Turn back to Luke chapter 10
and verse 38. I've looked at this scripture
a number of times, and I realized recently while looking at it,
I thought there's two sisters involved in this story, in this
part of God's Word. And we identify with one of the
two. One of these two girls, we can all take our place, being
either the one or the other. And I hope, I hope that I identify
with Mary, although I know I don't. Verse 38 begins, Now it came
to pass. Me and Frank was talking there
before the lesson this morning. Isn't it something just to read
God's Word? I'll boldly confess to you that the bulk of God's
Word is a mystery to me. I just scratch my head and I
just say, Lord, I don't see what this is about. Lord, will you
teach me something? Will you show me what this is
about? I don't see it. But occasionally, Occasionally
he'll show me something. And I think that sometime he
showed me this. It came to pass. And the truth of that statement.
It came to pass. It must come to pass. All things
must come to pass. And I think, especially to the
believer, we can find much comfort there knowing that all things
come to pass as they were determined, as they were ordained, as they
were purposed, as they were willed of our Heavenly Father, even
before the foundation of the world. All things are going to
come to pass. This grace appears many times
in the Word of God. But as I looked at this this
week, it says now it came to pass. Isn't that even more comforting? It came to pass. Right now. Right at the exact time. At the
appointed time. At the predetermined time. It
came to pass. It came to pass as they went. Now our Lord, in His earthly
ministry, He traveled almost all the time with those around
Him. In company with others. Others
that had looked for the Messiah. Others that He had come and revealed
Himself to. Those that He had called. Those
that had went out like Peter. Can you picture that? Out there
on a beach. Out there at a seaside. And our
Lord walking on that seaside. Walking on that shore of the
beach. Who knows how many people were there? Hundreds, maybe thousands
of people. There were ships. There were
fishermen. There were people working. There were people enjoying
recreation. And our Lord crossed the path
of this one man. Peter. And He said, follow Me. Peter,
you follow Me. Lay down all this other stuff
you're doing. You follow me. I'll make you fishers of men.
Come and follow me." And he did. He left everything. And he followed
the Lord Jesus Christ as they went. Now these men, after he
had revealed himself to them, after he had given them faith
in him, these men wanted to be in his company. You see throughout
all the Old Testament, our Lord would do some amazing thing for
someone, and they desired to follow our Lord. Like that Gadarene,
our pastor preached on that here just a couple of weeks ago. That
demoniac over there in the land of the Gadarenes. Our Lord went
over there, this crazy, wild man that nobody could do anything
with. And our Lord put this man in his right mind. What a great
place to be in his right mind. And he said, I'll follow you
anywhere. I want to go with you. And he said, no, here's what
I want you to do. I don't want you to go become
a theologian. Go home and become a doctor of
divinity and speak where nobody can understand what you're saying.
I want you to go home to your family and friends and your neighbors
and your loved ones, and I want you to do this one thing. You
tell them what you were, and you tell them who I am, and you
tell them what I did for you. You tell them what great things
I've done for you. That's some of these people that
are traveling with our Lord. It says, Now it came to pass
as they went that He entered into a certain village. Isn't
that something? Do we see that? I've read that
there in 2 Samuel. I don't know how many times I've
read it. How many people gleaned what the Lord gave Frank from
that portion of God's Word? How many people gleaned that?
I've never seen that before. I've read about Abner. I know
who Abner is. And here, he entered into a certain
village. Not just a village. This is in
the vicinity of Jerusalem. It was a two-mile walk from Jerusalem
to this little community called Bethany. Now, any direction you
went from Jerusalem, there were villages. There were villages
in every direction. And every village needed the
same thing, like every place in our day needs the same thing.
They need to have a visit from the Lord Himself. Now, He came
to this place. And it just wasn't helter-skelter.
It just wasn't, well, I think it's time of day that we need
to take a little break here from our journey. This looks like
an inviting place, a comfortable place, a cool place. Let's go
to this village. No, it was a certain village. It was a certain village. This
is a certain village here. You know that three years ago,
I think you all have been here about three or four years, Three
or four years ago, I didn't even know there was a Hurricane Road
that existed in the world. I'd never heard of it. Hurricane
Road. How many people know Hurricane Road? I mean, it's not like New
York or Los Angeles or Houston. It's Hurricane Road. It's just
a little village. You know, down here, before we
get here, coming up this way, there's about five or six homes
here in a little cluster, you know. And I know we're getting
close when we see them little houses down there. That's where
our Lord went. He went to a village. He went
to a village. I remember years ago reading
that Billy Graham, as the world speaks, and as the religious
world speaks, he's the greatest in our day. Do you think Billy
Graham would come to Hurricane Road? Do you think he'd come
to Iron or Coal Grove? Do you think he'd come to Canova?
