 Today I wanna talk about one of my least favorite stories in the Bible because it makes me cringe when I read it. It's from Luke 10, verse 40. It's a story about Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. And we all are very aware of that story because Jesus always hang out in their house. They were Jesus' friends. And it's kind of like we also, we always hear, show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are. We know Jesus' disciples. We know like how jacked up they were. But this was his friends. He picked them as his friends, not as his disciples. And this is where Jesus loved hanging around with. Jesus loved coming over to their house. And this is like a, not a famous family, but very popular family in the Bible because we see three siblings. We all know who Martha is. Martha is the boss babe, right? She knows how to get it together. She knows how to throw it down in the kitchen. She is not gonna overcook your food. She's not gonna burn your sandwich or pop a hot dog in the microwave. She is gonna throw it down on the kitchen, okay? We all know that woman in our life that she has it together. She knows how to serve. She goes beyond herself and beyond her abilities to make sure that you feel welcome, to make sure that you are fed. She knew Jesus' favorite snacks, his favorite drinks. She always served. She is the person in your life or maybe he's the person in your life that is always encouraging you. That is always praying for you. That you can always call him and they'll be there for you. And I believe that Jesus picked his friends just like he was. Jesus came to this earth and he was serving. He was endlessly giving himself. He said, I came to serve not to be served. And we always say that with your vibe, you attract your tribe. This is the friends that Jesus attracted into his life. And in this story, let me just read it before we go on. Luke chapter 10 verse 38. And Jesus and his disciples were on their way and he came to the village where woman named Martha opened her home to him. So that means she had a house. She was not broke Joe. She had a house, she had a mortgage. She knew that she needed to pay electricity bills. She was a responsible woman. She, I believe, not believe. I've heard that scholars said that she was a widow because back in the day the only reason a woman would have a house if her husband passed away and she got it as an inheritance CPA. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. And she came to him and asked, Chlor, don't you care that my sister left me to do work all by myself? So as I introduced a little bit of Martha and who she is, and she's not a bad person if you remove Mary out of the room, right? We all have that sibling that makes us look bad, right? Anybody? You praying, you're fasting. I'm going on this 21 journey fast with God. And I think I'm having a revival in my life. But there is a brother that's fasting 40 days and you're like, God, why do I even try, right? We all have that sibling that if we just remove them out of the room, I am the perfect child. I am the borderline Proverbs 31 woman. Anybody? Anybody has a sibling that makes them look bad? I got issues, guys. Sorry, I just got issues. So in this story, in this story, I am gonna take Mary out of the room because I feel like Mary shows me how warm I am. And I don't like to see that and I don't like to face that that I don't like spending time with Jesus. So for the sake of the story and for sake of my insecurities, I'll take Mary out of the room. Because I wanna see what the conversation that she's having with Jesus, because I want Martha to know that maybe today that you're sitting, I want you to know that Jesus sees you in the kitchen. And he knows, and he loves coming to your house because he knows that you're gonna feed him. He is never questioning, have you ever been to someone else's house? You're like, I wonder if they ever wanna ask me if I'm gonna, if I wanna lunch or dinner? Do they ever wonder, like, you know, like I worked all day and like going straight to the house? Like they never asked me to eat. Like, do they ever, you know, never cross her mind? She knew that you come down to her house, she is gonna feed you. And Jesus loved coming over. And then the story said that she welcomed him to her home. But somehow somewhere between the welcome and the service, her attitude changed toward Jesus. Her attitude changed and she began to be distracted by many things that was going on in her life. What she has done, that she has made preparations, that she has made an event in her life bigger than Jesus that she invited in. And my question today, what are the events in your life today that you have made bigger than Jesus? What are the situations? What are the sicknesses? What are the troubles? What are the circumstances in your life that are bigger than Jesus? And you're like, I can't get out of it. Let me just go on a little rant about worship. Satan doesn't want you to worship God and exalt him and make him bigger than anything in your life because he was evicted from the highest place in heaven, which is what's to be a worship leader. And if you want to worship and pay attention and make your problem big because then you will make your God look small. God never replaced a worship leader in heaven. Did you know that? He created you instead. And every time you worship, every time you sick and every time you tell God, you are good, my Redeemer lives, you remind Satan where he used to be in the highest place in heaven, leading entire heaven to worship. What if, what if, just what if in your life today, whatever that you're facing, God and Satan are