What’s Got You Busy – A

Luke 10:38-42
The world we live in has no idea what’s important. Earthly ambitions can have such a grip on us. Like choosing what seems right over spending quality time with the Lord. The Christ follower may be in this world, but we need to remind ourselves that we are not of it.

Father, we ask Lord that you would anoint this time.
Lord, you know the prayers of our hearts as a staff, as a church, as this pastor prays that we would not just do church, that we would not be caught up into the the scene of what we’re supposed to go to church on Sunday.
We don’t want anything to do with that.
Lord, we have come today collectively and corporately because this is an expression of every other day in the week for us.
But Lord, you’ve commanded us to come together and Lord, we pray that it would be a life changing experience.
God that we would just not be doing Christian time. But God, we will come before you now.
And Lord, that the spirit of God would teach us.
So Lord take all of our inadequacies, both to deliver and speak and Lord to be able to hear and to apply.
Lord, take them and make of us the people of God that you would have us to be father.
We ask now for your anointing for your blessing in Jesus name and all God’s people said, amen, grab your bibles and turn to Luke’s Gospel.
Luke’s Gospel chapter 10 in our study together, Luke chapter 10.
And we are looking at a study entitled this morning, what’s got you busy? What’s got you busy?
Very important as we’re gonna be learning some lessons from this famous story from this very famous event in the Bible regarding Martha and Mary and Jesus.
And what took place at her home? That is Martha’s home where in Luke chapter 10 verses 38-42. What’s got you busy?
There is no doubt that we are a busy people.
I mean, who would deny that we are a busy people.
And somehow in our mind, we think that busy is good, busy is not always good.
It can be good based upon what we’re focused on. You know, the ancient Greeks, listen to this.
This is gonna sting. The ancient Greeks taught that the more wealthy a society, the more affluent of a society, the more leisure time that society enjoyed.
And that’s how the ancient world judged a nation or an empire’s success.
You’ve seen the, the old movies or the cartoons or, or drawings or paintings of like a pharaoh type or a king type uh dressed in all of his garb and there’s people fanning him and you look at that and you say my, my, my, wouldn’t it be great to live like that?
Well, that is our culture in the way that we think.
But listen, that’s not what we do we may think that way about arriving, like I’m going to go win the lotto and then I’ll relax or take a cruise.
No, you won’t. You will not relax.
In fact, 74% of the people who win the lotto wind up divorced, hooked on drugs and broke.
Did you know that? That’s not the answer.
Oh, if I just had more time, the Ancient Greeks believe that here we are sitting in the most affluent culture in the world today.
And Americans did you know this Americans take less vacation time than any other of the industrialized nations of the world.
Did you know that man Germany, France, five and six weeks a year? They get, let’s move, let’s go.
But according to our mentality and our make up as Americans that even if we move to France or move to Germany, we will not take the time off.
We are a driven people. We don’t work 40 hours a week. Come on.
I was even thinking about today.
Uh Most of my days, it depends, but most of my days are like your days no different.
10, 12, 13 hour days. Sundays, your day of Sabbath. This is my, this is my Friday.
Sunday is my Friday. Tomorrow is my day off, but my day begins on Sunday mornings at three AM and I have a meeting that goes all the way through.
I have a meeting tonight at seven o’clock. Please pray for me.
It’s a very wonderful meeting with someone who needs to hear about Jesus. Someone pretty famous in this world.
God has established a meeting tonight to share Christ with someone that excitement has got me going later on into the evening.
Would I rather stay home and sleep? Probably?
But listen, are we busy about the right things, America apparently is not busy about the right things.
We are so busy. We have no leisure time and yet we seem to just spin our wheels.
Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10, that the thief has come but to steal and to kill and to destroy.
But I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. Church.
Listen, before we get into our study, a more abundant life means Jesus said, I’ve come that your life would be absolutely an Effervescence of overflowing joy and meaning and purpose and God in your life.
That’s what Jesus says is the will of God that you and I would have God flowing out of our lives.
Is God flowing out of our lives? Do we have that abundant life?
We can’t have that abundant life and be so busy about the things that this world robs us from the abundant life.
