 Amen. So Luke chapter 10, there's a lot going on in Luke chapter 10. It's a long chapter, but we're going to focus on the story that we see right at the end of Luke chapter 10. Of course, the difference between stories and parables is that this is just historically what happened to Jesus in Luke chapter 10. And also at the end, we see this story between him and these two ladies that are commonly referenced in the Gospels. We're going to look down at Luke chapter 10 in verse number 38, and let's just reread this couple verses here and then we'll look at what we're going to talk about this morning. The Bible says in verse 38, it says, Now it came to pass as they went that they entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was covered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does that now care about my sister that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she helped me. So the situation is Jesus is in this house and he is speaking as he speaks and he talks. He's giving doctrine. He's giving the word of God. And here you have these two ladies. One of the ladies is preparing things, getting things ready, being hospitable. And the other lady is just sitting there and listening to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said on her in verse 41, it says, 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. So this could be a little bit of a confusing story if you don't really put in context who Jesus is. But basically you have one lady that's working really hard. And what is she doing? She's working hard to be hospitable. And this could be a sermon in itself. Hospitality is hard work. When somebody has you over to their house, they are working hard for you. I always think about that when my wife has a Thanksgiving meal or something like that. It's like the ladies are busy. They're working. They're being hospitable. They're taking things in and out of the oven. And they're keeping things clean. And they're cleaning things off the table and serving other courses. It's hard work to be hospitable. And you know, people, they put a lot of labor into that. They put a lot of, you know, people that invite you over to their house to put labor and money into you. So you should appreciate that, first of all. But second of all, here you have Martha being hospitable. And the Bible says that we should be hospitable. You know, that's something that's a qualification of a pastor is to be given to hospitality. That, you know, you can't have a, want to be a pastor and you just like, you just don't like people. You don't like being hospitable to people. You would rather people just leave you alone. Well, hey, that's fine. But, you know, it's not, probably the ministry is not for you. Okay? But she's doing a good thing. And Jesus kind of rebukes her here a little bit. And we're going to look at the details of why he does that, because her sister is not helping. She's being hospitable. And Jesus says that Mary, the one that is not helping, has chosen the good part. So we're going to look at why this is and why, you know, Martha was so stressed out. The title of the sermon this morning is Becoming Weary in the Christian Life. You know, this can, what's happening to Martha here is a risk and a danger to all of us in our Christian lives of just becoming weary in the Christian life. So we're going to look at what Jesus says to Martha and apply that to our own lives and make sure we don't ever find ourselves in the situation or with the heart that Martha has here. And if we do, we can quickly recognize it and correct it. All right? So let's look at why Jesus, I'm going to give you four points this morning on why Jesus said that Mary was doing the good thing and Martha was not doing the good thing. All right? Turn to Philippians chapter four or just look at the front of your bulletin. It's actually the verse of the week. So the first thing that Jesus says to Martha after she says, you know, Jesus, why aren't you rebuking my sister for not doing anything? Look how much work I'm doing. The first thing Jesus says, you're turning to Philippians 4-6. I'm going to read for you verse number 41 of Luke chapter 10. Jesus said, He answered and said unto her Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. So He says that she's being careful about many things. Now the careful in the Bible and the careful in Philippians chapter 4 is not really the careful that we would think about. It's kind of used in a different context. Look down at Philippians chapter 4 in verse number 6 where the Bible says this. So the first point is this. Martha was careful about too many things. That's the first point. Look at Philippians 4-6. The Bible says be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. This is not talking about like don't stand on top of a ladder on the top step. This is not talking about like don't, you know, don't forget gun safety at the range or whatever. That's not what this is saying. This is talking about, you just have to look at the actual word itself. It's saying be careful for nothing. It's saying I don't want to use careful to divine careful. So I'm trying to like think you know verbally here, but it's saying don't care too much about things. You know, be careful about what you care about. About the things that you're putting your attention into. So the Bible in Philippians 4-6 is saying you shouldn't be all stressed out and worried about all these different things. Instead, just rely on the Lord. That's what the Bible is saying in Philippians 4-6. And so what was Martha doing? She was, she was worried. She was troubled, Jesus says. She was hurrying about, and she was being hospitable. And again, hospitality is hard work. Everybody knows this. I'm not dismissing that, but what Jesus is saying to her is Martha, some things are more important. Jesus is pointing out that Martha was simply allowing non-spiritual things to trouble the spiritual things. And that is what he is calling her