I think you had to have a ton of money up front even to get
anybody representing that organization to come to wherever it is you
wanted them to come. You'd never get Billy Graham or Joel Osteen. You'd never get
them to come to Hurricane Road. But our Lord came to this village,
this certain village. It was a certain village. He
had to come there. He had to come there. Now, we're introduced
to two young women in this story. There was also a brother that
lived in this household. He's not mentioned in this part
of God's Word. In other places, he's mentioned. Martha, Mary,
and Lazarus. Evidently, Martha is the oldest,
the matriarch of this family. Possibly a widow. Possibly her
husband is dead, and now she's raising her younger brother and
sister in her home. But our Lord came to this certain
village. Certain village. And the Lord's
came to certain villages in our day. Certain villages in our
day. And I thought, I thought as I
looked at this, I don't think you'd get an argument
from anyone that the Lord has used Henry Mahan greater than
anybody in our day. And I'm not bragging on Henry
Mahan. I'm bragging on the Lord who put Henry Mahan in a little
out of the way place called Ashton, Kentucky. And he put him in that
place because the people here this morning that were his sheep,
that he was going to call by the preaching of the gospel.
He had to be. You think Henry Mahan, when he
was over there on that ship, and they raised that flag on
Iwo Jima, and he was watching with binoculars from the deck
of that ship, and he went to the captain, he said, Captain,
you've got to see this. He said, they've raised the flag
on Mount Suribachi. And he gave the binoculars to
the captain, and there it was. Oh, glory, flying on Iwo Jima
at the close of World War II. Do you think he ever thought?
being from Alabama. Do you think he ever thought
that he was going to get out of the service and in just five
years would end up in Ashland, Kentucky? No. God knew. The Lord knew. He was going to
send that man to this certain place called Ashland, Kentucky
because he had much sheep in this place. And that's what's
going on here. Our Lord went to a certain village
And it goes on, it just keeps getting gooder and gooder. Look
at this. And a certain woman, you see that? A certain woman. You know, I thought, the last
time, the last census I remember, we live over in Back of Iron.
They used to say, down at work, you'd say, where are you from?
And they'd say, out in Back of Iron. And they'd say, it must
be the biggest place in the world. I said, everybody I talk to is
out in Back of Iron. But I looked it up, the last
census, there's 53,000 people in Lawrence County. 53,000 people. I think there's
about 175,000 people in this tri-state area. Big area. A lot of people. But it said
here, our Lord entered into a certain village, and in that certain
village that He must go through, like Samaria, there was a certain
woman. A certain woman. And in this
big tri-state area. There's certain people. Frank
talked about it. There's certain people. He's
going to cross their path. He's going to cross the path
of these two young women. He's going to cross these two
young women's path. And he's going to teach them
something, and he's going to teach us something. It's a certain
woman. Everybody in this village needed
the same thing. Everybody in this tri-state area
needs the same thing. We all have one thing in common.
We were talking, Chip and I were talking there before the service,
and Earl, you can enter into this, and all you men that work
public works are just out there among people. I've heard things
down there in 40 years down at Armco. I've heard things that
is unfit for any ear to hear. But you know what? I can remember
every detail. Every lurid, sordid, awful, ugly
detail of those things. And yet, Frank said, we'll forget
what Wednesday night's message was. We all need the same thing. We all need mercy. We all need
grace. We need for our Lord to come
where we are and to do something for us that we can't do for ourselves. He came to a certain village
and there was a certain woman named Martha. Oh, and look at
this. She received Him into her house. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't that be something? It's
really happened. This was people that really lived
2,000 years ago. They really lived in this little
village. There really was a person named Martha and Mary. And there
was a knock at the door one day in this certain village and in
this certain woman's house. There was a knock at the door.
Opened the door. And there's the Lord. There's
the Lord. And He continues to do that.
He continues to knock on the door of those that he intends
to abide with. I must abide at thy house. And
she received him gladly into her home. You see that? Received
him gladly into her house. Now listen, this was a time of
much persecution of our Lord. Henry used to say, I used to
love to see Henry do this. He said everybody was anybody.
