PUTTING GOD FIRST (PASTOR MARLUN HART) 11AM

amen hey man again so thank you i see some of you i got out there one of your nfl jerseys football season right well it seemed like forever before football rolled around but it's finally here some of y'all ready to get home watch that game right you probably saying pastor don't hold us too long that game come on at one o'clock but nfl season is among us so a lot of i saw a lot of jersey's first service as well and it's nothing like being a sports fan you know but we have to be more of a fan of jesus writing this for us yeah yeah so we got to keep that in perspective a little bit all right but luke chapter 10 verses 38 to 42 putting god first so this morning i wanted to bring to our attention the importance of evaluating our christian walk with everything that's going on in the world many believers are struggling to keep their commitment and their dedication to the lord which is putting god first in our lives many of us are worried and concerned about many things such as this epidemic crisis we're in our children being exposed as they return to school our jobs our social status i mean these worries and concerns has become such a distraction that we're no longer sitting in the presence of the lord and instead of putting the lord first in our lives he has become our second option and for most i mean just simply put some of us just have too much going on we're just too busy and the thing about that god is not pleased that he's no longer first in our lives this poses a question of did we misunderstand or have forgotten that we made a commitment to the lord when we surrendered our lives to him let's go back and go back and revisit that that time and think about the day you surrendered your life to jesus christ what were you really saying to jesus you say lord i commit my life to you be my lord and savior help me live for you from this day forward have your way with me my life is yours i live for you now lord that's the commitment that someone says when they accept jesus christ as a personal lord and savior let me say it another way what we were really saying when we made that commitment was it's no longer about me but it's about jesus it's no longer about my will but your will lord have your way with me means allow god will to be done through your life it's not about us it's a done deal for us we're going to be with jesus in heaven it was a done deal when jesus came and died on the cross for our sins and took our place that deal was sealed that's why the bible say tetelestai which means it is finished what jesus did is never to be duplicated again we have to rest in that so what is preventing us from putting god first if we surrendered our life to jesus that's really what we were saying when we made the commitment lord you're first not second third fourth or fifth or not just when it's convenient oh i got a little bit of time to spare now lord here i am no god is not pleased with that it's not enough and we got to remember the commitment we made to jesus at the time of salvation and so in the business of our lives we expect the lord watch this to adapt to what we got going on that's what we want the lord to do to adapt to what we have going on and the lord is saying hold up i thought i was first hold up a minute i thought i was first my wife was telling me this week when i was preparing this message and she said well the title of your message that you're doing this sunday just know you better put god first and not rush that message to get home to watch football i was like whoa no she didn't yes she did ah you better not run you better not allow god to speak in and through you you get that message right that football ain't going nowhere you better put god first and she reminded me of that and so this morning we meet a lady who love the lord how many of you love the lord amen amen we're gonna be the lady who loved the lord inviting him to her home as a guest for dinner and as she was in the kitchen preparing his meal jesus now she's preparing a meal she's going to prepare meals for jesus yet as she was preparing his meal she ended up putting jesus on the back burner and we're going to see the effect that this had she was worried and concerned about many things and too busy to even acknowledge that he was there in the house isn't that something now just to give us some background in verses 25 to 37 leading up to verse 38 jesus is confronted by a lawyer which was a scholar of the old testament seeing jesus as a threat and he wanted to trap jesus now being a scholar of the law living under the law and walking in the law of course jesus being who he is he answered this lawyer according to the law when the lawyer asked what must i do to have eternal life jesus said well what's written in the law well what's written in the law of the lord your reply is love god with all your heart soul keep going man amen some of y'all got it this is why he replied to jesus and then jesus said and your neighbor as yourself amen but when it came to loving his neighbor he wanted to justify himself and so jesus spoke a parable about the good samaritan some one of the parables we most of us are familiar with but the point that jesus made to him in this parable was that anyone we come in contact who has a need we ought to show mercy and care for that person amen that's the point of the whole all parable of the good samaritan and now we pick it up in verse 38 and 39 look what it says now what happened as they went they entered a certain village and a certain woman named martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called mary who also sat at jesus feet and heard his word now mary and martha was intimate friends of jesus we see these sisters several times in the gospel the most well-known occasion being when jesus raised their brother lazarus from the dead according to john chapter 11 but i want you to notice that jesus it says that jesus was welcomed in their home is jesus welcomed in your home or are you too busy to have too much going on to have company is he welcome welcome in your home what would jesus observe if he entered your home would he see a family of chaos and everybody doing their own thing and just too busy for guests what do you