out on. Look, you have to understand that worrying about too many non-spiritual things in your life will sap your spirituality. It will take away your spiritual life. I mean, look, you have to worry about non- spiritual things. You have to go out in the world, but they should not take precedent over the spiritual things. This is what Jesus is saying. I mean, look, a simple example is just going to work. Like, men have a job and they go to work. This is something that is good that they do. They are supposed to provide for their family. This is a command from the Bible. But it's impossible, it would be impossible if you just got completely wrapped up in your work life and your job and all these different things to have a spiritual life. This is a big challenge for men, by the way. And I guarantee you every single man in this room or even hearing my voice, whether it's on the Internet or whatever it is, will have this challenge in their life, where their work life or their job out in the world tries to take away their spiritual life or threatens your spiritual life. I was driving with my family. I got called out on this one just driving in the car the other day. I don't know where we were driving. We were driving around Fresno somewhere and I had the family in the car and a fire truck drove by us. I just made some comment. You're kind of thinking things and sometimes you say it out loud when it's just your family. Some fire truck drove by and all the guys, they got their arms hanging out the windows and they got their headphones on and stuff. I kind of said, I said, that would be a fun job. Driving a fire truck around, going to grocery stores, working out all the time. I kind of made that comment. Right? Right away, the kids in the back seat were like, yeah, but dad, you couldn't go to church if you had that job. I'm like, okay, it was just a general comment. It wasn't going to go be a fireman. The point that they were saying is right away, they realized, look, there's a lot of jobs out there where you will not be able to have a spiritual life. I guarantee this will happen to every single man in this room at one point in their life. There will be times. There will be times when you are presented with opportunities that will make you more money. I promise you. But it will sap and take away your spiritual life. Every single man will have that presented to him at some point. There's a lot of people. Oh, but I could make more. What in the world are you talking about? This is what Jesus is saying to Martha. He's saying the things in the world, hey, these are good things that you're doing, but the things in the world can't rob your spiritual life. Don't get to the point where you're like, oh, I need to work for my family. I need to support my family. And the only way I can do that is by not having a spiritual life. Jesus is like, no, you're ignoring the good things. You can't ignore the good things to pick up the things that are not important or not as important. Yes, you have duties, but you must fulfill those duties. And look, God will provide a way for you to fulfill those duties while not ignoring him, not sacrificing him. There are many jobs out there where it would be impossible to have a spiritual life. And just some general comments I made. I'm glad my kids realized that because my boys, whether they're working now or not, one is, one is not. Every single one of them, both of them will have that presented to them as well. And I want them to recognize it. Oh, man, look at all that money I could make there. Oh, look at that career path I could have there, but I can't have a spiritual life done thought done even thinking about it. That's how it needs to be. Is this God's will for my life that I would go into this field or whatever, but I can't go to church and I can't bring my family to church, and I can't lead my family the way, then no, it's not God's will. This is not rocket surgery. That's what Jesus is saying. You got to pay the bills. You got to pay the bills, but God will provide a way to do it where you don't have to sacrifice him, where you don't have to sacrifice your spiritual leadership in your family. I mean, it's the same thing. Look, this is the same thing for ladies. Yes, you have to keep the home. That's not, and look, everyone thinks that's such a small thing today. No, it's a real thing. That's a real job. You have to, you have to keep, somebody has to keep the home. Somebody has to take care of and teach the kids. That's a real thing. Turn to Matthew chapter six. Somebody has to take care of things, but you can't let those things overwhelm you as Martha did to the point where you forget about the good, the best thing, the spiritual things. You just can't be too careful about the things in this world. Look at Matthew chapter six. Look at verse number 24. The Bible talks a lot about this. We can spend a lot of time on just this one point. Look at verse number 24 of Matthew chapter six. You just can't be too careful. You can't care too much about the things in the world. You have to keep things in perspective. Look at Matthew 6 24. No man can serve two masters for either hate the one and love the other or else he holds to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. The Bible here is saying, look, you should be able to recognize when this happens. You should be able to recognize where, oh, you know what? I'm caring a little bit too much about this. I'm caring a little bit too much about this new thing that I'm into. This is the point of Sundays, by the way. This is the point of Sundays. This is the point of midweek service. Why do Baptists have midweek service? So, you know, you can just have a little bit of a spiritual dose in the middle of the week so you don't start caring too much about the world. You know, you can have that, you know, that reminder at midweek to be like, oh yeah, this is what we're doing. This is the point of everything. Just have that spiritual reminder. I