You remember him doing that? Turn thumbs down on him. Turn
thumbs down on the Lord. They had a bounty out on his
head. There was a price on his capture, and anyone that would
kill him would be doing the high priest a favor, you know. And
anyone that would allow him into their home was putting themselves
in jeopardy, putting themselves in danger. This was a dangerous
time to be a believer in that man, Jesus of Nazareth. But they
gladly received him. They gladly received him into
their home. Now verse 39, Martha, she had
a sister, her name was Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet
and she heard His word. It's very important here what's
going on here. It's very important. Now here's the picture. Our Lord came to this home, into
this certain village and into this certain home The matriarch
was this certain woman named Martha. And he came into this
home. Now you know that there was greetings
and amenities shown to someone that you dearly loved into your
home. Do you have someone you dearly
love visit your home? Aren't you glad to see them?
Don't you hug? Aren't you just so excited to
have them in your home and some time for fellowship and time
to sit and to talk? And I'm sure that there may have
been some traveling with our Lord that maybe Mary and Martha
didn't know. There may have been introductions
made. This is Peter. These two young ladies. This
is Mary and Martha. There was greetings and salutations
and there was those amenities and that light conversation. And then
evidently, evidently, as our Lord always did, He began to
teach. And there were chairs brought
or else they were in a sitting room or a living room and there
were chairs and he sat down. And he sat down and he began
to teach the people in this household. You see that? And Mary, she sat
at his feet and she heard his Word. Now what we don't have
recorded in this portion of God's Word is that that He taught in
this household. But just use your sanctified
imagination just for a little bit. What do you think the Lord
would teach when He goes into a household? Where do you think
He would begin? I believe He sat down there and
I believe He began to tell about His Heavenly Father. I believe
He began to tell about the beauty of the Heavenly Father, about
the holiness of the Heavenly Father. about the majesty and
the sovereignty of the Heavenly Father. He may have sat down
and said, you know, there was an old king years ago. Years
ago. His name was Nebuchadnezzar.
He was somebody. He was a world ruler. There had
only been five empires that had ever ruled the entire world.
Babylon was one of them. Their king was Nebuchadnezzar.
And old Nebuchadnezzar, he was proud, an arrogant man. He didn't
know God. He didn't recognize God. And
one day he was out there walking in his palace. And he began to
brag on himself. And he said, look what I've done.
Look at the conquest I've made. Look what I've provided. Look
at my palace. And look at the hanging gardens here. One of
the seven wonders of the ancient world. Look at all that I've
provided. And God appeared to him. And he said, you're going
to become like a wild animal. You're going to live like a wild
animal for seven years. And his fingernails grew like
the talons of an eagle. And his hair grew. And he led
him out in the pasture field and he ate grass like a wild
animal. Seven years he was like that. And at the end of the seven
years, his mind returned unto him. And Nebuchadnezzar says,
now I know. Now I know who God is. I know
something about Him. The majesty and the holiness
and the perfection and the sovereignty of God. And Nebuchadnezzar said,
He rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doeth
thou? He's God. And He's Lord over all. He surveys.
I believe He said something like that to these two young women. I believe He said something about
what we are. Man at his best state. Altogether
vanity. I want to tell you about going
back there to the beginning. Back there when I created man
in my own image and caused him to sleep and took a rib out from
him Made woman. Brought her to Him. And they
became one flesh. And I put them in a garden, a
perfect place, a beautiful place. And I gave them one commandment.
Everything's yours. Everything's yours. But I'm telling
you one thing. Don't eat of the fruit that's
on the tree in the midst of the garden. For in the day that you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. And He took of that fruit. Adam took of that fruit. He took
of that fruit and he plunged the whole creation into utter
chaos and ruin and sin. And it's that way until this
day. I believe he told them something about the nature of man, the
character of man, the inability of man to do anything to help
himself. He lapsed up iniquity like the water. Is there no hope? Is there no
hope? I believe he went further. And
he said, But there's hope. There's hope. I came down from
heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me.
This is His will. He gave me a people in eternity
past. An elect people. Don't shy away
from them words. A chosen people. A special people
that God knew before the foundation of the world. And in that great
covenant of mercy and grace between God the Father and God the Son,
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll go down there. I'll go down there
and redeem every one of them. And I believe He told them girls,
He said, that's what I'm doing now. I'm on the trail of my sheep.
