. Dick and 03:04 Judy pushed for Rick to be involved in a public school and took him 03:08 swimming, sledding and many of the normal activities of a young 03:12 boys. They taught him his numbers and alphabet and there was no doubt that 03:20 while he faced huge physical handicaps, his mind, intellect and 03:26 ability were excellent. Engineers at Tufts University designed a 03:32 computer for Rick to be able to communicate in 1972. In 1977, Rick told 03:39 his father that he wanted to participate in a 5-mile run to benefit a paralyzed 03:46 LaCrosse player. Dick wondered what they could do and so he came up with 03:53 a plan that he would run while pushing Rick's wheelchair. They completed 04:02 that first race in next to last place, but Rick told his father, "Dad, when I'm 04:08 running, it feels like I am not handicapped." Dick then committed that this 04:15 would be his gift to his son. And now almost 40 years after that first 04:21 race Dick and Rick have participated in over 1000 races. This includes 6 04:31 ironman triathlons where Dick swims with a harness pulling an inflatible raft 04:37 that Rick is placed in. And rides a bike with a specially designed seat in 04:42 front the Rick rides in. 04:45 The highlight of there racing came in 2014 when 04:48 they ran the Boston Marathon in the one year anniversary of the Boston 04:54 Marathon Bombings.During all of this Rick would graduate from public high 05:01 school and graduated in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in special 05:07 education for Boston University. Commitment and priorities. For Dick 05:15 and Judy they committed to their son and made making something of his life a 05:21 priority. We too must have priorities in order to have success in this life. 05:28 During the ministry of Jesus there was an event that teaches us what our 05:32 number one priority ought to be. 05:38 Come back with me in time. Come back to Israel, just outside the small village 05:45 of Bethany. It is the early 1st century. Jesus and His disciples are 05:50 traveling together. He had just sent out the seventy to do their work two by 05:56 two and now they had returned. They all had been involved in an 06:01 intense amount of ministry and now Jesus felt the need for rest and 06:06 fellowship. He had no home, no place to rest His weary body. So He, along 06:12 with those who were following Him stopped there in Bethany. Bethany 06:17 was very close to Jerusalem. It was here that His close friends, 06:23 Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. This is the same Lazarus whom Jesus would 06:28 later raise from the dead. These people had a special place in the heart of 06:33 Jesus and He would often come here to find rest and solitude. It is on this 06:40 day that Jesus and His followers stop, and although the text does not 06:45 make it clear, it seems that Jesus has surprised His friends - most 06:50 particularly Martha. He has either surprised her because she did not know 06:56 he was coming or He surprised her because she did not expect Him that 07:00 early. We find the story in Luke 10 and we will pick it up in verse 38 07:33 Jesus and His followers had entered the village of Bethany and they came to 07:38 the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. I'm sure with a little surprise on her 07:42 face she invited the Lord in along with some of the followers. Here Martha 07:48 shows her compassion and love for the Lord. Seeing Him in this wearied 07:51 condition, she invites Him in as a guest of her home. And as Jesus enters the 07:59 home, instead of laying His head down to rest, He sees the need and desire 08:05 of others to hear His word.s And so He sits and others gather around Him, 08:11 but the text specifically mentions Mary. And the text specifically says 08:18 that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word. The Greek word that 08:25 is used for hearing is the word akouo. It carries with it the connotation of 08:31 not only hearing and listening, but also of understanding and 08:35 obedience. Mary's listening is not just a casual background noise 08:39 kind of listening. She is listening intently, desiring to understand. 08:46 And while she sits at the feet of Jesus, listening to the words of our 08:51 Saviour and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Martha was distracted with much 08:57 serving. The KJV says that she was cumbered about with much serving. The 09:05 word cumbered or distracted in the Greek literally means to be 09:09 drawn away, to be over-occupied, and to be over-burdened. She was 09:15 over-occupied and distracted by what? By serving. Friends, the word 09:21 to serve here literally means to minister. Can you picture it in your mind? 09:27 You have a very important guest coming and he or she has arrived a little early 09:32 or you are running a little late. And so now as your guest waits you hurry 09:38 yourself about serving and trying to get ready. 