even have like this issue writing sermons in my family could testify to this, but where I write sermons, the computer I write sermons is out in our kind of in our living room. If you have ever seen where my computer is, it's not like often some corner of the house or whatever. It's kind of out in the living room and I write most of my sermons very early in the morning. And the reason I do that is because if there's anything going on around me, it is very hard for me to like just really focus in on the sermon. This is a small example of this. I mean my wife will tell you like if the washing machine or the dryer which is right behind me in the room behind us is ever running, it's just so distracting. I'm just like, well I'm done writing sermons now. You know, the dryer turns on and there's a bearing going on the dryer or something like that. It's like I'm done. I'm done. But the point is is that this is the world in our spiritual life. You have to remember that the noise around us in the world that we have to be in that is not the point. That is not the big picture. So you just have to protect yourself from letting that noise overtake your spiritual life. You know what, it's why you should read your Bible during the week. You know, I don't just rely on Sundays and Wednesdays. You should be in your Bible all week listening to what? The voice of God. You should be listening to the voice of God during the week. That'll help silence the noise. And then you know what, apply that to your life. You should look at things. Jeff and I were talking about this yesterday, out soul winning. You should, it's one of the cool things about being in your Bible and understanding the Bible and just, you know, having a spiritual life is that when you see things in the world and you see things going around, going on in the world, you and you're in the Word of God and you're listening to the voice of God. You know what you do? You look at it, you look at everything through the lens of the voice of God. It's really cool. I mean, like, we don't have to like what's going on, but at least I know, at least I can look at it through that lens. That's why I like this book that we're reading and that we're studying through on Sunday nights. It's not a religious book, but it's really neat when you start applying the Bible on top of it. It's really neat. What makes it super interesting is when you read something like that through the lens of somebody that knows what the Bible says and you can take biblical lessons from it. Always using the Bible as our guide, of course, but look if you can stay in God's Word, you'll start to see the things in the world not as noise, but you'll start to see them through the lens of the Bible. The last thing you want to start doing is looking at having your life. The Bible gets smaller and looking at life through like the lens of what everybody else is looking through. That's a disaster. That's why you have to stay in the Word of God. You have to stay, keep that spiritual life on top. You just keep that spiritual perspective in your life and it's just, it would drive you nuts otherwise. I don't know how other people do it, but it is driving people nuts. Let's go back to Martha. Actually, go to go to Mark chapter four. Go to Mark chapter four. Let's look at one more verse related to that. Mark chapter four. This is what the Bible is talking about in Mark chapter four in the parable of the sower where it says, this is exactly what can happen. So I have like an arrow in Mark chapter four and verse number 19 to Philippians chapter four and verse number six, but this just kind of rounds it out right here. It says, and these are they which are sown among thorns such as hear the Word. So they hear the Word of God. There's people that hear the Word of God. But the what? The cares. You see that? The cares. These people are too careful about what? They care too much about the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering in, choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful. So this is the danger. If you become too careful, if you're not looking at the world through the spirit, the lens of the Bible, and instead you're starting to actually care too much about that, about you know just getting more money or just having more success out in you know whether it be a career or whatever it is. The cares of the world. If they become too loud in your life, it will choke out the spiritual. That is what the Bible is saying and that is what Martha was dealing with here. She was letting the the little tedious things choke out the literal Word of God. I mean the Bible is being written in her living room and she's like well who's gonna cook the turkey? But the same thing is a danger to us. Go back to Luke chapter 10. Actually go to John chapter 11. Let's go to John chapter 11. So let's go back to Martha. Let's go back to Martha. So that's the first thing. The first thing is the cares of the world will choke your spiritual life. Here's the second one. She was too used to Jesus. She was too used to Jesus. She was too comfortable being around Jesus. And to understand this, you have to understand who Mary and Martha actually were. If you're in John chapter 11, who were Mary and Martha? So you had these two sisters. And there's actually a family here. There's a family here that Jesus was very close to. So Jesus was very friendly and had a good relationship with this entire family. Look at John chapter 11 verse number one. Who were Mary and Martha? So Martha, Martha at the point of Luke chapter 10, when she's doing all the cooking and all these things, she had kind of lost the whole Jesus Christ is in my house whole thing. Mary still had that. Mary is down at Jesus' feet just hanging on every word. But Martha, she was kind of, she was too used to Jesus. She was taking Jesus for granted at this point. Who were Mary and Martha? Look at John 11 verse number one. Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany. Very famous story in the Bible. The town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary was anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick. So here we see that Mary, Martha and Lazarus, they're all, their brother and his two sisters is what you have here. In John chapter 12 of course he's, verse number two is talking about a story. You know in John chapter 12 where Mary, you know this happens later where Mary anoints Jesus. And then of course this is where Judas is like, we've got a sold that. We're like I could have took the money is what he was really trying to say. Look at verse number three. Therefore, so Lazarus is sick. Therefore a sister sent unto him saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick. Look at verse number 17 for sake of time. So Jesus kind of waits around. Here's Lazarus is sick and he doesn't really rush there right away. All right. And when Jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. So he had already died. So Lazarus was sick. Jesus didn't really rush to get there and he said oh you know kind of get there when I get there. Lazarus dies. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlongs off and many of the Jews came to Mary and Martha to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha as soon as she heard Jesus was coming went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then Martha said unto Jesus Lord if thou hath been here my brother had not died. So she's saying you know he's dead now. You know in Jesus he didn't rush there and but look at verse number 35. The shortest verse in the whole Bible right here by the way. The Bible says Jesus wept. So what does this show you? First of all this shows you the humanity of Christ. But it shows you that Jesus was very close to these people. Jesus was had a good relationship with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. Then said the Jews behold how he loved him. So the point is this they were friendly with each other and Martha was just she had gotten too used to being around Jesus at this point. Look at go to 2nd Peter chapter 3. Go to 2nd Peter chapter 3. They were close friends. She was used to seeing Jesus. She was used to hearing Jesus. So the point is you can't get too comfortable in this Christian life. You can't get used to this Christian life. And here's a problem that many people have in the Christian life. There's no cruise control in the Christian life. You know everyone's like oh you know self-driving cars. There's no self-driving Christian life where you just you're like I'm good now I'm just going to hit hit self-driving mode and everything's just going to take care of itself. There is no point like that in the Christian life. Growth in the Christian life can't stop. Because of growth in the Christian life stops this backsliding will begin right away. You have to always be growing. Look at 2nd Peter chapter 3. Look at verse number 18. The Bible says this it says but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. So Peter is you know closing his letter and he's saying grow. He's like make sure you're growing. That's his that's his final you know closing in you know this chapter here he says look don't get used to this keep growing. Keep growing in your Christian life. Keep growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because if you get used to your Christian life if you get sick of the routine of your Christian life look you have to understand that everything is riding on your Christian life remaining stable and the only way to have it remain stable is to keep growing is to continually grow. Your family's growth depends on you continuing growing. Just think of the world the world out there the salvation of the individuals in the world depends on you as an individual keeping growing and not getting used to your Christian life not getting tired of your Christian life the only way to keep it stable is to keep it growing that's the trick of the Christian life it's never going to be this thing where you can just take the hands off the wheel and just say I don't care what song you heard you know you have to keep growing in this Christian life you have to keep reading and look James chapter one verse some rates says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. You can't be one of these people that just wants a new thing every year or every two years they just they have to change I mean this is a terrible disease to have as a person that you just have to have something new and something different and you know you just have to change everything every year and a half you know this is the people that have the friend of the month or friend of the year or whatever it is they can not just remain stable but your Christian life will not work if this is you so if you have this problem and you just can't keep in this Christian life this is why you see people that are in the Christian life for a year or two and then they just have to go into something else does that mean that they're not saved no it's it's like there's plenty of same people who aren't living the Christian life folks salvation doesn't have anything to do with how you're living it has to do with what you believe what you've trusted in go back to Luke chapter 10 don't take this Christian life granted you have to keep growing everyone depends on it everyone in your life and your family and your church is depending on you continually growing in the Christian life go back to Luke chapter 10 let's look at the third one Luke chapter 10 let's look at the third one look at verse number 39 the bible says and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word but Martha was covered about with much serving and came to him and said Lord thus thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone bid her therefore that she helped me so here you have Jesus speaking the word he you have the word speaking the word and she not focused on it it shows you that Martha the third was