I'm on the trail of the sheep of my Heavenly Father. Those
He gave me in eternity past. And I've come down here and I've
obeyed the law on their behalf. I've faced Satan and defeated
him on their behalf. I've lived a life of perfection
for them. And I'm going to go to the cross.
and I'm going to take their sin and shame and I'm going to die
in their room instead as a sacrifice to the Heavenly Father on behalf
of my people." I believe he told them that. Now here's the thing
I want to draw our attention to. Where was Martha? Who do you identify with? Where
was Martha? She was out there in the kitchen
and she had fried chicken Nice potatoes and gravy cooked. Can't
you see her after she had her apron on? Her hair all disheveled
and the sweat running down behind her glasses. And she was in a
mess. Where was Mary? Get this picture
in your mind. Where was Mary? Right there she
sat. Right there she sat. And I'll
tell you, I promise you one thing. Mary was not concerned about
what she had on. She was not concerned about her
dress. She was not concerned about what's going on tomorrow
and the troubles of the day. How are we going to pay the rent?
Will our job hold out? Are we going to be able to provide
food and clothing for this household? She sat there frozen, looking
into the face of the Lord Himself. And listen to this. She heard
His Word. She heard His Word. Can't you
just see her sitting there? Here's Mary. Here's Martha out
there. She's clamoring around out there. Pots and pans going.
She's in a mess. She's all tied up with things
of this world. But here sits Mary. She doesn't
move, as Henry used to say, don't move a hand or a hair. She's
sitting there frozen, listening to the Word of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I thought this past week, as I've been looking at this,
we've got a little old dog. He's named Louie. He ain't much. And last week, me and Jackie
was getting ready to watch a movie on TV, or a show we watch. There's
three or four shows we watch on TV. And she said, how about
a bowl of popcorn? I said, man, I'd love a bowl
of popcorn. And she put that thing on that TV on pause, and
she went to the kitchen. Louie's laying over here in his
rocking chair sound asleep. He don't know anything's going
on. She goes back there and she starts popping that popcorn.
And I'm looking over there watching Louie. I'm ears perked up, you
know. And she brings that popcorn in, in a big bowl. It's that
big. It's got butter on it. Sets it right in my lap. And
she goes back to get some drinks. And I'm sitting there with this
bowl of popcorn on my lap. And Louie jumps off that rocking
chair. And he comes over. And he gets as close as he can.
Right there at my feet. He's sitting there and he don't
move. I'm not even sure if he's breathing. He's sitting there looking just
like this. He's not looking outside. He's not looking out the door
or the window. He's not looking anywhere. He's looking right
at me. You see? You see what I'm saying here?
Because he knows that his Master is going to feed him. And here's Sister Mary. at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. She doesn't hear all that clamor
going on out there. She doesn't hear any of that.
She's sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing every word He
says. And I call this message a missed opportunity. A missed
opportunity. In our day, the Lord has entered
certain villages And the Lord has called out from among men,
certain men, certain men. And He's enabled those men to
go forth with the gospel. It tells about who God is. It
tells about what we are. It tells about how can man that's
born of a woman be just with God? How's that possible? How's
that possible? In our very best state, we're
all together vanity. How is it that we can be accepted
of God? How is it that one day He can say, enter, enter thou
blessed into the kingdom I've prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world? How's that possible? How's that
possible? It's only in Christ. Only in
that man. That man that's here preaching
the gospel to this household. And one of those girls has missed
an opportunity to hear the gospel. The Gospel is in this place.
The Gospel is in this place. And I thought as I looked at
this, and I told Dan there this morning, Dan said, I hit him
on the back, you know, when I said that. Dan said, I can't believe
you're beating me up before you ever even get in the pulpit.
I said, I'm not going to beat you up, Dan. I'm going to talk
to myself and I'm going to let you listen in. And that's what
I'm doing. Don't ever take this for granted.
They don't ever take this for granted. Every village in America
don't have this. This little village has got this.
This little village has got the gospel. God has been pleased
to reach down in this place and establish a witness to His grace
through the preaching of the gospel. This place. This place. They don't ever take it for granted.