standing behind and looking at you, just like they look the job. And God is showing you on like worship me, praise me, acknowledge that I live. And Satan is standing there and watching, what are you gonna do in that sickness? What are you gonna do in that failed relationship? What are you gonna do when you got fired? God and Satan and enemy are watching who you are exalting today. Who are you worshiping today? Are you worshiping your problems? Or are you worshiping God that lives? God that is on your side, God that is sitting in the living room that you have invited in to be with you and God loves being with you. But she exalted her problems. Jesus is in there. He sees the troubles. He said, why are you distracted by so many things? What are your sandwiches today in your life that you're distracted by? What are the things that troubling in your life today that you like God, do you even care? Where are you? My kids are going mental. I'm about borderline suicidal. Where are you? Have you ever prayed that to God? He's in your life, you've been Christian and you let God, I've been serving you all my life but I don't see your hand moving. What are the sandwiches in your life today? That Jesus never asked you to make. He never called you to be troubled by your problems. But to keep your focus on him and we see Peter in the Bible, when he is walking on water, no one has ever done that in this planet earth but Peter walked on water and he began to be distracted by the waves. He began to be distracted by the problems and he lost his focus and he began to drown. Martha begins to look in the room to fulfill the need of being wanted, of being cared, of being loved and finding her identity. A lot of times we begin to turn to businesses, we begin to turn to YouTube channels, we begin to turn to whatever things that you think God is calling you to do, to fulfill you. I wanna let you know there's nothing that will satisfy you like Jesus will and I love that Jesus is comfortable and he knows that he is enough. That he is enough that you don't have to be going and looking around to fulfill you and it is such a dangerous place for us to find identity, for us to find the praise and validation and care from the crowd because the crowd today says Hosanna, tomorrow they can crucify him. You can never draw the love, the emptiness that you have inside, only God can feel, only God can make you feel wanted and loved. Everything else is secondary in your life and Jesus is in her house but she is troubled because she thinks that this is what God wants from her because this is what Jesus is asking of me. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. I came to give you life. I will satisfy you. Then when you eat and you drink of me, you will never be hungry again. Jesus is the living bread. Jesus is the one that wants to feed you. He is in your house. You don't have to be performing tricks for him. He's not there for tricks, he is there for you. I love being around friends and people where I can be myself. Well, I don't have to have a filter on. I can say whatever I want and I know they're not going to judge me where I don't have to pretend like I'm interested in them and ask them all these questions that I don't care about. This is where Jesus was at. He was at his friend's house. He wanted to chill. He just wanted to sit and be with his friends. He wasn't on his miracle mission, no casting. He just wanted to be there. And we have to recognize the seasons and the time they have relationship because sometimes God just wants to sit with you. He doesn't want you to be praying fast and you'll just be there because a lot of times when God is calling us to rest in his presence, we want to be praying and working. And a lot of times when God is asking us to pray and fast, we're resting. Jesus called his disciples, come to me and pray with me in the garden before I am going to be crucified but I was sleeping. But when Jesus was sleeping on the boat because they were in the storm, they were crying out like little. Thank you Jesus for closing the mouth. Chihuahuas, crying like chihuahuas, you know? And you have to realize that there's times in your life that God just wants you to sit and rest and receive from who he is. The truest being, Jesus can be himself. He can be your friend. One of the things, Jesus was not only in the room in that room, there was also Judas, my favorite. The two-faced friend, right? Like, he's so good in front of you, but behind you, he's just stabbing you, stabbing you like no one in the business. And there was a Judas in the room, right? And Judas, in our life and even in your thoughts, they are the people and they're the thoughts that always tell you what a waste. What a waste spending time with God. What a waste going after God and selling out your life and giving your life to Christ and reaching out to people. What a waste paying every service for souls and healings and deliverance. What a waste. I wanna remind you, those that are new today here, maybe you've been coming for a little bit awhile, I wanna let you know that we've never had this building packed before. We started with just few families. And I want you to participate with me right now. Raise your hand if you have given your life to Christ in this place. Raise your hand and keep your hand raised, hi. Raise your hand if you've been healed in this place. Keep your hands raised. Raise your hand if you've been delivered and set free. Keep it raised. Look around, it's not a waste. It is not a waste that every service we pray, God save the souls. God touch people, God move in a place. It is not a waste. And Satan and the enemy will always