see a marriage in conflict and say what in the world is going on in here this is a rat race let me take it a step closer is jesus welcomed in the home of your heart i mean our heart is the place where jesus resides amen because jesus lives in and through our lives but i wonder if we take a minute to knock on the door of our heart will jesus answer or is he or is he not there is he welcome welcome in your heart or have you evicted him out of your heart so to speak because you have too much going on with you too busy and now the lord has become a second option in your life and i believe the reason why many believers don't sense god's presence is because they have evicted god from their heart because of the rat race and the busyness of life in the cares of this world if the deceitfulness of other things it what it does it distracts us and keep us from being in god's presence and we just got we have too much going on i want us to also notice what mary did the minute jesus entered the home and sat down she sat right at his feet isn't that amazing i can just see mary really didn't even get give jesus time to even get in the house she was so anxious and so prepared and ready to get at his feet she said hey hey come on in lord where you sit where you sitting there you can sit over there okay boom mary was there immediately she went and said at the feet of jesus and the thing is every time we see mary in the scriptures guess where she's at at the feet of jesus in john chapter 11 she fell at the feet of jesus in john chapter 12 she anoint anointed jesus feet and here in luke she's listening at the feet of jesus she was always at the feet of jesus mary was it was something about the feet of jesus see you have to understand to sit at one's feet during this time what's the position of a student submitting to the teacher she was a student jesus was a teacher she wanted to learn from jesus she wanted to know everything he had to say about concerning himself concerning life but she was a student of the lord and that's the question maybe you can ask yourself this morning are you still a student of the lord you you may used to be but are you a student of the lord today is jesus still your teacher or have you or now you're teaching yourself and you're more focused on the business the busyness of this life and the things we got going on this is this is what mary did she was a student of jesus and she knew what it meant to sit at his feet mary loved jesus and wanted to absorb everything he had to say she was like a sponge when it came to being in this presence mary knew what it meant to put god first and she immediately jumped at the chance to sit at his feet and let me just ask the question how often do you sit at the feet of jesus is it only when you are in need or you're in a crisis that you call upon the lord is it only on a sunday morning when you come here you're at the feet of jesus when i think about this i believe the lord is heartbroken when we neglect putting him first by not spending time with him i believe he's heartbroken the same way he felt when it when it came to adam you remember in genesis chapter 3 the bible say that god walked with adam in the cool of the day every day god was walking without him he looked forward to his daily walk without him every day when the sun set and it was cool during the day the lord was he was moved by his by being with adam and adam being in his presence but one day adam didn't show up and we know why because he was in sin but he didn't show up and the lord say adam where are you i'm here for my daily wall where are you adam he's over there hiding himself because now he's sinful it's not that the lord didn't know where he was watch this the lord just wanted him to acknowledge his sin but the thing is the lord was there waiting where are you and i believe god is asking many of us today the same question where are you you're no longer in my presence you're no longer spending time with me what has taken presidents over me what's your top priority in your life because it's no longer me i'm no longer a priority in in the lives of many believers and i believe the lord is heartbroken because of this is that you and as he is are you caught up in your job or on social media and the business of this life that you no longer can sit at the feet of jesus and when god you know when he called adam he was caught up adam was caught up and there are some things in this light though that we can get caught up in amen well we're no longer making god a priority in our lives now we're going to see the difference between martha and mary the difference between these sisters as we look at how this effect not putting god first how it affect our lives and our relationship with jesus because mary and martha was two different people even though you know their success their personalities and how they the perspective they had of jesus christ was different and that's why i said oh but martha look what it says in verse 40. but martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him and said lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone therefore tell her to help me really really martha you coming off like that martha was distracted in the midst of her of preparation of the meal she was making and then it dawned on her that she was what preparing this meal alone her sister was listening to a sermon mary and martha was becoming fed up with making dinner she was fed up because she was making dinner for jesus all by herself and so what did she do she storms out of the kitchen ignores her sister and then go and approach jesus see this is what happens when we're too busy and have too much going on amen see what happens is we become angry and frustrated or even bitter and then we will begin to lash out at other people this is why god don't want us to get too busy and too caught up in in the cares of this life and the things in this world where he's no longer first because god knows the effect that it would have on our lives not only that but our relationship with him martha was a good example of this and let me just say parents be careful and be aware not to lash out and take it out on your children because you have too much going on it's not their fault we