Now go with me, if you will,
to Luke 10. Read with me verses 41 and 42. The Lord says to a woman named
Martha, Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from her. One thing is needful. Preachers are bad about dwelling
on the first verse or two of a passage and not getting to
the last few. So we're starting there first.
The one thing needful first. There's one thing needful, that
means vital. Vital means to your vitality,
that is your life depends on. Life depends on this. What we're
doing. It really does. The well-being
of your mind, your heart, your soul, your spirit depends on
this right here. Hearing the Word of God. Faith.
The just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. We must have faith, that is,
trust, confidence in our Lord. We must know the Lord. This is
life eternal, to know the Lord. Where does faith come from? Faith
cometh by hearing the Word of God. Hearing by the Word of God. We need, like Mary, to sit at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ constantly, at every opportunity,
and hear His Word. We must have His Word. Like Peter
said, Lord, we don't have any place to go. Thou hast the words
of life. Hang on your words. What we're doing right now is
what Mary was doing. You say, our Lord's not here.
Oh, yes, He is. Oh, yes, He is. Christ is in
heaven. He's in a body in heaven. But,
He said, where two or three are gathered, I will be in the midst
of them. I'll send my Holy Spirit. His
body is His church. His feet. His lower parts. Okay? And this is where He speaks. This is how He speaks. Through
His Holy Spirit. Through men preaching. What the
world calls foolishness. And doesn't want anything to
do with it. And therefore, God has nothing to do with them. But we see the wisdom of God
and the power of God in this story. And we've heard His voice. Not the words of a man, but as
it is in truth, the voice of the Son of God. And he sends
his Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel and takes the things
of Christ, the things of God, and shows them to us. Eternal
things. Things that matter. Things that
last. Things that are life. The things that are seen
are temporal. The things that are not seen
are eternal. The things of God, and shows them unto us. And there's
one thing. All of these things can be wrapped
up in one. One thing. And that's what David,
that's why we read from Psalm 27, and you know why. Verse 4,
David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord. The Lord will give
you the thing you desire. If your desire is on Him, He'll
give you that Himself. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, David said, that thing will I seek after. What, David?
I want to dwell in the house of the Lord. Where is that? He's
talking about the house of God here on earth. All the days of
my life here on earth. That I might behold the beauty
of the Lord. Where else do you see His beauty?
Really. And to inquire in His temple.
Oh, certainly. They're going to dwell with Him
in the heavens. But God's people dwell in Him
now. They dwell in His temple now.
We need Christ. We need His blood much more than
we know. We need His righteousness much
more than we can know. Much, much more. We need to be
saved from our sin. We need to be found in Christ. We need His mercy much more than
we can know. We need His grace much, much
more than we can know. Without Him, we can do nothing. Nothing. We need His forgiveness
much more than we can know. David said, I've got presumptuous
sins, secret sins that I don't know that I need forgiveness
from. We need His forgiveness. We need peace. We need comfort. We need assurance. And all of
these things come By this, the Word of God. They're not
found anywhere else. And we're not wrestling with
flesh and blood. I'm already looking out here and I see some
of you really struggling to pay attention. This is the one thing they need,
Paul. The one thing they need. One thing. We've got to hear
from Him. This is how he speaks. He really
does. He really does. He really does. Well, this story, this story
you know of two women, Martha and Mary, her sister. And they
had a brother named Lazarus. And our Lord came to their house
and Mary was sitting at His feet. She was found sitting at His
feet. And our Lord said, She had chosen. That's a good part,
didn't He? He chose that. Did She? That's
what He said. He said that. She had chosen.
Now, why did She choose that? Why did others not? Why was She
there sitting at His feet? And so many others were not because
the Lord chose her. Our Lord said to his disciples,
all of them, to us, you have not chosen me. You did not choose
me. I chose you. And how blessed
is the man, the woman, the young person whom God had chosen and
caused to approach unto him. Had he not chosen us, elected
us before the world began, predestined all things concerning us, given
us to Christ to die for us, given us to the Holy Spirit, given
the Holy Spirit to us to come and convict us of our sin and
give repentance and give faith and give an interest in God,
an interest in Christ, and made us to call on Him and seek Him,
we wouldn't come. David said that when you said,
seek my faith, that's what I said. That's basically what I said.
