June 23, 2025 • 30 mins
Are you doing a lot for God but missing time with Him? In this message, we unpack Luke 10:40–42 and learn how to stop letting distractions pull us away from the one thing that matters most—sitting at Jesus’ feet.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is easy for you to create a mirage when you are in
a spiritual drought a droughtthat does not exist for
believers or should not existfor believers but it only
happens when you allow yourselfto be taken and exerted of all
of your faith because ofbusyness, of trying to keep up
(00:22):
with what culture is screamingto you and trying to tell you
what you need to obey.
I just want to walk inobedience.
Welcome to the SoulFuel podcast, the pit stop for your soul to
be fueled for your journey inlife as you do it with Christ.
I am super excited about todaybecause it is a timely one,
(00:47):
something that I've spoke aboutmany different times before, but
this one is all aboutdistractions.
Yeah, it's all aboutdistractions because I want to.
I am sometimes distracted withthings that don't really make
(01:08):
any sense.
It seems as if it it makessense, um, for a second.
You know, sometimes it it seemslike it makes sense, but it at
the end of the day, when you getdone, it doesn't right, and
then you realize how much timehas been wasted because you were
(01:29):
on these things and watch this,the scripture we're going to
look at.
We've looked at it before.
If you listen to sermons andteachings that we've done.
It comes from the story of Maryand Martha, where Jesus reminds
us that busyness isn't alwaysfaithfulness.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness.
(01:53):
If that was a nugget, I needyou to write that down somewhere
, even if you don't put it inthe comments, even if you don't
put it in the chat, write itdown somewhere.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness.
Write it down somewhere.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness, and being pulled
in many directions can rob us ofthe one thing that truly
matters, right, and we can seethat.
(02:16):
We see that in movies all thetime.
We see where a character ispulled away by so many things.
And you know, I bring thismovie up because it's one of my
still one of my favorite moviesto this day, a film from 1997
titled Liar Liar, starring JimCarrey.
I like this movie not justbecause I like the movie, but
because it fits this thing youcan be carried away by your job.
(02:38):
Fletcher was carried away by hisjob so much that he didn't see
how it was affecting his son.
He did not see how it wasaffecting his son, right, he did
not see how it was affectinghis son.
He was working so much he didnot no, he, he, he didn't
realize that his son, his, hewas destroying the relationship
with his son because his work,so to the point where the kid
(03:02):
didn't even ask for a toy or abike or some big major thing for
his birthday.
He asked that in his wish, hemade a wish that his dad could
not tell a lie for an entire day, right?
(03:23):
So, and watch this Fletcherwasn't.
He was doing a bad thing bylying through through his job.
You know, that's that's.
You know that's neither herenor there.
But the fact is he was tryingto continue to do his job, work
his job.
He was busy, but it did notequal faithfulness.
And then that's where it kindof falls apart when it comes to
(03:44):
comparing it to that movie.
But I just wanted to show youhow busyness, um, sometimes can
lead you away from it does allnot sometimes, but it does it
always.
Robscher of being a greatfather to Max, right?
(04:10):
So, going back to the text, ifyou've ever felt, if you've ever
felt like you're doing a lot,like Martha Martha was doing a
lot we're getting ready to readthat scripture If you ever felt
like you were doing a lot andyou are doing a lot, but still
you feel spiritually empty.
This episode is for you, thistalk is for you.
(04:34):
All right, let's confront thenoise.
Let's confront the noise Goingto the book of Luke, chapter 10,
verse 40, verse through, verse42 says but Martha was
distracted with all herpreparations and she came up to
him and said Lord, do you notcare that my sister has left me
(04:57):
to do all the serving alone?
Then tell her to help me, tellher to help me, tell her to help
me.
But the Lord answered and saidto her Martha, martha, you are
worried and bothered about somany things, but only one thing
is necessary, only one thing isnecessary, one thing.
(05:20):
Can you say that out loud?
There is only one thing.
Can you say that out loud?
There is only one thing that isnecessary, for Mary has chosen
the good part.
Oh, my god, I know literally.
Oh my god.
Mary has chosen the good partwhich shall not be taken away
(05:41):
from her.
It won't be taken away from her.
This encounter happens inBethany, at the home of Martha.
Mary and who?
You guessed it?
Lazarus.
Close friends of Jesus.
Close friends of Jesus.
Hospitality was a high socialvalue in Jewish culture.
(06:03):
Hospitality was a high socialvalue in Jewish culture Right,
and women were expected toprepare, serve and host guests,
especially honored teachers suchas Jesus.
Martha was doing what wasculturally appropriate she was
(06:39):
serving.
So was what Martha was doingwrong?
Absolutely not.
She's doing hosting guests, butshe allowed the urgent to
override the essential.
She allowed the urgent, whatdidn't really matter, to
override what actually mattered.
Mary broke social expectationby sitting at Jesus's feet.