as parents have to be very mindful of that because see being too busy and having too much going on will cause you to lash out because it causes frustration and this is what martha was experiencing while she was in the kitchen making a meal for jesus christ martha was so caught up making this meal that she forgot the best part of the meal which was the bread the bread of life jesus himself i mean how many of us love to have a nice meal but you can't have that meal without them biscuits and rolls we gotta have that bread hey man where's my bread at slap some butter on that bread martha was so caught up and she forgot the most important part of the meal the bread of life jesus himself you can't have a meal without jesus amen every time i sit down to eat that meal jesus is the first person i go to not only to thank him for that meal but you know just to glorify him in the you can't have a meal without the bread of life jesus himself notice then martha rudely interrupt jesus sermon with mary and say um excuse me uh do you see that my sister's not helping me tell her to get in here and help me notice her approach to the messiah i'm reminded that the disciples said the same thing in the boat during the storm lord don't you care we're perishing martha don't you care that i'm making this meal by myself tell her to help me why is it that when we go through something we always assume the lord doesn't care why is that he's right there no matter what we're going through jesus is right there he knows what we're go what we're going through he's going to see us in through all situations that that we encounter in life he's right there he was with the disciples in the boat and he was with martha right here in the house jesus is always right there and he would also be with us as well amen but hold up martha i have to question i had the question mark on this one first of all do you know who you were talking to when you came off like this do you know who you was talking to i mean i have to be honest and tell you she made me mad for a moment when i'm reading the scriptures i had to pause my study and just take a deep breath like now she didn't oh my i mean i almost grabbed my belt or if i can get a hold of her right i was hot for a minute who does she know who she talking to um move mary i don't even talk to you mary get out of the way oh don't you see i'm making can you tell what you you did wow some of y'all some of y'all like to talk like that to you today but it was mind-blowing to see martha do this but just like that martha went from welcoming jesus to blaming him as though he didn't even care about her isn't that something see this is why the bible called us fickle people the bible said that we're very fickle people which means and one way we like this and then five minutes later we could be someone entirely different she went from welcoming jesus to blaming him for not even caring about her but notice her her inference jesus if you really cared you wouldn't be talking to mary right now matter of fact you would be doing things my way that was martha's mentality you would be doing things my way i mean this caused a conflict with her sister because she refused to even address mary directly and and then had the nerve to go ask jesus to do it can you tell her she didn't even address her own sister see the conflict martha was so busy that she missed out on her blessing because her her busyness this meal she was preparing caused her to miss out from being in the presence of jesus christ the meal took priority over jesus and therefore she was she was didn't take the time to be in his presence while he was in the home and this is a question maybe you can ask yourself this morning what's taking priority over jesus christ in your life in your world is it a person place or thing let's see anything about it if we don't put god first in our lives we would miss out on many blessings as well you see because god must be first god would never settle for being second amen he's not going to settle for that god must be first in our lives also we become distracted by other things like martha watch and this is another thing that happens when we start to become distracted by other things our service to the lord because martha was serving the lord preparing his meal is the act of service and then she was ready to serve it to the lord but look at the way she was serving so like martha our service to the lord will become a burden it become a drag it's nothing like someone coming to church on a sunday morning serving in the children's ministry the high school ministry the nursery but you're serving with a burden you don't really want to do it you just you're scheduled to do it and then when you get there you frustrated because all week you had too much going on and you was too busy so therefore now you hear a servant and it's not even a joy to do it martha prepare the meal for the messiah and it was a burden it was a drag for her to do it because she did it with the wrong motive and all because she felt like she didn't have enough help she's trying to get this big old meal prepared in a probably in a certain amount of time and all she had to do was just look over to the lord and the lord would say hey martha put the meal down i'm here i'm more important amen put me first for a second we're going to eat but just put me first and this is another question that we can ask ourselves has it become a burden or drag for you to serve god and if so we need to go back and reevaluate of what matters most which is putting god first and sitting in his presence nothing comes before the lord nothing and this is how the lord wants our relationship with him to be look what it says in verses 41 and 42 and jesus answered and said to her martha martha you are worried and troubled about many things but one thing is needed and mary has chosen that good part which would not be taken away from her oh you you just have to love the lord right look at how he handled martha see that couldn't be me i would have been in my feelings you know look how the lord handled martha after martha's rampage jesus calmly says martha martha you're worried and concerned about many things mary has chosen the best thing which is to be in my presence she