Jesus desires. Luke chapter 10 verse 38. Follow along with me, what’s got you busy?
Now it happened as they went that he Jesus entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her home and she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus’s feet and heard his word.
But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him and said to him, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Therefore, tell her to help me.
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 thing or that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
Number one in our study this morning. Is this church?
What’s got you busy jot it down if you would verses 38 to 39.
Is it this, is it this, that what the world has, is that what’s of the world?
Is that what’s got you and I busy now, listen, I’m going to ask you right now to really get engaged in this study.
I, I am going to be calling out pew potatoes this morning. I need your involvement.
If you’re falling asleep, I’m going to have you come on and share a little bit about what you are dreaming about or if you don’t seem to be involved or interested.
Let me tell you right now, you don’t have to be a Christian this morning for this message to be important in your life.
This is vital. What’s got you busy in this life?
Is it the things of this world as a Christian, you and I are to be living in this world but not be of this world.
Do we go to work? Yes.
Do we have to take care of our homes and, and, and whatever we do?
Yes, like today, do we register to vote and get involved in the process? Yes.
But everything under its priority and that priority is Christ God in our lives, the word of God.
But listen, even though you and I as Christians are in this world, we are not of this world, but I want to challenge you this morning because this is going to fit all of us today.
Is it the things of this world? Number one like this regarding what’s normal?
Do we even know what’s normal anymore?
Can you jot that down like what is normal when the world tries to tell us what’s normal?
Have we fallen for this? In verse 38?
It says now it happened that as they went, he entered a here it is certain village and there was a certain woman.
Remember what I told you last week. Circle the word certain that means something really big is gonna happen.
And from here on out in Luke’s Gospel, you’re gonna see the word certain a lot.
There’s a certain village we know that it’s Bethany, the house of figs or the house of dates.
That’s what Bethany means. The house of dates and there’s this woman, Martha.
Martha, her name means uh the, the host or the, the uh mistress of the house, the owner of a home.
We know that Martha is the oldest of the two girls by both the Greek wording and that the fact that she owns this home, this is her house that Jesus is coming into and she’s conducting or presiding over the affairs of the home that was always reserved for the oldest of the house.
This is Martha the first born. Anybody have any firstborns.
If you’ve got kids, you’ve got a first born, you have to scratch and think for money.
Do we have any firstborns? If you’ve got a kid, it’s a first born and usually that first born did, you know, nurses and doctors are usually first born Children, not always, but most often are why?
Because in their very aspect of coming into this world, in a home, in a setting, in a domesticated sense, they are givers by default.
They’re the first ones, all the other little Children that come along, they have a tendency to mimic mommy and to mimic daddy and to mother all the others.
And it’s kind of a cute thing.
And that’s true in our home, Rebecca is very, very domesticated in her mindset and very much of a mother that way.
Most first born Children are that way, Martha is that way.
But what is normal when we consider the fact that there’s this certain village and a certain woman that’s very, very key to our understanding, very important.
It is this that when the Bible speaks about Jesus having a certain village or a certain person, that means that God has an appointment, Jesus has an appointment here in this house.
The Bible tells us in first John chapter two verse 15, do not love the world.
The word in the Greek means stop it. It means that in the life of the Christian.
For first John was written to the Christian that you and I have an affection for the world.
Did you know that? Oh, somebody say yes, who you and I have an affection toward the world.
First of all, it’s what we came out of and our eyes have a tendency to, to look back.
You know, lot’s wife had that problem of looking back.
The Children of Israel having come into the promised land had a tendency to look back and talk about the glories of Egypt.
It wasn’t that hot. They were slaves, they were ignorant. God had to teach them how to read.
It was a mess, but they always looked back and said, oh, remember those days, ridiculous days they were under the tyranny of the Pharaoh and God delivered them what’s normal.
The world tells us what’s normal and by TV.
And by radio and by ads you and I as Christians, we get suckered in and it’s wrong of us when the Bible says stop being in love with the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father cannot be in Him.
You can’t love the world and love God because those are two diametrically opposed affections for all that is in the world.