(07:04):
This is the difference, see,which one are you going to be?
Which one are you going to be?
Are you going to be busy, likeMartha, or are you going to be
perfectly distracted, like Mary?
Which one?
Because Mary, again, she breaksthe expectation of being of, of
(07:30):
, of, of serving, andessentially, she puts herself in
a position to be an even betterservant by allowing her
attention to be drawn to theSavior.
This is interesting.
(07:51):
This is interesting.
Mary takes a position typicallyreserved for male disciples.
Disciples Get that.
(08:12):
She takes a position typicallyreserved for male disciples, but
yet Jesus commended her andcelebrated her through his
response to Martha for Maryprioritizing presence over
performance, to Mary forprioritizing presence over
(08:51):
performance.
So that's one of the questionsI want to ask you today Are you
prioritizing presence overperformance?
Because a lot of church people,a lot of people, a lot of
people who are, who claim to bebelievers, are not really
(09:12):
Prioritizing, right, they'reprioritizing performance over
presence.
But I'd rather have presenceover performance, performance.
Jesus gently corrects Martha.
(09:33):
He gently corrects Martha, hegently repositions her focus,
because Martha is distracted byduty, and her duty was robbing
her of devotion to him, robbingher of devotion to him.
Her duty was robbing her, heruh, of her freedom, her, her
(09:55):
duty was robbing her of her, uh,of her salvation.
It's robbing taking attentionof what really matters the
presence of god, the presence ofgod.
Moving so much.
You doing too much, martha.
You doing too much.
(10:19):
That's.
This is the reason why you haveto go from being Martha to Mary.
You got to be, you got to gofrom Martha to Mary, and I
believe that this is a, this isa word that can apply, that
applies to men too.
You got to find yourself at hisfeet, learning of him.
(10:42):
He says take my yoke upon youand learn of me, for my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.
Right, but what is beingdistracted?
Being distracted means to bepulled or dragged away, mentally
or emotionally torn betweencompeting priorities.
(11:02):
Right, martha is torn mentallyand emotionally by competing
priorities.
Why?
Because she's worried aboutwhat somebody else is doing and
not necessarily why they aredoing what they are doing Versus
(11:27):
her just being busy with whatshe got going on.
She's worried about somebodyelse that's not helping her do
what she is culturallyConditioned to do or supposed to
be doing.
Jesus didn't condemn Martha Forbeing busy.
(11:49):
Jesus didn't condemn Martha forbeing busy, but he does rebuke
her and corrects, or correctsher Because she is complaining
about something that she shouldbe doing as well.
Don't bother Martha, she's,she's doing the good part, this
is the good part of the day,this is the best part of her
(12:10):
life.
Can you, can you look atyourself?
Can, can you just?
Can you look in the mirror?
You don't even need to look inthe mirror.
But could you say to yourself Iwant the good part, I want the
good part of my day, I want the.
I want the good part.
I don't need to be.
(12:30):
You miss out on the good partwhen you are distracted with the
noise, when you are distractedwith busyness.
But here is the Holy Ghostgiving us a gentle reminder
today that you have to shiftyour focus.
Shift your focus.
Don't be distracted by the dutyof life, focus.
Don't be distracted by the dutyof life, don't be distracted by
(12:53):
the duties of your job, don'tbe distracted by the duties of
trying to keep up with theserelationships, because that
busyness doesn't equalproductivity.
It just means you're moving alot and wherever you're moving a
lot, you are exerting a lot ofenergy into these things.
And here you are being zappedof the water.
(13:17):
You're being zapped.
You are exerting yourself somuch where you are missing out
on what the spirit is doing, onwhat the spirit is doing, and
that is equivalent to youbecoming exhausted and ending up
(13:39):
in a dry place, you ending up adry place.
Now you have given outeverything you got to life, so
much to the point where you haveabandoned the faith you have
(14:00):
abandoned.
You say you still got faith,but it's like you're real low.
You're on E and this is whythis is the soul fuel, because
this is to bring you, this is tobring you back, this is to put
more, this is to put it back inyou.
And then you have to continueto do the work.
You're here because this is apart of the work that you're
(14:21):
putting in to be poured into.
Jesus is the source.
So wherever you're listening toa word, you have to make sure
that it is coming directly fromthe source.
And this source that we'regetting it is from where we're
getting.
It is from Luke, chapter 10,verse 40 and 42, where Jesus is
(14:42):
correcting Martha because sheshe is tripping on the fact that
Mary is in a position Of beingfed.
Mary is in a position of beingfed, mary is in a position of
being blessed.
Mary is in a position of whereshe should be, but she's caught
up, distracted.
The key thing here is that sheis distracted.
(15:02):
She is pulled away mentally andemotionally between competing
priorities.
This word distracted I'm givingyou the Greek definition and it
implies internal agitation.
It's in, it's always internal.
Out of the abundance of theheart, the mouth speaks.