was so worried she did jesus this is what jesus wanted her to understand he very calmly nobody but jesus can do that but jesus wasn't suggesting to martha that there were no work no work to be done rather he was saying that when you work or your work or your business damage your relationship with him then we need to reassess what we have going on see when we have too much going on it can damage our relationship with jesus christ because we no longer looking to him the way we used to marry chose what matters most which was relationship she wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to sit in jesus presence and hear him teach mary said no no i'm not missing this no nothing came before jesus mary understood what it meant to have a relationship with jesus christ and she even her own sister didn't even play didn't even distract her from doing that okay and that was her system this is what mary understood and her relationship with the lord was on point even though it was a big gourmet meal mary understood the very thing that the bible tells us that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of the lord deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 tells us that mary said oh i see i see the meal and eventually we're going to eat but that's not the bread that that fills me the bread of life jesus christ is the one who fulfills me so that bread alone that's that's not enough of me i need this bread the messiah this is what we need so she's there at his feet listening to every word that proceeded out of the mouth of jesus christ amazing thing i i wonder why martha didn't get the message because mary was an example of this i don't live by bread alone especially when i got the bread of life jesus christ sitting here in my right hand with me and so jesus was telling martha you're you're fixing this big meal with all these side dishes martha but don't you understand i just want a simple meal the simplicity of jesus christ and who he is it's like thanksgiving we spend all day cooking we love to cook on thanksgiving all these different types of dishes and and it's an all-day event the problem is when the guests arrive you're exhausted see but when the guests arrive we're exhausted to the point we don't even want to eat ain't even hungry you haven't cooked so much you want any hungry anymore i ain't even hungry we sick we don't want to socialize because we're tired and exhausted from cooking this meal all day long same tool when it comes to jesus the reason why we don't put god first because we're exhausted from all the stuff we got going on so how can we sit in this presence and put them first we become like martha martha was exhausted by the time that dinner meal was ready she was frustrated she was angry she was irritated and she was tired exhausted and she was doing more than jesus expected for her to do and i believe this is many believers have fallen into this condition the same condition that martha fell in you exhausted doing things in your own strength see the truth of the matter is we have to get somewhere and sit down hey man i mean my mom used to take me there when i was young boy get somewhere sit down we have to get somewhere to sit down with all we got going on because what happens is we're too exhausted to put god first we got to get some where to sit down it reminds me on how jacob wrestled with the lord all the lord wanted to do was come and love on jacob he wanted to love old jacob but jacob wrestled with god it wasn't till he laid down in a dream that god did his thing because he sat still or he laid and he dreamed oh and he slept beautiful that night and by morning when he woke up god had already dealt with the things that he was wrestling with see and sometimes don't be shocked don't be shocked sometimes god will lay you down if you don't want to sit down why does this happen to me because the lord is trying to get your attention because you're not spending time with him he's no longer first in your life and we become sick we become ill though we struggle with this and struggle with that the car break there i can't leave the house no more that's right you leave now sit down and get into the presence of god don't worry about that car that car broke for a reason get it fixed next week and you will be surprised the things that the lord would do to try to get our attention and how important it is for the lord to be first in our life that our relationship will be fruitful amen and all these things we're trying to do and fixing our own strength along with the busyness of life we forget he's the one that has the power to see us through it all only if we would put him first well pastor you don't understand i just have too much on my plate i just have too much of my plate no no i understand but i also understand what the lord said he said seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you what what things the things that you're so worried and concerned about god said i fixed that just seek me first and put me first seek first the kingdom of god not second not third seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things you're so caught up in or worried and concerned about god said i will add these things and i will see you through it all it will have no effect on you that's what the bible tells us in matthew 6 verse 33 we have to reevaluate we have to reassess where we are especially with everything that's going on around us around our children don't allow distractions and the things in the world the cares of this life to cause you to try to put god second when he must be first amen he he wants to be first in our lives i can go all the way back to genesis at the beginning you know or even when uh the lord told jesus love god with all your heart soul mind and strength that means to do that you have to put god first to do that it's not something it's not just words we say it's it's something we do we and then we can sense god's present day if we're overjoyed that he's number one in our life it's stop trying to do things without christ we're trying to do too many we're trying to do too many things without jesus and we have to put them first let me conclude with this we learned in our text this morning that being a busybody