Or else we wouldn't do it. We wouldn't do it. So God gets
all the glory, doesn't He? And yet our Lord did say, He
did say, didn't He? She hath chosen Him. After having
been chosen by Him, now her choice is fixed. We're going to sing
that hymn at the end of this message, Lord willing. Oh, happy
day that fixed my choice. David said, God, Lord, my heart
It's fixed. It was hard and you broke it.
Now you've fixed it. You've set it on things above.
Set my affection on things above. Before, all I wanted to do was
sit and listen to vanity. But now you've brought me and
sat me down. You chose me and you brought
me and sat me down at your feet to hear your blessed voice, to
hear your blessed words, words of life that I hang on. Thank
you, Lord, for choosing me. Mary was thankful. I believe
she's the one out of whom the Lord cast seven devils. She knows. Oh, she knows that it was God
that chose her. That it was God that brought
her. That it was God that taught her. That it was God that bought
her. That it was Christ that brought her, or she wouldn't
have come. She knows that. If He hadn't chosen her, she
would have never chosen Him. She knows that. That God be the
glory. And yet, our Lord did say this,
didn't He? She hath chosen. Oh, it is of God that worketh
in us both the will and due of His good pleasure. Not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but we're born of
God, and yet He makes us willing in the day of His power. And
God's people who have their hearts and minds set on things above,
set on Christ, they choose the good part. That's where their
heart is. Where are you? We make choices.
We do. We have choices to be made, don't we? You notice where
I started, don't you? You notice where I started. You
notice where I made the emphasis on who chose who. And yet our
Lord said, She hath chosen the good part. Good part? Do you find much good in this
world at all? Then Solomon writes, Vanity of
vanities, all flesh is vanity. I don't find much good on this
earth at all. But this is the good part. It
doesn't get any better than this. It does. But here on this earth,
it doesn't get any better than this. Tell me, if you don't feel
that way, when the Spirit of God does enable you at times
to worship Him, to see Christ, see your need of Him, to hear
His voice, to hear His Word, to enter in a spirit of worship,
Does it, does it, do you not say, I was glad after his over,
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of
the Lord. Oh, in this glad hour, I was so thankful. David said,
I went with a joy, with a voice of joy and gladness into the
house of God and the tabernacle of God. He said, I was so down,
I was so Worried, I was so upset, I was so unbelieving, I was so
doubtful, I was so fearful, so worried. And then I went to the
people of God, to the house of God and went out of there rejoicing,
believing, rested on the rock, knowing with assurance that God
is my Savior and everything He does is on purpose. Where do
you hear that? Where do you experience that?
But with God's people at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What else would we choose? That's what Peter said then when
our Lord said, will you go away? Where? To whom? Why? What could I go to? What could
possibly interest me at this moment when you're speaking? She's chosen the good part. The
good part. And he said, it will not be taken
from her. It will not be taken from us. Because our Lord said, because
God gave us to Christ, and nobody can pluck us out of His hand,
or pluck us out of the Father's hand. And because Christ gives
unto us eternal life. It's a gift, not of works, lest
any man should boast. It's a gift. It's His work. An
accomplished work. Because He hath given us eternal
life. They shall never perish, because
He hath given us His Holy Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. Led by the Spirit, restrained
by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit, constrained by the Spirit
of God, kept by the power of God. No man can steal you away. And He says, whenever you come,
made willing, and you come and you sit and you hear, It will
not be taken from you, ever. Ever. That promise, that hope of eternal
life will not be taken from you, like Mary. Do you know where
Mary is right now? Same place she was on this earth,
sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, she has perfect
peace now, doesn't she? And she had as perfect peace
as you can have on earth while she was sitting at Christ's feet
on this earth with God's people. She had as much peace as a human
being can have listening to the voice, the Word of the Son of
God. As did we, as we went. Oh my, she hath chosen the good
part, because the Lord chose her. It's like they said, he'll
never be taken from her. No one will ever ask her to get
up. You can't sit there anymore. Like Mephibosheth, it didn't
matter who came along. Solomon could come along by the
stand, and Mephibosheth is there to stay as one of the king's
sons. He'd never be taken from them.
She didn't belong there. I mean, she didn't deserve to
be there. When the Lord brought her and sat her down, nobody
is going to unseat her at His feet. Now, the story begins with
verse 38, came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain
village. A certain woman named Martha
received him into her house. Came to pass, he entered into
a certain village. Our Lord went to certain places,
didn't he? You notice the word certain.