(15:25):
Remember that anytime you hearsomebody that that says
something that needs to becorrected in the word and jesus
corrects it, go back to whatjesus said.
Out of the abundance of theheart, the mouth speaks.
She's speaking what's in herheart.
And to be distracted means thatthere is an internal agitation
and outward busyness that stealsspiritual focus.
(15:46):
I can't focus spiritually whenI'm internally agitated because
whatever's happening internal,that's what's happening in my
heart Her being worried, herbeing worried and bothered about
so many things Jesus says.
(16:09):
But the Lord answered and saidto her Martha, martha, you are
worried and bothered about somany things.
This is what I'm telling you,like a lot of the stuff that you
, that you trip about, you yoube, you be looking at bills.
You look this, this, this is myNTAA bill from going through
tolls.
(16:29):
You be worried about this stuff.
I'm like man, I'll get to it.
I'm going to get to it.
I'm going to take care of itbefore I leave.
I'm going to get to it.
But Jesus says, martha, youworry, you worry, ursuline,
ursuline, you are worried aboutso many things.
Leneza, leneza, you are worriedabout so many things.
(16:50):
Leneza, leneza, you are worriedabout so many things.
Your name made the podcast.
Sorry, you're worried about somany things, but only one thing
is necessary.
Only one thing is necessaryWorried means to be anxiously
(17:17):
divided.
Get that Anxiously divided Froma root meaning to be pulled in
parts.
Oh man, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh man, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait, wait, wait.
This word merimnus, merimnus ormerimnus Greek word for worried
(17:42):
means to be anxiously divided.
Do you hear how destructivethat is, to be anxious.
Do you know how messed up youhave to be to be anxiously
divided?
And it's more than one part,it's two.
We see priority over presence.
Right, she's, and watch this.
The thing is that she is.
It's more than presence, it'sabout the presence of somebody
(18:08):
else, not being there instead ofher presence and being where.
Mary is as well.
So, again, anxiously dividedfrom a root meaning to be pulled
in parts.
A mind fragmented by worry, amind fractured by worry.
(18:31):
Come on, he says you areworried and bothered.
Wait a minute, jesus Wouldn'tthat kind of be the same.
Nah, if Jesus said it that way,that means there's two
different meanings for bothwords.
Worried is anxiously divided.
(18:51):
Right To be pulled in parts.
A mind that is fractured byworry, a mind fragmented by
worry, and then bothered meansto be mentally disturbed,
troubled or upset.
Bothered is mentally disturbed,troubled or upset.
(19:15):
Basically, he's saying you havea soul in your body that is in
constant motion but lackingclarity.
You have a soul that is inconstant motion but are lacking
clarity.
The next part.
(19:40):
But only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good
part.
Let's look at this word chosen.
She has chosen the good part.
Let's look at this word chosen.
She has chosen the good part.
Mary's decision to sit atJesus's feet was intentional and
discerning.
The word implies selecting whatis best with care and priority.
(20:06):
When you have chosen oh my God,when you have have chosen, you
have selected it carefully.
You have weighed out all of the, the, the, the options.
You have thought about thisthing carefully.
(20:36):
Mary says I know I'm supposed tobe serving, but this is Jesus.
I got to sit down.
I got to sit down, martha gotit, and if Martha knew better,
she would come sit down too,right?
So I want to ask you thatquestion have you really chosen?
(20:58):
Have you?
Have you really?
Have you really chosen?
Have you really chosen to sitat the feet of Jesus, or are you
distracted like Martha?
Are you you distracted likeMartha with all of your work,
(21:18):
with all of the things that thekid, the places that the kids
got to go and the things thatneed to be done?
What are you distracted with?
Why are you allowing it to takeso much of your time, so much
of your action?
So much that it is making you,it is causing a spiritual
(21:39):
drought, it is causing a dryplace.
It is amazing because it isdoing what it takes to build a
dry place.
It's almost like set decorationand set design.
A lot of stuff you see in moviesnine times out of 10 is fake.
It's all created, most of thetime it's in the studio green
(21:59):
screen, blue screen and CGI,computer generated images.
Technology is getting better.
Computer, the computer isgetting better.
Everything is becoming morefake and more fake and more fake
.
In other words, all I'm saying.
The reason why I bring that up,is I'm saying that it is easy
(22:20):
for you to create a mirage whenyou are in a spiritual drought,
a drought that does not existfor believers or should not
exist for believers.
But it only happens when youallow yourself to be taken and
exerted of all of your faithbecause of busyness, of trying
to keep up with what culture isscreaming to you and trying to
(22:44):
tell you what you need to obey.
But distraction isn't alwaysabout sin either.
Notice I never talked about sin, about sin either.
Notice I never talked about sin, because distraction doesn't
always, it doesn't always meanthat you're being pulled away by
sin.