09:45 And then it happens. Maybe it was just out of the corner of her eye or 09:54 through a quick glance, she sees her. And the emotions of jealousy, 10:03 anger, and frustration all begin to boil and mix Martha has seen Mary 10:11 sitting, listening to Jesus while she works so very hard. Not only is 10:19 this someone not helping her, but this is her sibling, her sister - 10:26 which is just additional salt on the wound. Those of you that have brothers 10:30 and sisters know exactly what I am talking about - the absolute injustice of 10:35 you having to do work while your brother or sister doesn't. And so now 10:41 the stage is set and Martha in her absolute frustration, turns to 10:47 Jesus and says, according to verse 40, 11:03 In the New Livign Translation, it reads, 11:14 In one of the great moments of Biblical history. Martha, tells the 11:19 King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator of the heavens and earth, she 11:24 tells Him what to do. In fact, she not only tells Him, but according to the 11:30 Greek, she uses an imperative verb, which is to say that she commands 11:36 Him to have Mary help. Now befoe we get too riled up about Martha's treatment 11:46 of Jesus we need to be careful of our condemnation of Martha, 11:50 because many of us do the same today, don't we? We want God to do things our 11:58 way. Like Frank Sinatra singing "I did it my way." we want to do things our 12:05 way and have God bless it. Jesus would rather have us come to Him and ask for 12:12 guidance so He can lead us. But here in Luke 10 Jesus displays one of the 12:18 greatest acts of compassion and mercy, Jesus replies to Martha in 12:28 a loving way and outlines for Martha, as well as us today that which is 12:35 important in life. It is recorded in Luke 10 verses 41 and 42, 13:05 In a most compassionate and loving voice, Jesus first gently rebukes 13:11 Martha, telling her she is worried and troubled by many things. The NIV uses 13:19 the words worried and upset. In the Greek the word worried literally 13:23 means to be troubled and anxious, while the word troubled is the Greek word 13:28 turbadzo. The English word turbulence is derived from it. It literally means to 13:35 be disturbed and bothered. Mary is anxious, troubled, worried, disturbed and 13:47 bothered by many things - a general word for anything really. And then 13:53 Jesus proceeds by saying but. But, there is another way. There is another way 14:01 that will relieve you of all this running around, there is another way that 14:05 will give you comfort from doing, doing, doing. He says, "one thing is 14:09 needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken 14:13 away from her." One thing is needed, only one thing is necessary and essential 14:22 and Mary chose it. What was it that Mary chose? To sit at the feet of Jesus. 14:34 Jesus speaks loud and clear to us today. You can spend all the time in the 14:45 world serving Him, but if you don't spend time at His feet learning from Him 14:50 - you are merely distracted. He says to all of us that believe that we 14:57 can work our way to heaven by working for Him.you are only troubled and worried 15:07 and distracted because what you need is to sit at my feet. And for those of 15:15 us that have so much to do, that we are constantly on the go - Jesus says all 15:22 is for naught; come and sit at my feet. Friends, it is at the feet of Jesus 15:27 where we find the essentials and necessities of life. Now listen to 15:34 these words of Jesus found in Matthew 6:30-34, 16:24 Jesus goes as far as saying that even the most basic, fundamental 16:28 necessities of survival should not be worried about. Seek Him first and 16:32 He will take care of you. This is a most difficult saying for me personally. 16:39 I was talking with someone recenty about this very topic. It is more natural 16:45 for me to generate a to do list and go, go, go. But Jesus says wait, wait - 16:53 seek Me first and all those things on your to do list will be added unto 16:59 you. In one of my favorite books on the life of Christ, The Desire of 17:07 Ages, it says these words, 18:15 Friends, Jesus cries out to us that we are troubled by so many things, we are 18:20 so busy with our smart phones, tablets and computers, but we must 18:26 first take time to sit at His feet. 18:34 You know, a number of years ago there was a popular slogan - WWJD. 18:41 What would Jesus Do? And in a game of philosophical wrestling people tried to 18:47 figure out what Jesus might do in a given situation. Instead of 18:53 asking what He might do, let's focus on what He did do. By asking us to seek 19:01 Him first, He asks us nothing more than what He himself did do. Listen to 19:10 these verses: In Mark 1:35 it tells us about Jesus, 19:29 And later in Mark 6:46 it says, 19:42 The Gospel of Luke also sheds light on the priorities of Jesus, in 19:48 Luke 6:12 20:02 In fact, earlier in Luke it tells us what Jesus' habit was, in Luke 5:16, 20:17 All of these texts make it plain that Jesus, who I might remind you, is God 20:23 incarnate - spend time alone in prayer listening to His Father in heaven. 20:30 If there be anyone who could be self sufficient it is Jesus, yet by 20:35 example, He demonstrates the importance of spending time alone in prayer and 20:41 listening to God. Where is it that we find the voice of God speaking to us 20:46 today? In His Holy Word, in the Bible. Jesus makes it clear, that if we would 20:53 only study His word listening to His voice and praying, He would provide 20:58 for all of our needs. 