He went to certain places where certain ones of his sheep were
there. Certain woman and her sister
and her brother, Lazarus. Certain village. But he came
to pass. He didn't stay there. Notice
it was a village, didn't he? It's a village. It's not a big
city. He passed by Jericho. Passed by Jericho. He saved Brian
Bartimaeus going into Jericho. Passed all the way through. Didn't
deal with anybody. Saved Zacchaeus on the way out.
Two men. Two sinners. came into this certain village,
this little small place, insignificant village, like Bethlehem. Oh, Bethlehem, who art thou?
What art thou among the nations? It was the smallest. But yet
out of thee cometh he. Nazareth. Can anything good come
out of Nazareth? The Lord Jesus Christ did. Is anything good in Rocky Mountain,
Virginia? The Gospel. That's as good as
it gets. Why move there? That's where
the Gospel is. Certain village. Certain woman. Oh, it's the goodness of God
that He's passed through this place. He's not going to stay.
The goodness of God has passed before us. Didn't our Lord say
He'd make all His goodness pass before Him? All the goodness
of God is in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A certain village, poor, small village, that is a fulfillment
of the prophecy that says, the poor shall have the gospel preached
unto them. A certain woman, as so often
written, one of His elect, one of His sheep said, My sheep hear
my voice. And they're here, and they're
there. Little places, here and there. And the Lord has to go
find them. And he does, he brings them up.
It says this certain woman named Martha received him into her
house. What does John say? He says,
as many as received him, to them gave he the right, the power
to become the sons of God. Which were born, not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, but born of God. Now why
did she receive him into her house? Many did not. It came
unto His own, John 1 says, and they received Him not. That is,
it came to His earth, and they received Him not. He was despised
and rejected of men. But some did receive Him, who
were born of God. Because a man can receive nothing
except it be given him from above. They're born of God, as many
as receive Him. Receive His Word. Receive Him
by faith. Want Him in their house. Have
a desire to hear from Him. Have a desire to sit and hear
of Him. That's of the Lord. That's a
gift received of God, that you would receive Him. A receiver
is not active, a receiver is passive. Receive, receive. As many as receive Him. Now this
is the first mention of these sisters, this family. This is
the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship. You say, well,
it only lasted a few years. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. It's unending. It's eternal. They're together
right now. They're together right now. They
were in Martha's house. They're in his house now. And
Mary is doing what she did then. See how he's speaking. He won't be taken from her. He
promised. The beginning of a long and a lasting relationship, a
wonderful lasting relationship. It began with the Lord coming
to their house. And Matthew Henry, oh how I love
that man. How I love that man. He said,
they didn't invite him, he invited himself. He invited himself. And the Lord
doesn't invite us. He says, like he said to Zacchaeus. Remember what he said to Zacchaeus?
This day, I must abide in your house. I'm coming home with you.
Zacchaeus didn't invite him. No. The Lord gave commandment.
Aren't you glad? I'm coming. I must abide in your
house. I'm coming home with you. And
we say, oh, come, Lord Jesus. Come. When you said, I'm coming,
we said, come, Lord Jesus. Martha received him into her
house. Her house. Now, she's a widow,
I believe. Or maybe she'd never been married.
I think she's a widow, but we don't know. Or maybe we don't
know this. She may be divorced. She may
have a husband who's not interested in Christ at all. That could
very well be, couldn't it? That happens a lot. It happens
today. So she could have been a widow.
And all of this applies. She maybe was never married.
Maybe she was divorced. Maybe she had a husband who didn't
care for the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wasn't there. He's not
interested. He didn't want him to come to
their house. But Martha said, He's coming. She's a widow. And this is her
house. It's difficult, isn't it? Didn't matter. She received it.
Now let me draw your attention to something. Verse 38 says,
It came to pass, as they went, wherever our Lord was, His disciples
were with Him. So when she received Him, she
received them. As many as twelve. Maybe more. There were women that followed
Him around. Cleopas and others followed him around. Everywhere
he went. Everywhere he went, his disciples were with him.