Martha was pulled away by doingwhat she was supposed to be
(23:06):
doing, but she failed to realizethat at this moment, this ain't
the time for you to be doingthat.
This is the time for you to sitdown and be at his feet.
You got to know when.
You got to know when to stoptalking.
You got to know when to callout of work.
Come on, you would say, well,what if I don't show up on but?
(23:27):
But you can't exert.
Listen, you are human.
You got to.
You got to know when it's timeto leave.
You got to know.
You got you gotta.
You gotta know when it's timeto leave.
You gotta know.
You gotta know when I'm doingtoo much.
You gotta know when I'm.
You gotta know.
You just gotta know.
You know it.
Most people know it.
All of you know I ain't gottime for that.
I don't even feel like it.
You know, you know it.
That's all Jesus is saying.
(23:48):
Like, distraction isn't alwaysabout sin.
We already know that, of course, sin is a distraction.
It can be a distraction.
We already know that, of course, sin is a distraction and can
be a distraction, but it's oftenmore about being overwhelmed by
(24:12):
good things.
That keeps us from the bestthing.
Let me see if I can say thatone more time you're being
overwhelmed by good things.
That keeps you from the bestthing.
It's so easy to do, and a lotof people do this every day,
which is why they can't wait toSunday, because they feel like
(24:33):
Sunday is the only day that theyget a chance to be free.
But no, or Saturday, even forthose people.
On Saturday they feel like, oh,that's the only day I'm going
to rest.
No, he said come unto me, allyou that labor who are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
Rest in me every day.
Jesus isn't condemning service,right, which is what we just
(24:54):
said.
He's not condemning service,but he's calling us back to
intimacy.
Ecclesiastes would spell thisout for us nicely in, I believe,
chapter three.
We say there's a time under thesun for everything.
There's a time to mourn,there's a time to laugh, there's
a time to dance, there's a timeto cry.
There's a time to dance.
(25:14):
There's a time to cry.
There's a time to plant,there's a time to pluck up which
is what was planted.
There's a time to die.
There's a time for everything,but you cannot.
This is why you got to be ledby the spirit, because the
spirit will let you know hey,it's time to sit down.
It's time to sit down Even inwhat you do watch this.
(25:37):
If you are doing what you do asunto the Lord, as you're
supposed to be anyway, you'llknow when it's time to sit down,
because mentally and faith-wiseand faithfully faith-based,
we're, faith-based individualsand faith-based people.
So we should already be doingwhat we are doing as unto the
(25:57):
Lord.
But if we're doing as whatwe're, if we're not doing what
we're like our jobs, as unto theLord, then of course we will
get distracted and caught up.
Oh, I got to do this, I got tofinish this, I got to make sure
I do this because if I don't getthis, I won't ever be this.
And then, but Jesus says wait,wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait.
I'm the one that supplies seedto the sower, I'm the one that
supply bread for food.
Why, no, no, no, wait, intimacy.
(26:19):
You lose intimacy.
Watch this it's no differentthan my wife has to work.
She don't lose.
We don't lose intimacy as acouple because she has to spend
time at work.
I get her service, she gets myservice.
I hope that makes sense.
(26:39):
There's a time to be calledback into intimacy.
I know it doesn't mean thatyou're less intimate because
you're busy, but it would meanthat, depending on what you are
busy doing, on what you are busydoing, like Martha, we can be
(27:03):
so busy for Jesus that we forgetto be with Jesus.
That speaks to the point ofwhat I was just saying.
You're doing as you do, as untothe lord, but you forget to be
with the lord.
(27:23):
That's like so many, so manypastors are doing it today.
They say they're doing it forthe lord, we're doing ministry
for you, we're doing doingkingdom business, but it ain't
with Jesus though.
How you going, how you goingwork for that, how you going to
do kingdom business and be andbe kingdom minded when it's when
(27:44):
you're not doing it with Jesus?
Distractions come in the form ofobligations.
Distractions come in the formof obligations.
It comes in the form of noise,it comes in the form of
performance.
Distraction even comes in theform of anxiety and it even
(28:09):
comes in the form of what I wasjust speaking to Religious
activity.
Religious activity.
I was just speaking toreligious activity, religious
activity.
Listen, I hope this talk haschallenged you.
I pray that it's challenged youto silence the noise and to get
(28:38):
back to what matters, to not bedistracted by the things by the
wayside, to get you back toJesus's feet.
Don't keep it to yourself.
Don't keep this episode toyourself.
I want you to share it withsomeone, probably somebody you
(29:04):
just had this conversation with.
Share with someone who has beencaught in the hustle but
starving for real peace, andthat's how you miss out on the
(29:25):
peace of God, when you arepulled away by every distraction
.
So, listen, I want you to makesure that you are subscribed,
that you leave a review on thisepisode.
I want to hear from you how ithas blessed you and how it has
helped you.
You can also support the showon Patreon at patreoncom.
(29:51):
Forward slash the soul fuel.