Number one is the lust of the flesh. Number two, the lust of the eyes.
And number three, the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.
God says this is what pulls on the Christian.
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs.
You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series. Just go to Jack Hibbs dot com.
That’s Jack Hibbs dot com. And for now let’s get back to our teaching once again, here’s pastor Jack.
And so when you think about Martha, she’s a wonderful woman and she loves the Lord, but the world is pulling on her as we shall see in a moment.
But what about you? And I are you and I so busy, listen, are we so busy that we can’t do the things that we would really like to do or what God would have us to do because we’re so busy.
But I want to ask you, what are those things that you and I are busy in or busy with?
Are they the things of the world?
I’m certain I’m going to be making enemies today, but I don’t intend to because I’m right with you on this stuff.
Hypothetically, I can’t, I can’t get involved in what God is doing at, at my church because fill in the blank.
I gotta work so many hours. Why?
So many hours I’ve got to go here and I’ve got to go there. Why? What is it?
See you and I have swallowed the bill of goods that this is normal.
We have a very busy life.
We do this, that and the other thing and when it’s convenient, we will put God into our life at our choosing.
And I want you to know biblical, true God, saving sinner, saving Christianity is not like that.
It’s God first, it’s Christ first and then everything else in Matthew 6 33.
If we seek him first, everything else will fall into place. But listen, we don’t do that.
So what do we do? We are stressed, we’re complaining, we’re scared, we’re running about, we’re frustrated and there’s not enough.
And you look, I’ve said this too many times.
I need nine days in the week and I need 32 hours in one day.
Why don’t you think God was pretty smart when he established seven days a week and 24 hours a day?
And we’re telling God I need more hours in the day. Why?
Because we are mismanaging the hours he’s given us. You say Jack, you’re nuts.
You flipped your lid, you’re not being practical, you’re not being right.
You’re not being true about this. Because this world is on the get go. We got to be moving.
I don’t think so. And this is a hard pill for me to swallow.
It’s not normal the way you and I live.
How so we’re too busy seeking the lust of this world regarding pleasure.
That’s what the Bible said in first John, we seek the pleasurable things that we lust after and I’m not talking about nasty, you know, pornographic lust, things, it could be that but things that you and I in our quote, worldly normalcy have determined, this is what’s important.
You know, the old statement keeping up with the Joneses. That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
We can’t keep up with the Joneses when we’re following Jesus.
And why would you want to keep up with the Joneses because they got a big bigger boat.
Have you seen their new car?
And that’s the poison that matters to us that really matters. Uh Absolutely.
Because it announces to the world by achievements. What are your achievements?
But that God has given them to you if you only knew how wealthy I was.
Pastor God gave it to you. Be careful. He can take it away tonight.
Busines, busines is not necessarily fruitfulness, a life, meaning a life purpose.
I don’t know about you but the other day and, and we’re suckers for this.
You know, at least I think it’s almost once a week. If not. It’s, it’s every other week.
It could be once a week though. We love to go to pet shops as long as there’s dogs.
In fact, in my opinion, it is not a pet shop unless it has dogs there to, to look at and play with.
But to get back to the dogs, you gotta go through all the other animals and one of those poor pathetic things, I don’t get it.
I feel so sorry for them and I think maybe because I have sympathy pains for them are the hamsters, those poor suckers.
They’re, they’re in that wheel going nowhere in my entrepreneurial mind.
I have thought of a little DVD S to put in there.
So that as they’re running, there’s a scene going by like, like it’s running down the highway or something.
Give it something, but it doesn’t seem to care and I’m looking poor, stupid, dumb ignorant thing.
And I, every time I look at that, the Lord says, watch out life can be like that for you, Jack.
Like Martha, I’ve got to do ministry and I don’t see anything around me.
I gotta get on the freeway. I gotta commute.
I gotta get to work and listen.
You know, it’s bad when you get to work. You don’t remember how you got there.
You don’t remember how long it took.
You were just drooling out the side of your mouth and all of a sudden you arrived at work.
Listen for the commuters and a man I remember so much when I used to work in Newport Beach, driving from Chino Hills to Newport Beach.