They wanted to be with him. So whoever invited the Lord over,
whoever asked the Lord to come, they came with him. They had
to receive them. In other words, to receive him,
they had to receive him. And as much as they did it under
them, Did the Lord bless this house? He saved Martha, Mary, and Nigel. Did He bless them? The house
of Obed-Edom, you remember? When they were bringing the ark,
David was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, and there was no
permanent place for it yet. Obed said, Oh, bring it to our
house. Bring it into our house. Do you
know how many people would want to come to their house to see
that ark? Do you know how many people would be going in and
out of there wanting to see that ark? It didn't matter. Obed said, we want it in our
house. And so it did. It says, the Lord blessed the
house of Obed-Edom for the ark's sake. And oh, how the Lord blessed
the house of Martha. Mary and Lazarus were saved.
And the Lord, every time He came near Bethany, He went to that
little house. He raised her dead brother. Small price to pay, isn't it,
for such blessings as that? Poor woman, a poor village, a
modest house. Receive them all in the name
of the Lord. Receive them as you receive him. And oh, the
blessings. The Lord will not be outdone
by you. There is no person A cup of cold
water, he said. A cup of cold water in a disciple's
name would receive a prophet's reward. The things we have are
not our own. This home and family was so blessed.
Where was Lazarus? No mention of Lazarus. Where
was Lazarus? Yes, but I know this for a fact,
because I know it from experience. The Lord revealed Himself to
my sister, who sat at His feet long before I did. And before
you're found, you're lost, aren't you? Before you have any interest
in Christ, you've despised Him and rejected Him. You have no
interest in Christ at all. Where was Lazarus? Could be.
Probably. He was out running the streets.
He had no interest in Christ. And perhaps Martha said to him,
Lazarus, brother, the Lord's coming to our house today with
words of life. The Lord Jesus Christ, whom to
know is to have eternal life, is coming to our house today.
Won't you come with us? Come and sit and listen. Sit
at his feet and listen to his blessed word. You'll die without
him, brother Lazarus. Would you come and sit? And perhaps,
and at one point he definitely said, I'm not coming there. Lazarus
saw vanity. He saw vanity. There's nothing
in this world. You'll die without Christ. I
don't need that. That was me. Was that you? Was that your son, Martha? Your brother? That was me. But,
you know, it came a time. Lazarus heard. Lazarus came,
and you'll find Lazarus where you'll find Mary. Isn't that
a miracle? Oh yeah, that happened that way.
Same way with Mary, same way with Martha. You've got to be
lost before you're found. And Mary sat at the Lord's feet. Notice it says, and I've got
to hurry, notice it says, Verse 39, she had a sister, Martha,
had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
His Word. Every word is significant, people. This is God's Word. Also sat. Meaning that Martha sat at His
feet for a while and then got up to attend to other things. Okay, that's what that said.
All right. She sat for a while, but she
thought there's something else that needs to be done, something
more important. Oh, no, Martha. Wait till you
see what shape you're going to get in. She also sat at his feet, but
Martha, Now Mary, I know this happened. I know it happened.
When our Lord came to Martha's house, Martha greeted Him at
the door. You know she did. You do. When someone comes to
your home, you get up, you greet them at the door. This was the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Martha, oh, come in. Dear Lord, come in. Come in. And please take this chief seat.
She had her favorite chair. We all do, didn't you? Oh, Lord,
please, take this chief seat here. Sit there while I wait
on you. Let me get you something to drink.
Perhaps something to eat. And wash your feet. Lord, sit
there." And she was taken up with him for a while. At first,
she was taken up with him being there so amazed that he would
come to her house. To her house. Nothing could move
her from there. Come. And she sat there for a
little while. Then things started running around
her head. Things to do. Places to go. Mary sat there too. Mary sat
there. And Martha had got up. Now, it
says, verse 40, she was cumbered about much serving. Now, serving is a good thing, isn't
it? Our Lord commends serving. He said the greatest among you
is your servant. The greatest thing you can do
is be a servant. Our Lord said the Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to serve. The
suffering servant. The Lord came to serve. He's
the greatest. And serving is a good thing,
a commendable thing, a necessary thing. But first things first. There's one thing needful. There's
one thing necessary. Our Lord said, Seek ye first
the Kingdom of God. And, you know, there are many
industrious, hardworking Martha's, and I'm glad. We have some women
in here who are such servants to the church and others and
so hardworking. But when it comes to this, when
it comes to what we're doing right now, Everything, everyone, everyone
and everything, no matter how important we may think it is,
must go to the wayside. Must. Because our Lord said there's
one thing they need. One thing. But they needed something
to eat and drink. No, no, no, no. Man doesn't live
by bread alone. He lives, really lives. Because
whatever goes in here goes out in a draft. Whatever fancy meal
or whatever we ate last night or whatever, you'll forget it.