Your support keeps this fuelgoing.
I love you and there'sabsolutely nothing you can do
about it.
It is easy for you to create a mirage when you are in
a spiritual drought a droughtthat does not exist for
believers or should not existfor believers but it only
happens when you allow yourselfto be taken and exerted of all
of your faith because ofbusyness, of trying to keep up
(00:22):
with what culture is screamingto you and trying to tell you
what you need to obey.
I just want to walk inobedience.
Welcome to the SoulFuel podcast, the pit stop for your soul to
be fueled for your journey inlife as you do it with Christ.
I am super excited about todaybecause it is a timely one,
(00:47):
something that I've spoke aboutmany different times before, but
this one is all aboutdistractions.
Yeah, it's all aboutdistractions because I want to.
I am sometimes distracted withthings that don't really make
(01:08):
any sense.
It seems as if it it makessense, um, for a second.
You know, sometimes it it seemslike it makes sense, but it at
the end of the day, when you getdone, it doesn't right, and
then you realize how much timehas been wasted because you were
(01:29):
on these things and watch this,the scripture we're going to
look at.
We've looked at it before.
If you listen to sermons andteachings that we've done.
It comes from the story of Maryand Martha, where Jesus reminds
us that busyness isn't alwaysfaithfulness.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness.
(01:53):
If that was a nugget, I needyou to write that down somewhere
, even if you don't put it inthe comments, even if you don't
put it in the chat, write itdown somewhere.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness.
Write it down somewhere.
Busyness is not alwaysfaithfulness, and being pulled
in many directions can rob us ofthe one thing that truly
matters, right, and we can seethat.
(02:16):
We see that in movies all thetime.
We see where a character ispulled away by so many things.
And you know, I bring thismovie up because it's one of my
still one of my favorite moviesto this day, a film from 1997
titled Liar Liar, starring JimCarrey.
I like this movie not justbecause I like the movie, but
because it fits this thing youcan be carried away by your job.
(02:38):
Fletcher was carried away by hisjob so much that he didn't see
how it was affecting his son.
He did not see how it wasaffecting his son, right, he did
not see how it was affectinghis son.
He was working so much he didnot no, he, he, he didn't
realize that his son, his, hewas destroying the relationship
with his son because his work,so to the point where the kid
(03:02):
didn't even ask for a toy or abike or some big major thing for
his birthday.
He asked that in his wish, hemade a wish that his dad could
not tell a lie for an entire day, right?
(03:23):
So, and watch this Fletcherwasn't.
He was doing a bad thing bylying through through his job.
You know, that's that's.
You know that's neither herenor there.
But the fact is he was tryingto continue to do his job, work
his job.
He was busy, but it did notequal faithfulness.
And then that's where it kindof falls apart when it comes to
(03:44):
comparing it to that movie.
But I just wanted to show youhow busyness, um, sometimes can
lead you away from it does allnot sometimes, but it does it
always.
Robscher of being a greatfather to Max, right?
(04:10):
So, going back to the text, ifyou've ever felt, if you've ever
felt like you're doing a lot,like Martha Martha was doing a
lot we're getting ready to readthat scripture If you ever felt
like you were doing a lot andyou are doing a lot, but still
you feel spiritually empty.
This episode is for you, thistalk is for you.
(04:34):
All right, let's confront thenoise.
Let's confront the noise Goingto the book of Luke, chapter 10,
verse 40, verse through, verse42 says but Martha was
distracted with all herpreparations and she came up to
him and said Lord, do you notcare that my sister has left me
(04:57):
to do all the serving alone?
Then tell her to help me, tellher to help me, tell her to help
me.
But the Lord answered and saidto her Martha, martha, you are
worried and bothered about somany things, but only one thing
is necessary, only one thing isnecessary, one thing.
(05:20):
Can you say that out loud?
There is only one thing.
Can you say that out loud?
There is only one thing that isnecessary, for Mary has chosen
the good part.
Oh, my god, I know literally.
Oh my god.
Mary has chosen the good partwhich shall not be taken away
(05:41):
from her.
It won't be taken away from her.
This encounter happens inBethany, at the home of Martha.
Mary and who?
You guessed it?
Lazarus.
Close friends of Jesus.
Close friends of Jesus.
Hospitality was a high socialvalue in Jewish culture.
(06:03):
Hospitality was a high socialvalue in Jewish culture Right,
and women were expected toprepare, serve and host guests,
especially honored teachers suchas Jesus.
Martha was doing what wasculturally appropriate she was
(06:39):
serving.
So was what Martha was doingwrong?
Absolutely not.
She's doing hosting guests, butshe allowed the urgent to
override the essential.
She allowed the urgent, whatdidn't really matter, to
override what actually mattered.
Mary broke social expectationby sitting at Jesus's feet.
(07:04):
This is the difference, see,which one are you going to be?
Which one are you going to be?