That is great Bible time, by the way, put in a Bible on cassette or CD. Listen Bible, study time.
Sometimes just silent time, talking to God or worship time. You can redeem the time. But what is normal?
The world says this is normal listening to this talk show or this radio or you just bought that musical CD, you got to play it or if you’re a bad steward of it, even though it’s music you ought not to be listening to Investing.
The world says this is normal and God says, no, it’s not.
We get sucked up into that stuff like the hamster and we’re on the little human wheel and that can’t be right.
It’s not right. And so the Christian will settle for a strange, normal, an abnormal normal, like the frog in the pot that’s heating up.
He’s in there. Oh, this is nice.
The waters, you know, 30° or whatever it is and it starts heating up, it’s on the stove, it’s heating up.
And the, the frog thinks, oh, this is fine until the little, the frog will actually fry.
You can boil a frog and you’ll never know it.
And we can be so busy about this life and we can by title, declare that we’re Christians, but we don’t even know the Christ of Christianity.
We miss him. Oh, Pastor you need to pull your head down out of the clouds and get, get living.
It’s normal. We have lost normal. Normal is our time with God. Normal.
Is George Washington commanding the continental army who got up and spent two hours in prayer and Bible.
By the way, George Washington used the Bible to form his prayers for that day, two hours in the morning and then midday, right around noon, he would stop and spend another two hours in the Bible and in prayer, George Washington.
That’s normal. You see, that’s crazy. That’s normal. We’ve lost God’s normal. Here’s normal.
You ready get, get ready. This is normal.
Write it down or write it on your friend’s arm next to you just write this down.
Acts 4 31 and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness church quickly.
Does God answer me? I need, I need to hear you.
Anyone out there is, does God want us to speak the word of God boldly? Ok.
Are we supposed to pray? Are we supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, that’s right.
How does that happen by being with Him? That’s normal.
We will never be filled with the Holy Spirit.
If we leave him out, we will never speak the word of God boldly.
If we leave him out, we will never never see the world changed around us and come back to Christ if we leave him out.
Acts six verse six, whom when they had set before the apostles, that is the Jewish leadership was all upset.
Or excuse me, this is where they’re sending the brothers and sisters out to minister, excuse me.
And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied.
That’s normal. We read the book of action. We go, that’s radical. No, that’s normal.
Acts 13 verse two.
And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said to them, you want the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
Here’s, here’s the key. You pray fast, seek the Lord.
He speaks and this is what he said now separated into me, Barnabus and soul for the work which I’ve called them to do.
Then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away.
What an amazing, awesome thing this last Friday morning in our Friday morning prayer meeting, we laid hands on joke and sent him away as he’s going to Brazil as he’s gone to Brazil yesterday, I think of Gail who sits in first or second service right about there right there.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5th seat up and where, where is she?
I can’t keep up with her Africa, but various destinations in Africa, taking the word of God to Africa, you lay hands on them and you pray for them.
That’s normal. Didn’t Jesus say go you there for in all the world.
And that means down the street, that’s normal.
Pastor and bible teacher, Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called, what’s got you busy?
Now, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Gospel of Luke.
It’s a series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Pastor Jack years ago, there was a great book to come out evidence that demands a verdict, made a big difference in my life and I’m sure millions of lives tell me more about this new one.
Yeah, Josh mcdowell who really rocked the atheistic period when he put out his first, his first print of evidence that demands a verdict because he came from the area of being an atheist.
He wanted to disprove the existence of God.
So he went about to on an intellectual, scientific uh pursuit almost like a forensic dive into debunking the Bible.
And what that did to him was that when he couldn’t debunk it, he wound up having gone through a tremendous faith struggle.
And then Josh mcdowell later on became one of the great apologists in the 20th and 21st century.
Uh Now with this uh evidence that demands a verdict, he’s included his fantastic, wonderful son. Sean Dowell.
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You go to it when you need it and you peruse it and you let it, you let it challenge you.
But by all means, every Christian should have this book in their library evidence that demands a verdict.
Life Changing truth for a skeptical world by Josh mcdowell and Sean Mac.