having distractions and being worried and concerned about many things causes us to put god on the back burner where he's no longer first in our lives also the cares of this life will cause us to serve god with a burden and do him a disservice because we will find ourselves like martha doing it out of frustration as the worship team come up this morning i want to encourage you and i believe the lord is speaking to some people this morning you need to come to the altar and do business with god you need to get things right you need to recommit your life to the lord you know who you are you need to recommit your life let's say lord i'm sorry i haven't been living up to my commitment that i made with you years ago i know you're my savior because you accepted me but i haven't been living up to my commitment you haven't been first in my life jesus i've been too busy i got too much going on the lord said whatever you got going after i want to i want to help you take those things off your plate i want to show you how to remove those things but it won't happen until you put them first would you come to the altar this morning and pray to the lord and say lord have mercy upon me i've blown it in this area there was a time lord when you when you were first in my life but over a period of time distractions people places and things have come in my life and now i'm more focused on this or now this is my priority the lord said come to me where i can fix it i came to give you life that you may hate life more abundantly god said i will not withhold anything from those who walk uprightly amen it's nothing i want to withhold from you jesus is saying i just want to be first just make me first don't be like martha i'm right here with you but you don't acknowledge me martha never knew jesus was in the house because not one time she said anything to him he's sitting there with mary she's just i mean for once just put the pan down put the macaroni and cheese down for a minute the biscuits the stuffing then just say hey lord can i get a hug jesus hey man i can't believe you're here i bet if she would have went and hug jesus jesus would have said don't go back to the kitchen we'll deal with that later have a seat i just want to love on you it's nothing like being first the lord says would you come this morning and recommit surrender your life to jesus [Music] would you say lord i i want to recommit i want to make you first from this day forward the lord is waiting on you he's waiting on you [Music] because he loves you and if you're here today and you don't know jesus christ is your personal lord and savior i just pray you would just repeat this prayer with me father forgive me for my sins [Music] i believe that you died and was buried and rose again here's the commitment coming to my life jesus i make you my lord and savior help me live for you from this day forward teach me your ways that my life will glorify you i make you first in my life in jesus name amen let's stand amen [Music] if you're repeating that prayer here or you're the line we pray that if you accepted that that message or that message of salvation please feel free to uh pray with us ask questions we can lead and guide you and introduce you to your new journey with jesus christ want to thank those online please don't forget to leave a comment and how the message impacted you today as well and so you know the lord is just he is who he is he loves us so much amen and we've got to we have to keep that connection with them amen and so just let everyone know here at calvary chapel as we always say we're committed to teaching you each verse one verse at a time chapter by chapter verse by verse book black book god bless you [Music] [Applause] [Music] so you make us stronger you make us stronger when everybody [Music] not when you rise up [Music] mighty defender [Applause] [Music] comforting father you take our [Music] [Music] weaknesses make us stronger [Music] [Music] [Music] you make me [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you've taken it [Music] nothing but ashes you start to fight [Music] you rescued our hearts [Music] jesus our victory how great you are [Music] is [Music] jesus our victory how great [Music] [Music] this is [Applause] [Music] nothing but [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] comforting you take my weakness you make us stronger oh [Music] [Music] lord you are my strength [Music] father we just cherish you today you are the giver of my strength the lord the giver of life we recognize that you change situations in our lives lord that we can do so much more when we are walking with you forgive us for the times we try to do things in our own strength you make us stronger it's not my education it's not my degrees it's not my craftiness it's not my hustle it's you you are everything so we thank you for this time to just worship you to bear our hearts to you to to hear your voice in our lives lord we thank you for your presence in this place and we thank you for the word that was shared with us that will continue to shape us long after we've walked out of those doors today so lord continue to to build us up god and to the people that you have desired for us to be from the start we honor you and we cherish you it's in jesus mighty and majestic name we pray everybody say amen can we give him great praise one more time amen awesome message thank you for joining us today if you made a decision to follow jesus click the link we have a free gift we'd love to share with you as well as some information about next steps in your walk with jesus there's also a link if you simply want prayer or want to share some exciting news that god is doing in your life finally if you've been blessed by the ministry at calvary chapel newport news consider partnering with us financially you can click the giving link below or you can text calvarynn to 77977 your financial gift helps us to continue to reach the world with the gospel of jesus christ god bless you thank you for joining us and continue to reach up in around and out you

Channel: calvarynn

Views: 240

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: o_I4lUTlwog

Length: 44min 41sec (2681 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021