Are you going to be busy, likeMartha, or are you going to be
perfectly distracted, like Mary?
Which one?
Because Mary, again, she breaksthe expectation of being of, of
(07:30):
, of, of serving, andessentially, she puts herself in
a position to be an even betterservant by allowing her
attention to be drawn to theSavior.
This is interesting.
(07:51):
This is interesting.
Mary takes a position typicallyreserved for male disciples.
Disciples Get that.
(08:12):
She takes a position typicallyreserved for male disciples, but
yet Jesus commended her andcelebrated her through his
response to Martha for Maryprioritizing presence over
performance, to Mary forprioritizing presence over
(08:51):
performance.
So that's one of the questionsI want to ask you today Are you
prioritizing presence overperformance?
Because a lot of church people,a lot of people, a lot of
people who are, who claim to bebelievers, are not really
(09:12):
Prioritizing, right, they'reprioritizing performance over
presence.
But I'd rather have presenceover performance, performance.
Jesus gently corrects Martha.
(09:33):
He gently corrects Martha, hegently repositions her focus,
because Martha is distracted byduty, and her duty was robbing
her of devotion to him, robbingher of devotion to him.
Her duty was robbing her, heruh, of her freedom, her, her
(09:55):
duty was robbing her of her, uh,of her salvation.
It's robbing taking attentionof what really matters the
presence of god, the presence ofgod.
Moving so much.
You doing too much, martha.
You doing too much.
(10:19):
That's.
This is the reason why you haveto go from being Martha to Mary.
You got to be, you got to gofrom Martha to Mary, and I
believe that this is a, this isa word that can apply, that
applies to men too.
You got to find yourself at hisfeet, learning of him.
(10:42):
He says take my yoke upon youand learn of me, for my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.
Right, but what is beingdistracted?
Being distracted means to bepulled or dragged away, mentally
or emotionally torn betweencompeting priorities.
(11:02):
Right, martha is torn mentallyand emotionally by competing
priorities.
Why?
Because she's worried aboutwhat somebody else is doing and
not necessarily why they aredoing what they are doing Versus
(11:27):
her just being busy with whatshe got going on.
She's worried about somebodyelse that's not helping her do
what she is culturallyConditioned to do or supposed to
be doing.
Jesus didn't condemn Martha Forbeing busy.
(11:49):
Jesus didn't condemn Martha forbeing busy, but he does rebuke
her and corrects, or correctsher Because she is complaining
about something that she shouldbe doing as well.
Don't bother Martha, she's,she's doing the good part, this
is the good part of the day,this is the best part of her
(12:10):
life.
Can you, can you look atyourself?
Can, can you just?
Can you look in the mirror?
You don't even need to look inthe mirror.
But could you say to yourself Iwant the good part, I want the
good part of my day, I want the.
I want the good part.
I don't need to be.
(12:30):
You miss out on the good partwhen you are distracted with the
noise, when you are distractedwith busyness.
But here is the Holy Ghostgiving us a gentle reminder
today that you have to shiftyour focus.
Shift your focus.
Don't be distracted by the dutyof life, focus.
Don't be distracted by the dutyof life, don't be distracted by
(12:53):
the duties of your job, don'tbe distracted by the duties of
trying to keep up with theserelationships, because that
busyness doesn't equalproductivity.
It just means you're moving alot and wherever you're moving a
lot, you are exerting a lot ofenergy into these things.
And here you are being zappedof the water.
(13:17):
You're being zapped.
You are exerting yourself somuch where you are missing out
on what the spirit is doing, onwhat the spirit is doing, and
that is equivalent to youbecoming exhausted and ending up
(13:39):
in a dry place, you ending up adry place.
Now you have given outeverything you got to life, so
much to the point where you haveabandoned the faith you have
(14:00):
abandoned.
You say you still got faith,but it's like you're real low.
You're on E and this is whythis is the soul fuel, because
this is to bring you, this is tobring you back, this is to put
more, this is to put it back inyou.
And then you have to continueto do the work.
You're here because this is apart of the work that you're
(14:21):
putting in to be poured into.
Jesus is the source.
So wherever you're listening toa word, you have to make sure
that it is coming directly fromthe source.
And this source that we'regetting it is from where we're
getting.
It is from Luke, chapter 10,verse 40 and 42, where Jesus is
(14:42):
correcting Martha because sheshe is tripping on the fact that
Mary is in a position Of beingfed.
Mary is in a position of beingfed, mary is in a position of
being blessed.
Mary is in a position of whereshe should be, but she's caught
up, distracted.
The key thing here is that sheis distracted.
(15:02):
She is pulled away mentally andemotionally between competing
priorities.
This word distracted I'm givingyou the Greek definition and it
implies internal agitation.
It's in, it's always internal.
Out of the abundance of theheart, the mouth speaks.
(15:25):
Remember that anytime you hearsomebody that that says
something that needs to becorrected in the word and jesus
corrects it, go back to whatjesus said.