Every place don't have this. I'm going to go out next week,
Lord willing, and preach out in Madisonville. Brother Maurice
Montgomery has been pastor out there for 30 years. Maurice is
in declining health and they need the pulpit filled every
service. Maurice hasn't been able to preach now in what, Frank,
two years at least. And they fill the pulpit every
service for two years now. They've had to fill the pulpit.
God's given us a man, a faithful servant. And he's diligent in
the Word. Dale, don't ever take this for
granted because everybody don't have this. There's places today
that a couple of people I got to know last summer, I think
you all met, out there in Montana? Anyway,
I came here and preached last year. Donny Bell had him come
through. I think he preached for you all and he preached for us
down at Wheelerburg. What's his name, Jackie? Wayne
Boyd. Yeah, Wayne Boyd. And Wayne meets
out there on Wednesday night and he's home. There's him and
his wife and his little boy and one other man. And he preaches. And he preaches for us. And the
Lord's given him a message. But yet there's no place out
there. There's no place out there. And we've got it here. The Lord's
given us. Don't ever take this for granted, Dale. Don't ever
cause the Lord to come to me and say, Dale, Dale, what are
you doing? That's what's going on here.
That's what's going on here. Verse 40, Martha was cumbered
about much serving. Much serving. This is commendable.
This is commendable. Much serving. This is a diligent
woman. This was a woman that's the matriarch
of this family. And she has the Lord as a guest
in her home. You think she's not going to
fix the very best? You think she's not going to spare any
expense? She's going to fix the best she's
got? And it is commendable. Oh, but it's not the time. It's
not the time. I don't know that we're supposed
to use these phrases, but I do. One of my favorite Scriptures
over in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, to everything, to everything
there is a season. And there is a time for every
purpose under the heaven. There is a time to be born. There
is a time to be born. Sean and Julie brought that little
fellow this morning. Six weeks old tomorrow, first
time at church. First time at church. Six weeks
ago tomorrow, I don't know, I wasn't there. But I've been there at
these occasions. I'll bet Cecil was just a stupid
actor. I know we were. I know every
birth of every child, you're just goofy. I mean, you're just
the only word for it. You're just silly. And there's a time
for that. There's a time for that. But
Solomon in all his wisdom that God gave him, he said, there's
a time to be born and all that is associated with that. There's
a time to die. You see what he's saying? There's
a time to die. There's a time for Solomon. Weeping, sorrow,
saying goodbye. It's all in a balance. There's
a time to plant. You don't plant 12 months out
of a year. There's a time to plant. There's a time to pluck
up that which is planted. There's a time to mourn. There
is a time to mourn. Don't we mourn over our loved
ones that the Lord's not crossed their path? Don't we mourn over
our loved ones that the Lord's not given the gospel to in a
saving, effective way and broken their hearts and given them faith
in Christ? We mourn over that. There's a time to mourn. There's
a time to dance. There's a time for joy and a
big smile on our face. Happy in the Lord. Thank God
for your mercy and grace to me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Martha,
Martha, you're cumbered about much serving. Not now. Not now. You're missing
an opportunity. You're missing an opportunity.
She was cumbered about much serving. Verse 14. She came to him. Right
in the middle of this message. Oh, my goodness. I've been blessed
in my life. I was five years old. Cecil,
how old were we when we heard him? Five years old probably.
Over at Pollard. Just little boys. I heard him
all my life. I heard him all my life. Heard Him all those years. Every opportunity. But this is
the Lord Himself. No man ever spoke like this man.
No man ever spoke... How many messages have we heard
in our lifetime? I mean messages that just set
you back. Just take your breath away. It's
that God-honoring and Christ-glorifying messages. But yet we never heard
one from the Master. And here the Master Himself has
come to this certain woman's house. And at some point during
that message, she got up and left. And went back there and
began to do this preparation. And then at some point in this
message, that kitchen door flies open with a bang. And she comes
in, her hair down. She's sweaty. That apron is all
stained with flour and grease. And she's in a snit. I mean,
she's fuzzed up. And she comes right into the
very presence of the Lord Himself, and she says, Lord, interrupted
a message. Here, oh, it's been, gosh, I
don't know, it's been five or six years ago now. There was
a fellow who came down to Grace Fellowship. Charles was preaching.