dumb down your relationship with God, letting you know that that's not gonna work because you're still gonna struggle and you're still gonna tell God don't you care. Satan wants to be living in this cycle that you have God in your life but nothing is working out for you. Everything works out at His feet. Everything is working out in His presence. And sometimes you have to come and say, God, the storms are coming on the left and on the right, but I'm gonna keep my focus on you. I'm gonna come that you will give me life, that you will satisfy me, that you will fulfill me, that you will guide me. And we always say in our church that if God, if devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy. You know, and if you break down what busy stands for in my world, busy, the B word stands for being under Satan's yoke. Devil will always put a yoke on you of busyness that you don't find time to be with Jesus that you have invited in. And he will make you busy so that you can be running around and nobody ever receives nothing from you because you're just frustrated and you're mad at everybody. Judah in your life, you have to identify him because Judah in your life will want you to go and seek validation outside of the room because only if you sold the money, only if you sold the perfume outside you would have got a bigger validation. Outside you would have got so much more result than at the feet of Jesus. And Judah in your life, Judah in your head and your thoughts will always misdirect you until you know this is where you find the satisfaction, not at his feet. But that's not what Jesus says. He said, I am your bread. I am the life. I came to satisfy you. I came to fill you and give you life more abundantly. You don't have to look no more in relationships and career and your jobs. I am all that you need and I am enough. He is enough for you. Before Jesus departed from this earth and he wanted to make sure that Peter knows his mission, you know, reaching the world, saving the people. And the conversation that he had with him, he said, Peter, Simon Peter, do you love me more than these? Do you love me? Before he sent Peter out to do ministry, he wanted to make sure that he was in love with Jesus more, that he was in love with the mission, with the sandwiches. Sandwiches is not a bad thing. Jesus just wanted you to love him more. He said, do you love me? Because you can't win the world if your heart has never been won by him in the first place. You cannot lead somebody to a pasture until God that God loves you unless you first have tasted that yourself. And I know in this world, we always have this popular book, Leaders Eat Last, and all of it. And it's like, you're just driving on the empty. You can't feed somebody until God loves them until you know that God loves you. Jesus wants to be in love with him more. He never called out Martha. He never rebuked her on her serving. I believe he loved that about her because he saw a reflection of himself in her, that he was going endlessly to serve the people. But he also knew that I need to sit back and let the Father minister to me. Let the Father tell me what I need to do the next day. That he would speak to the Father before he spoke to anybody in the morning. God wants us to read his message before we check any text message. He wants us to talk to him before we talk to anybody and begin to cause problems throughout our day. And I just wanna encourage you to fall in love with Jesus. He's not mad about your sandwiches. He has given you those talents. He has given you those abilities, but he doesn't want us to serve unempty because when we empty, we're frustrated. When we're empty, we don't get to see the big picture. We begin to worship our problems. We begin to worship our sickness. We begin to worship people that we shouldn't be worshiping. Let's rise to our feet. I want you to pray right now and for Holy Spirit to show you the sandwiches that you're fussing about. And God's like, I got it. I handled it 2,000 years ago. Spend time with me and be with me because I am here in your life because I want to be your friend. I want to fill you and I want to fulfill you. I want you to begin to pray God. I wanna give all the worry. I wanna give all the distractions, all the circumstances that I might be facing. I know that things I would struggle maybe for the rest of my life because I'm human. And the enemy will always be attacking me, but I wanna know that when I am attacked, when I'm distracted, when I am busy, I can keep my eyes on you and I can keep my focus. And I just wanna surrender the sandwiches that he never called me to do. The sandwiches that never supposed to give me my identity because he is my identity. He is the one that's gonna fulfill me and satisfy me. Begin to open your, begin to lift your hands and begin to pray to him. Holy Spirit that you will move in this place. Holy Spirit that I ask you that you will touch every soul and every heart God that you will convict us. And we begin to surrender the things that we're trying to handle on our own God, but we can trust that you care. That we trust that you love, that we trust in you God because you have created us to worship you, not to worship our problems, not to worship our sickness, not to worship the troubles and the circumstances in our life, but God we wanna worship you right now. We wanna exalt you above every sickness, above every pain God, above every confusion, above every destruction and every circumstance. God, we give you the glory and we say God that you are worthy of my worship, that you are worthy God of my worship, that you are worthy of my time. I give it all to you Jesus.