Out of the abundance of theheart, the mouth speaks.
She's speaking what's in herheart.
And to be distracted means thatthere is an internal agitation
and outward busyness that stealsspiritual focus.
(15:46):
I can't focus spiritually whenI'm internally agitated because
whatever's happening internal,that's what's happening in my
heart Her being worried, herbeing worried and bothered about
so many things Jesus says.
(16:09):
But the Lord answered and saidto her Martha, martha, you are
worried and bothered about somany things.
This is what I'm telling you,like a lot of the stuff that you
, that you trip about, you yoube, you be looking at bills.
You look this, this, this is myNTAA bill from going through
tolls.
(16:29):
You be worried about this stuff.
I'm like man, I'll get to it.
I'm going to get to it.
I'm going to take care of itbefore I leave.
I'm going to get to it.
But Jesus says, martha, youworry, you worry, ursuline,
ursuline, you are worried aboutso many things.
Leneza, leneza, you are worriedabout so many things.
(16:50):
Leneza, leneza, you are worriedabout so many things.
Your name made the podcast.
Sorry, you're worried about somany things, but only one thing
is necessary.
Only one thing is necessaryWorried means to be anxiously
(17:17):
divided.
Get that Anxiously divided Froma root meaning to be pulled in
parts.
Oh man, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh man, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait, wait, wait.
This word merimnus, merimnus ormerimnus Greek word for worried
(17:42):
means to be anxiously divided.
Do you hear how destructivethat is, to be anxious.
Do you know how messed up youhave to be to be anxiously
divided?
And it's more than one part,it's two.
We see priority over presence.
Right, she's, and watch this.
The thing is that she is.
It's more than presence, it'sabout the presence of somebody
(18:08):
else, not being there instead ofher presence and being where.
Mary is as well.
So, again, anxiously dividedfrom a root meaning to be pulled
in parts.
A mind fragmented by worry, amind fractured by worry.
(18:31):
Come on, he says you areworried and bothered.
Wait a minute, jesus Wouldn'tthat kind of be the same.
Nah, if Jesus said it that way,that means there's two
different meanings for bothwords.
Worried is anxiously divided.
(18:51):
Right To be pulled in parts.
A mind that is fractured byworry, a mind fragmented by
worry, and then bothered meansto be mentally disturbed,
troubled or upset.
Bothered is mentally disturbed,troubled or upset.
(19:15):
Basically, he's saying you havea soul in your body that is in
constant motion but lackingclarity.
You have a soul that is inconstant motion but are lacking
clarity.
The next part.
(19:40):
But only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good
part.
Let's look at this word chosen.
She has chosen the good part.
Let's look at this word chosen.
She has chosen the good part.
Mary's decision to sit atJesus's feet was intentional and
discerning.
The word implies selecting whatis best with care and priority.
(20:06):
When you have chosen oh my God,when you have have chosen, you
have selected it carefully.
You have weighed out all of the, the, the, the options.
You have thought about thisthing carefully.
(20:36):
Mary says I know I'm supposed tobe serving, but this is Jesus.
I got to sit down.
I got to sit down, martha gotit, and if Martha knew better,
she would come sit down too,right?
So I want to ask you thatquestion have you really chosen?
(20:58):
Have you?
Have you really?
Have you really chosen?
Have you really chosen to sitat the feet of Jesus, or are you
distracted like Martha?
Are you you distracted likeMartha with all of your work,
(21:18):
with all of the things that thekid, the places that the kids
got to go and the things thatneed to be done?
What are you distracted with?
Why are you allowing it to takeso much of your time, so much
of your action?
So much that it is making you,it is causing a spiritual
(21:39):
drought, it is causing a dryplace.
It is amazing because it isdoing what it takes to build a
dry place.
It's almost like set decorationand set design.
A lot of stuff you see in moviesnine times out of 10 is fake.
It's all created, most of thetime it's in the studio green
(21:59):
screen, blue screen and CGI,computer generated images.
Technology is getting better.
Computer, the computer isgetting better.
Everything is becoming morefake and more fake and more fake
.
In other words, all I'm saying.
The reason why I bring that up,is I'm saying that it is easy
(22:20):
for you to create a mirage whenyou are in a spiritual drought,
a drought that does not existfor believers or should not
exist for believers.
But it only happens when youallow yourself to be taken and
exerted of all of your faithbecause of busyness, of trying
to keep up with what culture isscreaming to you and trying to
(22:44):
tell you what you need to obey.
But distraction isn't alwaysabout sin either.
Notice I never talked about sin, about sin either.
Notice I never talked about sin, because distraction doesn't
always, it doesn't always meanthat you're being pulled away by
sin.
Martha was pulled away by doingwhat she was supposed to be
(23:06):
doing, but she failed to realizethat at this moment, this ain't
the time for you to be doingthat.