It's gone. But this is the Word of God that
liveth and abideth forever. We don't know what this Word
does to us every time we hear it. It's the incorruptible seed.
The Word of God does not pass away. When the Lord, if the Lord
plants it in our heart, it's not going anywhere. It will not
be taken from us. It will be like a wellspring. We need this. Tell me, did you
not feel that your children should sit under every meal that you
fix? Was there ever a time you thought,
oh, they can miss lunch today? Did you? Did you ever think that? My mother fixed three, get this
ladies, three Square meals a day. Three, mind you. Breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. There's no meal unimportant.
And if one of us didn't show up, she never thought, oh well,
then get the next one. That's not the heart of a mother.
Knowing that they need this, knowing that they're growing,
and they need this to grow, grow in grace and the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. If, listen, hearing God's Word,
hearing the Gospel does many things to us, things that we're
not aware of, like our children are growing. We're not aware
of it. They're not aware of it. We are. We see them grow. They
do many things to us that we're not aware of when we're younger,
but it's taking root and it's bearing fruit and we're growing.
The Word of God humbles us, breaks us, kills our self, and there's
nothing we need more than self-kill. Martha's going to rise up, her
self, her ugly, selfish self. Hearing God's Word judges us
and condemns us. If we don't hear it, we'll start
judging and condemn others. That's what Martha did to her
blessed sister. Hearing Christ's voice, we grow
in grace and the knowledge of our gracious, merciful Lord,
and we'll act like Him, if not, if we don't hear His Word. You
know how we're changed into His image? What does the Scripture
say? Behold Him in His face and glad.
If we don't behold His face, we'll show our ugly face. It's
only one way we're changed into His image. See in His image. beholding his image. As we behold
his image, we behold our ugly self. Look at how you're acting.
Look at how he acted. Look at his beauty. Look at your
ugliness. Look at his forgiveness. Look
at your bitterness, your anger. Look at his long suffering. Look
at his grace. Look at your selfishness. Look
at your jealousy, your envy. What's wrong with you? This is
the only place we see that. We don't see ourselves except
through this. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. We grow in grace, growth, desire
the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby. If
we do not hear the Word, trust will not grow, but doubt will. Hope will not grow, but despair
will. Peace will not grow, but turmoil
will. Assurance will not grow, but
worry will. Patience will not grow, but impatience
will. Impulsiveness will. You've got
to do something. No, you've got to wait. Joy will
not grow, but sadness will. Strength will not grow, but weakness
will. Courage will not grow, but cowardice
will. Fear will. Godliness will not
grow, but worldliness will. Idolatry, covetousness. Knowledge
won't grow, ignorance will. Fellowship won't grow, loneliness
will. Humility will not grow, pride
will. Selflessness will not grow, selfishness
will. Kindness won't grow, meanness
will. Gentleness won't grow, hardness
will. Righteousness won't grow, self-righteousness
will. Temperance won't grow, intemperance
will. Love will not grow, hate will. The Word of God. The Word of God. Martha came out. from waiting
on everyone, from doing all this work, and she said, look at it,
in verse 40, she was cumbered, that is, hindered from hearing
the Lord, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care? Self-pity. That's the first thing. Poor me. And she was accusing
the Lord. I'm not carried by her. Don't you see my plight? Oh,
man. She wasn't hearing him. You see?
She wasn't sitting at his feet. Don't you care that my sister
has left me to serve alone? I'm so alone. You wouldn't be
if you were sitting at his feet. Then she tells the Lord what
he ought to do. Anybody guilty of that? Lord, why don't you do something
about that fellow? One of them ought to say, you need to do
something about me. Tell her to help me. Remember
Peter. Lord, what about him? He said,
what's that to you? That's none of your business.