21:03 Friends the evidence is abundant that this book can be trusted and it is 21:14 the word of God. The questions is, do we listen to it? Are you having 21:18 difficulty in your marriage, Jesus calls out to you and says come and 21:21 spend time at my feet. Are you struggling at work - turn to Jesus and sit at 21:26 his feet. Are you struggling in school - turn to Jesus and sit at 21:30 his feet. Are you being tempted - turn to Jesus and sit at his feet. Are 21:34 you children running wild - turn to Jesus and sit at his feet. Some might be 21:49 asking where and how to start. It is different for each person. I would 21:57 recommend getting yourself a notebook. Not necessarily anything 22:07 fancy. In it you will journal, which can be done in many ways. You can 22:14 write out your prayers to God, you can write the message you think God is 22:18 giving to you. You can take notes on those things which you are reading that 22:25 are especially powerful to you. As you read the Bible and reflect on the text 22:35 you can ask three simple questions, what does the text say? How does it 22:45 intersect with my life? And what is the invitation being made to me 22:56 personally. Take time to read and listen to what God is saying to you. Some 23:06 will ask where do I start? Really the sky is the limit. I recommend 23:17 starting in the gospels, particularly in Mark or John and read a story at a 23:26 time or a number of chapters at a time. And then reflect on those. 23:29 Maybe you would like to read the whole Bible through. You can do this 23:35 actually very rapidly. At 40 chapters a day you can read the Bible in 30 days. 23:42 At 20 chapters a day, you can read it in 60 days or at 10 chapters a day, you 23:54 can read it in 120 days. No matter how you do or what works for you, friend 24:02 the message is plain turn to Jesus, spend time at His feet and learn from 24:09 Him in His Word is powerful. Hebrews 4:12, 24:38 The Bible is living and powerful in the life of the believer who listens 24:43 to what God is saying. Do you want to listen to what the Word has to say? Psalm 24:49 119:105 says, 24:58 The word is our sure guide. God's word is light in the darkness. Doug 25:05 Goins tells the story of a woman, who's name was Helen Hayworth Lemmel. She 25:11 was in her nineties. She had been born and raised in wealth in England, and 25:16 was well-known as a songwriter. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Lemmel probably 25:20 wrote seventy or eighty Christian hymns and gospel songs that were popular in 25:25 the 1920s through the early 1950s. Mrs. Lemmel had married into nobility; 25:30 her husband was a lord. But she was stricken with blindness as a very young 25:35 woman, and her husband divorced her because he didn't want to be married 25:41 to a blind woman. I don't know all the circumstances, but somehow 25:46 she ended up destitute in Seattle, Washington, a ward of King County, 25:51 living in a tiny room in a home where the rent was paid by the county. You 25:57 probably know the most famous song that Mrs. Lemmel wrote:Turn your 26:02 eyes upon Jesus. Every time we would visit her or she would come to our 26:11 home, we would ask her how she was doing, and she would always say, "I am 26:16 fine in the things that count." That's a godly perspective on things that 26:24 could be embarrassing or humiliating. Today, Jesus is calling you, won't you 26:30 turn your eyes upon Jesus. Won't you make a commitment this day to 26:35 spend time at His feet and learn from Him. Today will you make a commitment to 26:41 read His Word and allow the tranforming power of His Word to be activated 26:47 in your life today? 26:50 Let's pray and make that commitment together. Today, Lord, we come to 26:55 you. We commit to reading your word. We commit to being open to the 26:59 transforming power of your word. Lord, change us and make us more like You, we 27:05 pray in Jesus' name, amen. 27:25 You know, friend, as we talk about sitting at the feet of Jesus, we're 27:28 really talking about coming to Jesus and learning how to walk with 27:34 Him. You know, in any job that I've ever had in my life, I've needed 27:39 training, training to teach me how to do what I needed to do. It's the 27:45 same way with walking with Jesus. It's the same way in the spiritual life. We 27:49 need to be trained and we need to be taught how to do it. So today, I want to 27:56 offer you the Discover Bible guides. The Discover Bible guides are a 27:59 refreshing lead in the Bible on how we can develop a relationship 28:07 with Jesus. Here's the information you need 28:11 to get those Discover Bible guides. 28:57 In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said these words: 29:11 Sitting at the feet of Jesus is about finding rest for our souls in Him. 29:19 Jesus desires for us to sit at His feet and to have an ever-deepening 29:26 relationship with Him, that more and more each day, we would be like Him. 29:32 Friend, I hope you're on that journey of an ever-deepening 29:36 relationship with Jesus. Thank you for watching today. I hope you'll join 29:41 us again next week. Until then, remember, it is written, "Man shall not 29:47 live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of 29:52 God." 29:56 $$$$ |
Revised 2015-10-07