this she lost sight of the larger mission she lost sight Jesus was there and he was talking about what is Jesus always talking about to the disciples he's talking about the kingdom of heaven the larger mission he's trying to prepare the disciples and everyone he talked to about the larger mission here yes things need to be done you know it's the same thing here there's lots of things that need to be done here constantly week in week out day in day out the the church needs to be cleaned like again and again and again and again I mean it's a tedious difficult process it just keeps repeating again and again and again there's no magic button on the wall queen church someone has to come and do those things the bulletins need to be created the bulletins need to be folded the follow-ups need to be done the maps need to be created the ministry all has all these tedious things that need to be done and look they're repetitive things they're like oh it's the same thing I did last week it's the same thing I did the week before that but we have to remember that and look I have to remember this too that while those things while tedious those are not the the larger mission they're in support of the larger mission and we can never forget that go to Romans chapter 14 actually you go to Romans chapter 10 I'll read for you Romans chapter 14 Romans 14 7 says this it says for the kingdom of god is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy ghost the kingdom of god it's not the things around us in this world it's not the food that we're eating you know that's kind of what martha needed to hear kind of you know the the kingdom of god martha is not meat and drink the word of god is being spoken in this house whether you're doing all those things in the kitchen or not the important thing is the word of god the important thing the kingdom of god so to let the larger mission be derailed to let the larger mission be derailed by the tedious things is is counterproductive it's it's silly that's what jesus was telling her look at roman chapter 10 see here's what you have to realize this church notice how I didn't say the church this church it facilitates discipleship that that's what this church does this church jesus christ's church it facilitates people doing what growing in grace as second peter chapter three says we should do that's the point of this church is to grow christians through the word of god look at roman chapter 10 in verse number 14 so we're here to facilitate christians growing look at verse number 14 it says how then shall they call on him and who they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of who they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher so the bible here is telling us why we need disciples why do we need disciples because we need people to preach the word of god we need people to go out and preach the gospel to the world to all nations we need people to go out and do that and the people aren't going to be able to understand it if they just like look at it themselves because this is the design in verse number 14 that god has laid forth he needs people to tell people he needs disciples this is why this is the ultimate reason why we need disciples just because you're saved doesn't mean you're going to be a disciple no you have to get certain things out of your life and getting certain things in your life in order to become a disciple so not everybody's going to be a disciple that's unfortunate but that's the that's the truth people need to call people need to believe and call on the word that's the goal and they're not going to be able to do that the bible is telling us here unless disciples go out and preach the word of god turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 you see this bible this bible right here this bible is not pride and prejudice this bible is not a novel it is not a book that somebody can just pick up and read and understand it is a spiritual book that can only be understood by the spiritual this is the problem this is why we are necessary this is why you need to continue growing one of the reasons other people besides yourself are depending on you continuing to grow look at 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 12 now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of god that we might know the things that are freely given to us of god so when you are saved something literally happens when you get saved when you trust on jesus christ the holy spirit is put inside you you are indwelled with the holy spirit you are sealed by that holy spirit you are a temple of the holy spirit the holy spirit it doesn't mean you're filled with the holy spirit but you have just you have that down payment that earnest put inside you the minute you get saved the moment you get saved you have the holy spirit dwelling inside you it is that is how someone who is saved can understand this book look at let's keep reading the things which also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth but what's the holy ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual if you did not have the holy ghost in you you could not understand the bible verse 14 but the natural man receiveeth not the things of the spirit of god for there are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judges all things and yet himself is judged of no man because he's saved for who hath known the mind of the lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of christ how do we have the mind of christ because we have the holy spirit inside us so this is how this is the mechanics of it folks this is why we have to go out and explain the gospel to people using what using the word of god but we have to go out and explain the gospel to people because on their own they can't understand it this is the mechanics of it somebody can't sit down i mean look i there are many people out there that you will go and you will knock on their door and they're not saving they're