And there was a fellow who came there, and he sat in the same
row we were. And I noticed he didn't have
a Bible. But he sat there. the whole message. He wasn't
making any commotion or anything. And as soon as the message was
over, he raised his hand. And Charles said, Do you have
something to say or want to say? And the fellow said, I do. I
do. And Charles thought he may have
been going to comment on the effect of the message, that maybe
the Lord had been merciful to this man. And he said, while
I was sitting there, the Lord spoke to me and told me, and
Charles said, hold it right there, buddy. He said, hold it right
there. He said, I don't have any interest in what you've got
to say. You just sit down and be quiet. And he came back the
next week, I believe it was, and he got up to do the same
thing. And Dan Culver, for one, got right up out of his chair,
and another fellow over here, and they got that fellow and
escorted him out, showed him the exit. Think about this. This is the Lord. This is a message
from the Lord Himself. The words of life dripping from
the Lord Himself. And that door flies open and
in comes Martha and she says, Don't you care? Lord, don't you
care? Can't you just see her? Who do you identify with? Which one of these girls identifies
me and my attitude towards the worship of God? the study of
His Word. I'll get back there. We've made
a little study back there off of our bedroom. Got my computer back there and
everything. I'll go back there sometimes.
The Bible lays right there. The Bible lays right there. And
I can't tell you the times I find myself playing them card games
on the computer. And there it lays right there.
There it lays, the Word of Life. I could learn something from
that little old dog of ours. And I'm just saying to me, be
careful for this great blessing that God has showered upon us
in this place in our day. She said, don't you care? Don't
you care that my sister, look at this, I underline this, these
five words right here, my sister has left me. Don't you care? And I thought, you know what
the short answer would be? No, I don't. I sure don't care. I sure don't care. As a matter
of fact, everybody is going to leave father and mother, sister
and brother, husband and wife. I'll take up their cross and
follow me. I sure don't care. But he didn't do that. I think
this is one of his that he came for. He entered into this certain
village and he entered into this certain woman's house and he's
going to teach her something and he's going to teach us something.
And he didn't rough her up. I really don't think this is
harsh language. I don't believe he screamed at her. I don't believe
he roughed her up. I believe he was tender like
he is with us when we're out there in left field wandering
around. I believe he gathers us like he gathered that lost
sheep, gently puts it on his shoulder, carries it back to
the flock. Martha, Martha. Can't you just hear those words?
Martha, Martha. You're careful and you're troubled
about many things. And there's a time for that.
And there's a place for that. I tell you young people, oh,
study hard. And when you go out there, and
I used to hear Henry say this, when you go out there on the
job, you work out there on that job like the Lord Himself was
your boss. But not 168 hours out of the
week. Don't do that. Don't miss the
opportunity. We may never pass this way again. lay hold of the
opportunity when it's there. Martha, you're troubled and cumbered
about many things. But verse 42, one thing. One thing is needful, Martha. One thing is needful. And Mary
hath chosen that good part. What is that that Mary hath chosen?
There she sits. There she sits. She's not saying
anything. She's not arguing and debating. She's sitting there
being fed by the Master. One thing is needful, and Mary
has chosen that good part, and it will never be taken away from
her. Never be taken away from her. Isn't that something? Never
be... Martha, Martha, I promise you, Martha, I promise you, there'll
come a day when you won't even be able to lift a skillet. There'll
come a day when you won't be able to eat that scrumptious
food you've prepared. There'll come a day when somebody
will sit there with a bowl of soup and feed you one spoonful
at a time. There'll come a day when you
won't even know Mary. There'll come a day when you won't even
know your own name. But Mary has chosen that good part. That'll
never be taken away. That'll never be taken away.
So I say to me and I say to you, don't take it for granted. Let's
don't take it for granted. Let's be thankful and be attentive. And I don't necessarily mean
here. I mean to the Word of God. She was attentive to the Word
of God, to that time of prayer, to that time of reading the Scripture,
to that time of seeking the will of the Lord and the truth of
the Lord. Lord, show me what this means. Tim James used to say to the
natural man, lay that Bible out there this summer. Lay it out
there on the coffee table. Frank, do you remember this illustration?
He said, I seen it laying there one day. He was open to John
3.16, God so loved that He gave. And he said a fly lit right there
on John 3.16. Crawled all over John 3.16. He
said it flew away. He didn't have a clue what it
meant. I don't either. I don't either. Lord, teach me
Thy Word. Show me. Help me. Or I'll never learn. And don't
take it for granted. Don't take it for granted. Be
attentive to the Word of God. All right. I've asked for the
mic to close our service with a special.