If we had judged ourselves, we wouldn't be judged, and we wouldn't
judge our brother. So we're getting a bad way out
from under the Word, don't we? We're getting a bad way. Tell her to help me. Tell her
to help me. Martha's not to be pitied. She's
to be blamed. She doesn't need our sorrow and
our pity. She needs the Lord's chastening
word. She needs a gentle rebuke of
the Lord. Now listen how patient our Lord is. He doesn't come
down hard on her. He should have. She's acting
bad, isn't she? She's acting bad. But He
does it, doesn't He? He's so much more merciful than
we are, isn't He? And he said, and I can hear the
pathos in his voice, the compassion in his voice, and yet a gentle
rebuke. She's going to get the message.
Verse 41, Martha, Martha. Thou art careful and troubled
about many things, but one thing is needful. Martha, Martha. Full of care. And he doesn't
humiliate her. He does humble her, doesn't he?
He does chasten her. And let me say this, and I've
done this as a young husband. Young husbands are just bad. At least I was. Trying to circumcile
you. I'm your husband. Don't you ever
forget it. Martha, Martha, don't you ever
do that. Don't you ever do that. Unless
you have the heart and the mind and the patience and the compassion
and the love and the tender mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you can say it in such a way as to melt her heart and not
harden it. Because we're no better than
Martha, are we? Men, we're no better. Martha,
Martha. He said, in love and compassion
to her, and yet a tender rebuke, gentle rebuke. Thou art careful
and troubled about many things. And all of us are, aren't we?
We've got so many responsibilities. We've got so many things. So
many people that depend upon us. So many cares. So many worries,
don't we? So many things. But now listen
to the Lord's Word. Okay? It's not mine. It's His. One thing you need desperately. One thing is needful. Drop everything
and come like Mary. Mary's sitting there with peace.
Mary's sitting there with joy. Mary's sitting there in thanksgiving,
in praise, no worry. You think she has a worry in
the world? You think Mary has a worry about tomorrow? You think
she's worried about tomorrow? Not in the least. She's listening
to the Lord Jesus Christ who holds tomorrow. And He's given
her all these blessed promises. And she's sitting there with
perfect peace, perfect assurance. Where does it come from? Not
by looking in. And if you look out in the world,
it will give you nothing but fear and worry. Where does it
come from? Look unto Me and be saved. The Lord said, hear My word, hear My voice.
One thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen the good
part, and it will not be taken from her. One thing is needful. One thing is needful. One cure
for trouble. One source of peace. One source
of joy. One source of comfort. One place
to find truth in a world full of liars. And we're in a perilous
time. You know, we live in perilous
times. There's never been more perilous times than these. As
the days go on, we thought the 60s were bad, the 70s were bad.
They're worse. They're worse. Who would have
ever thought things could get as bad as they are? They're going
to get worse. I fully expect there to be some
real persecution of the church. I mean real persecution for believing
and preaching the truth. So be it. But in these perilous
times, when all of these things are so clearly taking place,
where is our peace? Where is our comfort? like David
and the people of old. They were surrounded by enemies.
Little old Israel. Little, small among the nations. A nothing insignificant place
to all these people all around them. Yet here was David, God's
beloved. God's people huddled together
in this little brown tent. That everybody scoffed at and
mocked at, like Noah of old. You think you're right, Noah,
and everybody's wrong? Yes, I do. God's right. And we know what's
right. And we're going to see. And as
the days go by, so much more as you see the day approaching,
let us exhort ourselves. Let us not forsake the assembly
of ourselves, together as the manner of some is. But so much
more as you see the day approaching. Exhort, come while with us, we'll
do you good. Come on, you need to grow? You need help? Are you
worried? Come sit with us. I'm worried
too. I'm worried like Jehoshaphat.
Scared to death in myself. Where do I find hope? Where do
I find peace? How do I keep from worrying about
tomorrow? What I'm telling you. That's where I get it. Paul said,
who is weak and I'm not weak? That's what he said. Who's sinful
and I'm not sinful? I'm supposed to be an example
to you in faith and patience. Would you want that position? Where am I going to get my hope
to give you hope? Where I'm telling you to go.
The same green pasture, the same still water, the same person.
Come, sit, like Mary. This is the good part. And it
will not be taken from me. He'll give you peace that passeth
understanding. He'll give you hope, and the
people of this world, in effect, Christ said this, let me close
with this. My joy I give unto you, not as the world give it,
but my joy, and they'll not take it from me. No matter what happens,
no matter what happens, they'll not take it from you. You have
His Word on it. All right Brother John, come
and lead us. Thank you.