like oh the bible i've read it i don't believe a single one of them not one it is one of the biggest lies that is told out there oh i've read the bible now because you know what i used to be unsaved and i like to read and i could never get through the bible not even close a novel is about a hundred thousand words typically somewhere longer you know like lord of the rings or whatever the bible is 780 thousand words give or take you know a thousand or whatever you're telling me you're going to sit down and you're going to read something that is the the length of 10 novels and you're not going to understand what you're reading no way i've tried to read it i've read Genesis chapter one like a hundred times before i was 15 just trying to like in one of the mysteries of my life one of the biggest mysteries of my life i've never been in my 20s being unsaved being like i wonder if i'll ever know what the bible says i wonder if i'll ever know this book was a mystery to me and i tried to read it many times i remember i had i had a new king james when i was growing up it was my bible and i had it for for decades and i had this bible and i tried and tried and tried so somebody that i knock on their door they're not saying they're like oh i've read the bible i don't believe it for a minute i don't tell them that i'm not trying to be rude to people but i don't believe for a minute you're going to sit down and read a book that is 10 times longer than most novels and not understand what you're reading i just don't believe it no one would read a book that they can't make sense of but the point is this people need us to explain it to them that's the mechanics of how god designed it he wants us in this fight i understand why he did it he needs us to be disciples to be growing to be spiritual to want to care about the lost look you'll lose if you care if you're too careful about the things in the world another thing you'll lose is you won't just lose the desire for the spiritual things you won't just lose the desire for spiritual songs and hymns you won't lose that that's why if you listen to a bunch of worldly garbage music you won't want to listen to hymns but if you quit you get that garbage out of your life then you'll start to enjoy the hymns it's a perfect proof of what i'm talking about you won't just lose the desire for the spiritual things like coming to church and fellowshiping with people at church you will actually lose the desire you will lose the heart for the lost so that's a good test too that's a good measuring stick for a christian are you growing in your christian life are you losing that concern for the lost soul winning times come around and you're like look we've all had days like that give me a break if you're being honest with yourself we've all had days where soul winning seems like work where soul winning seems tedious but you know what you need to do a check on yourself when that happens because you're like why don't i have that concern for the lost in my heart what's going on here am i being too careful about something am i missing something am i paying too much attention to something in my life that's choking this out look that's you gotta you gotta be comparing you gotta be measuring yourself on a weekly daily basis if that's happening to you or you just wake up one day and your spiritual life is just dead the mission the design is for the saved to explain the gospel to people using god's word that's what the design that god has laid forth is to what to add to the kingdom of heaven that's the mission and that's how it works to disciple people into church so what here's here's the here's the mission folks to go out and explain the word of god to people using the word of god and then get people saved have them have that holy spirit so now they can learn the word of god they can grow as a disciple and guess what they can start learning and reading and applying the bible to their life and guess what they can become profitable they can become fruitful they can get other people saved you see how this goes it's supposed to be like a snowball did you know that two and a half percent of the united states adult population is an independent baptist two and a half percent of the adult population should be should be saved if if they're in a good church i mean i think it's probably more like one and a half percent i mean that's saved from what i've seen out there but whatever that's what the stats will say about how many independent baptists are out there do you know that baptist just baptist in general is the is the second largest religion in the united states a lot of people don't know that there's a lot of baptists in the united states the only one that beats it out at that point is the catholic church if every single saved person in united states you want to talk about how to fix the united states newsflash it's not trump if every single saved person in the united states would go out and get one person a year saved and then those people would start growing in grace and growing in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ and then they would go out the next year and get another person saved you know the vast majority united states would be saved in like five years you want to talk about how to fix the united states go soliding but these independent baptists are not soliding anymore i was i went to a independent baptist church website yesterday and it's in clovis and i won't even mention the church's name i i'm sure i mean i couldn't find out the name of the pastor i'm looking through the website and you get to all these different points on the website and it's just like you got to log in got to log in got to log in nothing on what they believe no soul winning this is the problem saved people are doing nothing saved people have lost sight of the mission saved people are cooking turkeys and having cookie dinners look we're gonna have cookies but we're also soul winning we're also doing the first