This is the time for you to sitdown and be at his feet.
You got to know when.
You got to know when to stoptalking.
You got to know when to callout of work.
Come on, you would say, well,what if I don't show up on but?
(23:27):
But you can't exert.
Listen, you are human.
You got to.
You got to know when it's timeto leave.
You got to know.
You got you gotta.
You gotta know when it's timeto leave.
You gotta know.
You gotta know when I'm doingtoo much.
You gotta know when I'm.
You gotta know.
You just gotta know.
You know it.
Most people know it.
All of you know I ain't gottime for that.
I don't even feel like it.
You know, you know it.
That's all Jesus is saying.
(23:48):
Like, distraction isn't alwaysabout sin.
We already know that, of course, sin is a distraction.
It can be a distraction.
We already know that, of course, sin is a distraction and can
be a distraction, but it's oftenmore about being overwhelmed by
(24:12):
good things.
That keeps us from the bestthing.
Let me see if I can say thatone more time you're being
overwhelmed by good things.
That keeps you from the bestthing.
It's so easy to do, and a lotof people do this every day,
which is why they can't wait toSunday, because they feel like
(24:33):
Sunday is the only day that theyget a chance to be free.
But no, or Saturday, even forthose people.
On Saturday they feel like, oh,that's the only day I'm going
to rest.
No, he said come unto me, allyou that labor who are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
Rest in me every day.
Jesus isn't condemning service,right, which is what we just
(24:54):
said.
He's not condemning service,but he's calling us back to
intimacy.
Ecclesiastes would spell thisout for us nicely in, I believe,
chapter three.
We say there's a time under thesun for everything.
There's a time to mourn,there's a time to laugh, there's
a time to dance, there's a timeto cry.
There's a time to dance.
(25:14):
There's a time to cry.
There's a time to plant,there's a time to pluck up which
is what was planted.
There's a time to die.
There's a time for everything,but you cannot.
This is why you got to be ledby the spirit, because the
spirit will let you know hey,it's time to sit down.
It's time to sit down Even inwhat you do watch this.
(25:37):
If you are doing what you do asunto the Lord, as you're
supposed to be anyway, you'llknow when it's time to sit down,
because mentally and faith-wiseand faithfully faith-based,
we're, faith-based individualsand faith-based people.
So we should already be doingwhat we are doing as unto the
(25:57):
Lord.
But if we're doing as whatwe're, if we're not doing what
we're like our jobs, as unto theLord, then of course we will
get distracted and caught up.
Oh, I got to do this, I got tofinish this, I got to make sure
I do this because if I don't getthis, I won't ever be this.
And then, but Jesus says wait,wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,wait.
I'm the one that supplies seedto the sower, I'm the one that
supply bread for food.
Why, no, no, no, wait, intimacy.
(26:19):
You lose intimacy.
Watch this it's no differentthan my wife has to work.
She don't lose.
We don't lose intimacy as acouple because she has to spend
time at work.
I get her service, she gets myservice.
I hope that makes sense.
(26:39):
There's a time to be calledback into intimacy.
I know it doesn't mean thatyou're less intimate because
you're busy, but it would meanthat, depending on what you are
busy doing, on what you are busydoing, like Martha, we can be
(27:03):
so busy for Jesus that we forgetto be with Jesus.
That speaks to the point ofwhat I was just saying.
You're doing as you do, as untothe lord, but you forget to be
with the lord.
(27:23):
That's like so many, so manypastors are doing it today.
They say they're doing it forthe lord, we're doing ministry
for you, we're doing doingkingdom business, but it ain't
with Jesus though.
How you going, how you goingwork for that, how you going to
do kingdom business and be andbe kingdom minded when it's when
(27:44):
you're not doing it with Jesus?
Distractions come in the form ofobligations.
Distractions come in the formof obligations.
It comes in the form of noise,it comes in the form of
performance.
Distraction even comes in theform of anxiety and it even
(28:09):
comes in the form of what I wasjust speaking to Religious
activity.
Religious activity.
I was just speaking toreligious activity, religious
activity.
Listen, I hope this talk haschallenged you.
I pray that it's challenged youto silence the noise and to get
(28:38):
back to what matters, to not bedistracted by the things by the
wayside, to get you back toJesus's feet.
Don't keep it to yourself.
Don't keep this episode toyourself.
I want you to share it withsomeone, probably somebody you
(29:04):
just had this conversation with.
Share with someone who has beencaught in the hustle but
starving for real peace, andthat's how you miss out on the
(29:25):
peace of God, when you arepulled away by every distraction
.
So, listen, I want you to makesure that you are subscribed,
that you leave a review on thisepisode.
I want to hear from you how ithas blessed you and how it has
helped you.
You can also support the showon Patreon at patreoncom.
(29:51):
Forward slash the soul fuel.
Your support keeps this fuelgoing.
I love you and there'sabsolutely nothing you can do
about it.
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