works i like turkey i like cookies but soul winning is the key because it is the design for the kingdom of heaven to grow see here i mean you hear all this oh it's just like soul winning soul winning soul winning soul winning that's all you ever hear about because that's the point that's the main mission folks and to let the tedious things like martha was doing derail the main mission she was losing sight of it and the same thing can happen to us turn to first peter chapter one first peter chapter or second peter chapter one sorry second peter chapter one the bible says in verse number five talking about just the importance of adding to your faith and your growth look at this in verse number five it says and beside this giving all diligence diligence you know what diligence means it means consistency over time you can't be consistent for a week and call that diligence diligence means you are consistent all the time you are not this you know thing of the year thing of the month person add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity you see the growth happening here for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor what if you're growing you will be what you will not be nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ the bible is saying if you grow you will be fruitful the bible here is talking in second peter chapter one about your mission will be fulfilled you will be out there and you will be growing the kingdom of heaven on earth that is the whole point that is the mission go back to luke chapter 10 luke chapter 10 go back to martho item number four is this item number four is this item number four is this you say that you know the the christian life the christian life is man it's it's it's complicated it's not complicated it may not be easy the christian life but it is not complicated and jesus explains that right here he says one thing is needful that's what he says what he is talking about is the word of god is that one thing the word of god is the one thing that is needful and from it flows everything it's all we really need all we really need is the word of god and to follow the word of god that's it the christian life it may not be easy for people to do that and they may get hung up but it is very simple just know the word of god learn the word of god grow in the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ and then just apply those things follow those things in our life that's not salvation that's the christian life though and it it it's very simple in it look it's easy to get weary it's easy to get worn out in the christian life which is why this lesson is in the bible it's easy to get used to things but you have to keep the noise in perspective you have to keep growing today you know i had a i had a thought this morning when i was thinking i was going through this sermon i was just thinking about it and i was just thinking about not taking things for granted and and i just had this overwhelming thought this morning when going over this sermon and i was just thinking that you know there's so much good is what i was thinking there's so much good and i i looked up at the screen in my office and i saw the church i saw the kids there it just i saw the men i saw the husbands i saw the fathers i saw the single guys too don't worry i saw the ladies i saw these mothers that are that are raising their children in the lord i saw these men that are leading their families in the lord and i thought man don't ever get used to this i thought to myself i thought about just i always get you know really reflective in december and i just thought about the the year and i just thought it just it's so good it's so good you know don't ever this is why the bible says in ecclesiastes chapter seven that it's better to go into the house of morning than the house of feasting because when you're in the house of morning you look at the little things like small stupid little things but when you're in the house of feasting and things are good you have this tendency in your life to make a big thing out of small things and to focus too much on the small things but when you're in the house of morning so you know what i want to be in the good times i'm thinking myself this morning i want to be in the good times and i want to not take for granted i want to not focus on things don't matter and i don't want to get used to the people in the church i said god forgive me if i've ever taken these people for granted in my heart even and i know i have and i just i just overwhelming feeling you hit me this morning do not take your christian life for granted it is everything don't make god have to put you in the house of morning for you to see the good things around you i want to be in the house of feasting and i want to have the good things and i want to look at this church and the mission it is doing and the people that are in it and i want to just praise god and thank god for all the good all the time don't ever take it for granted don't you take these people for granted don't you take these kids for granted john's always up here crawling on the pulpit all the time he's probably going to be a pastor i don't know i'm just kidding but i mean my god if we've ever taken it for granted is what i thought forgive me for that we don't ever want to do it remember the bible and applying the bible that's the one thing don't let the bible set you that's the danger of your christian life don't hear the bible and let it upset you don't hear the bible and get upset at me but get upset at me before you get upset at what god wrote apply it whether you like it or not apply it it's god's words it's not mine who am i that's why we're turning all these verses all the time these aren't my words that's all you have to do in this christian life is know what god's words are and put them into application in your life it's all we need to do to succeed in all of this let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer