Finding Strength and Focus in Jesus' Presence

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **2 Chronicles 20:17** - "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you."
2. **Luke 10:38-42** - "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"
3. **Ephesians 5:15-16** - "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

#### Observation Questions
1. What does 2 Chronicles 20:17 say about who fights our battles and what our role is?
2. In the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42), what were the different choices made by Martha and Mary, and how did Jesus respond to each? [49:25]
3. According to Ephesians 5:15-16, how should we live our lives and why is it important to make the most of every opportunity?
4. What distractions did Martha face, and how did they affect her ability to focus on Jesus? [49:25]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the assurance that God fights our battles (2 Chronicles 20:17) change the way we approach our struggles, whether they are physical, emotional, financial, or relational? [17:35]
2. What does Jesus' response to Martha and Mary teach us about the importance of prioritizing our relationship with Him over daily tasks and distractions? [49:25]
3. How can we apply the principle of making the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:15-16) in our daily lives, especially in our spiritual walk? [55:10]
4. What are some common distractions in our lives today that can hinder our relationship with Jesus, and how can we identify and eliminate them? [57:40]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a recent battle you faced. How did you handle it, and how might you approach it differently knowing that God fights your battles? [17:35]
2. Think about your daily routine. Are there specific activities or habits that distract you from spending time with Jesus? What steps can you take to minimize these distractions this week? [49:25]
3. How can you make the most of your opportunities to connect with Jesus this week? Identify one specific action you can take to prioritize your relationship with Him. [55:10]
4. Consider the story of Martha and Mary. Are there areas in your life where you are more like Martha, busy and distracted? How can you shift your focus to be more like Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet? [49:25]
5. What practical steps can you take to live with Jesus at the center of your life, not just as a part of it? How can you include Him in your daily activities and decisions? [01:02:03]
6. Identify one distraction that you feel God is calling you to eliminate. What specific action will you take this week to remove or reduce this distraction? [57:40]
7. How can you support others in your small group or community to prioritize their relationship with Jesus and eliminate distractions? What role can you play in encouraging and praying for them? [17:35]

Day 1: God Fights Our Battles
God is with us in every struggle, whether physical, emotional, financial, or relational. We are reminded through 2 Chronicles 20 that we do not need to fight our battles alone because the Lord is with us. This passage shows us that God is our ultimate defender and protector. We are called to support one another in prayer and faith, standing shoulder to shoulder as a family. When we face challenges, we can find comfort in knowing that God is actively involved in our lives, fighting on our behalf. This assurance allows us to face our struggles with courage and hope, knowing that we are not alone.

[17:35]

2 Chronicles 20:17 (ESV): "You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you."

Reflection: Think of a current struggle you are facing. How can you invite God into this battle and trust Him to fight on your behalf?


Day 2: Prioritize Jesus Over Distractions
The story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 teaches us the importance of prioritizing our relationship with Jesus over the distractions of daily life. Martha was busy with preparations, while Mary chose to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to Him. Martha's busyness, though well-intentioned, caused her to miss the opportunity to be in Jesus' presence. Jesus gently reminded her that only one thing is needed: to focus on Him. This story encourages us to evaluate our own lives and identify the distractions that keep us from spending time with Jesus. By prioritizing our relationship with Him, we can experience the peace and fulfillment that comes from being in His presence.

[49:25]

Luke 10:41-42 (ESV): "But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'"

Reflection: What are some distractions in your life that keep you from spending time with Jesus? How can you intentionally prioritize your relationship with Him today?


Day 3: Make the Most of Every Opportunity
We are encouraged to make the most of every opportunity to connect with Jesus. This means being intentional about our time and not allowing distractions to keep us from experiencing His presence. Ephesians 5:15-16 reminds us to live wisely and make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. By being mindful of how we spend our time, we can ensure that we are growing in our relationship with Jesus and living in a way that honors Him. This involves setting aside time for prayer, Bible study, and worship, and being open to the ways God wants to work in our lives.

[55:10]

Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV): "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

Reflection: How can you be more intentional about your time with Jesus this week? What specific steps can you take to make the most of every opportunity to connect with Him?


Day 4: Eliminate Distractions
Hebrews 12:1 urges us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. We must identify and eliminate distractions that keep us from spending time with Jesus. This may involve making difficult choices, but it is essential for our spiritual growth. By removing these distractions, we can focus more fully on our relationship with Jesus and experience the fullness of life that He offers. This process requires self-reflection and a willingness to let go of things that may be good but are not the best for our spiritual well-being.

[57:40]

Hebrews 12:1 (ESV): "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Reflection: What are some specific distractions or sins that you need to eliminate from your life? How can you take practical steps to remove these hindrances and focus more on Jesus?


Day 5: Live with Jesus at the Center
We are called to live with Jesus at the center of our lives, not just as a part of it. This means including Him in every aspect of our daily activities and decisions. By doing so, we can experience the fullness of life that He offers and become one with Him. Living with Jesus at the center involves a conscious effort to seek His guidance, follow His teachings, and align our lives with His will. It is a daily commitment to make Jesus the focal point of our thoughts, actions, and decisions, allowing His presence to permeate every area of our lives.

[01:02:03]

Colossians 3:17 (ESV): "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you need to make Jesus the center? How can you intentionally include Him in your daily activities and decisions?

Oh, oh, oh. Let alone. He is in the battle with you.

We're right on track today, Pastor Andy, because the verse that God gave me today talks about battle and war also. I want to share this verse with you today, but first, welcome. I'm Pastor Tim, honored to be the Freedom and Care Pastor.

We're going to spend a little bit of time in prayer today. I'd like to read you this verse from 2 Chronicles 20. It says, "You need not fight this battle, but take your positions and witness the salvation of the Lord who is with you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow, today, right now, go out against them, for the Lord is with you."

That's your word today. The Lord is with you. You don't fight the battle, but in battle, He's going to fight it. But we're going to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other. That's what family does. We come around each other in our time of need.

So today, your battle might be physical. It might be emotional. It might be financial. It might be a relationship issue. If you have something that you would like to give over to God today and say, "Jesus, fight my battle," I want you to just lift your hand right now, wherever you're at in this sanctuary.

Awesome. If you'd look around and see wherever there's a hand lifted. See, we stand shoulder to shoulder. If you're online, just type in there that you need prayer today. We're going to pray for you also right now. I don't want anybody to fight their battle alone.

So if you feel comfortable, just put your hand on a shoulder of somebody's hand that's raised.

Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for this great day you have given us. I thank you, Father God, for this country that we can come in your house and just worship you freely.

Today, Heavenly Father, you already know the needs of those people, people whose hands are raised. Jesus, I know that you're fighting the battle for them already. We want to stand by them. We want to encourage them in their faith.

So whatever the need is, Father, I ask that you would just intervene in that in Jesus' name. He is with you.

Let's continue to worship.

Wow. Thank you, Pastor Simone. Wow. Wow. Now there's a word that we can take home with us today and put to use right in our life right away. Thank you, Pastor Simone.

So I have the honor of continuing on with the table talk today. And again, I'm Pastor Tim. I'm glad you joined us today. Watching online, we're glad you joined us.

And so we're going to be talking a little bit about a little small thing—a little meal that Jesus shared with some friends. But before that, I'd like to just kind of ask you this question. What is one change in your life that if it happened immediately today would make just the biggest difference in your life?

Could it be maybe more money? A better job? A new house? A new car? Perhaps you're looking for a husband. Perhaps you're looking for a wife. What's that one change?

So as I pondered this, I actually had a dream the other night. And in my dream, I found this lamp. And I rubbed the lamp, and a genie popped out. I was like, "Oh man, this is so cool." And he's like, "Dude, three wishes I'm going to give you."

So right away, I knew what the first one was. I wanted that Belgian Malinois, fully military trained Belgian Malinois, that every time I'm taking a step, he's taking that step right with me around the side between my legs. Boom! Ranger's right there by my side. I'm like, "Wow, this is great."

Wish number two, you know, I want to bring my wife into this. So I'm like, "Okay, dream car for my wife, Brenda. That '72 Chevelle, bright blue. And because I love her, a big Dallas star on the hood. Bam! There it is. And it's even automatic so she can drive."

Wish number three, the genie's like, "What do you want?" I'm like, "Well, we got the car. We got the dogs. Let's take a road trip. I need a bridge to Hawaii. My wife and I have always, always wanted to go to Hawaii."

So the genie's like, "Oh," scratches his head. "Dude, come on. Do you know the concrete it would take? The amount of road work it would take? We would need multiple gas stations. There is just no way. Even for a genie, that can't happen. You got to pick another wish."

So now I'm like, "Well, I don't know. Okay, check this out. I do want to be a great husband. So I need to know everything there is to know about women. Everything. How they tick. How they think. How they feel. Every single thing so I can be the greatest husband in the world."

Man, the genie gets down on one knee, looks me in the eye, says, "Bruh." Calls me bruh. "You want that bridge four lanes or two lanes?"

So maybe instead of asking a genie, maybe let's look to God's word today and see what God has to say about the one thing in our life that we need. One thing in our life that can make a huge difference.

In Psalm 27:4, David tells us this: "One thing I ask of the Lord. This is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in the temple."

One thing. Now, I don't think David was actually saying, "God, I just want to live in the temple." I think he was saying, "With everything that I have to do, I want to live so that Your presence surrounds me. So that I'm always seeking what You would want me to do."

So for the rest of today, let's keep that thought in and let's learn from the story why that may be important.

Our story that I get to tell you today comes from Luke 10:38-42. And it's simply just kind of paraphrased like this: Jesus and His disciples, they were on a little road trip. I don't think they had the blue Chevelle, but you know, they were on a road trip.

And they were going to a village to their friend's house. And when they got there, their friend Martha was cooking dinner. Man, she's just in the kitchen and she's stirring it up and cooking it up. I'm sure it smelled so good when they walked in there.

And Martha is kind of our lead character in this story. Three characters in all. We have Jesus, Martha, and Martha's sister Mary, who we're going to meet in just a second.

So Jesus comes in and He sits down. And immediately Mary, Martha's sister, goes in and sits at Jesus' feet. The Bible says she was listening to what Jesus had to say.

See, the first step in making changes or improving our lives today is listening to what Jesus said. Not all your friends, not all your family, but what Jesus said. And we do that by spending more time in the Word of God.

I mean, how can we take in the Word of God? How can we take in the words of Jesus if we're not spending time in the Word of God?

Now the Bible and this story goes on to tell us that Martha was distracted. Say distracted. By all the preparations that she had to make.

I don't know about you, but I can definitely identify with distraction. Do you know those people that can just sit and focus and concentrate? Man, they just amaze me. I tend to get distracted kind of easy.

I mean, like even right now. You guys are trying to focus and listen to what I'm saying. But some of you are distracted by what your neighbors are looking at on their phone. Right? Some of you are distracted by thinking, "Where are we going to eat? Is he going to get done in time so we can make it to the restaurant in time?"

Or maybe you get up in the morning and you want to spend some time in prayer and reading your Bible. But you get distracted by things that you have to plan out in your day. Or you get distracted because the kids are waking up. Or you got to take the dog out. Whatever those distractions are.

Martha was distracted by all of the meal preparation. She was in the kitchen cooking while her sister was focused on Jesus. When we lose our focus on Jesus and we get distracted by all that's going on in the world, our lives can often go negative or our attitude can get negative.

That ever happen to anybody? You kind of begin to lose your focus on Jesus and you find your attitude going sideways a little bit. And this happened to Martha to the point where she yells at Jesus.

She yells at him and she's like, "Jesus, make Mary get up and come in here and help me because I'm doing all this work by myself."

And then Jesus says this to her. This is actually in the Bible. "Martha, Martha, Martha." Some of y'all caught that. "You are worried and upset and focused on many things. But then this is really the crux of what he wants to say to her. Martha, you're focused on all these other things. But there's only one thing that's needed."

When I heard Jesus say that, it reminded me right again about what King David had said in the Old Testament: "One thing that I asked."

So listen to me today. The list that we talked about earlier: a better job, more money, a home, the blue Chevelle, the Belgian Malinois, the bridge to Hawaii—all that's good and all that may be important and needed. But if we're not listening to Jesus, it does no good in our lives.

There's no eternal purpose for all these other things. Jesus actually said to Martha, "She, Mary, has chosen what is better. And this experience can never be taken from her."

So Jesus wasn't disappointed. He wasn't dismissing Martha. He wasn't dismissing what she was doing. He was saying she had a choice to make. And listening to me at this point was the better choice.

So without this one thing, even if we accomplish everything on the list, it will never benefit us eternally. You know, I hate to think about it, but if God tarries, one day all the '72 Chevelles in the world are going to be rusted and gone. That's a sad thought, but it's going to happen.

Why? Because they don't have eternal value. What Jesus puts in our hearts, what He puts in our lives, that is what has eternal value.

But as we continue with the story, I want to give Martha a little bit of grace here. Because she often kind of gets dogged out in this story. As you know, preachers, we like to preach this. She kind of gets, you know, beat up a little bit.

But I was looking at this and I was like, "Okay, God. There has to be a lesson in what Martha was doing, too." I know we need to learn the lesson to sit at your feet. But can we look at what Martha was doing just for a minute?

She did open her home. She set the table. She prepared the atmosphere to accept Jesus into the home. I mean, if Jesus is coming to dinner, somebody's got to cook, right? I mean, so she was doing all of those things.

So I think that, God, this is what He said to me: It is important for us to remember to open our homes, open our lives, set the atmosphere in our homes for Jesus to come in so we can listen to Him.

So this word, I think, is specifically to the men in the house. We are the spiritual leaders of our household. It is up to us to take the lead in setting the atmosphere so that our family can sit at Jesus' feet and listen to what He has to say.

As we move forward today, I want to give you three "I will" statements. And these are principles that we're going to put into work in our lives today.

And the first one is this: I will make the most of my opportunity. I mean, it's Sunday. It's the start of a new week. Here we are. We're in the house of God. We have an opportunity today.

Martha had an opportunity. Jesus was in her house. She missed the opportunity because she was in the kitchen. But you have been given this great day today. Jesus is right here in front of you. You have opportunities to connect with Him, to hear from Him.

So don't get distracted in the kitchen. Don't get distracted in the office. Don't get distracted by visiting friends or all of the different things that we have to do in our life.

There's a great verse in Ephesians, and it tells us to be careful. And it's actually Ephesians 5:15-16. And it starts out by saying, "Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil."

Sounds like Paul was living in today's times. The days were evil, and we need to make the most of every opportunity.

The word for opportunity here in the Greek is actually the word "kairos," where we get our word "time" from. But for this specific meaning, it says that we are to make—it gives us a chance to make a favorable moment for decision or action.

Think about that. Today, right now, we are in a favorable moment to make a decision or an action in our lives.

So I'd like to encourage you today, especially maybe you that are a little bit new to the church, a little bit new in your walk in faith with Jesus, come to church regularly, okay? One out of six is not regularly, okay?

I have some friends of mine, good friends of mine, that consider themselves members of our house here, and I see them about once every two months here. But if you saw them on the street, they would tell you they were a member.

You know there is something different about being here in the house, experiencing the atmosphere of worship together, experiencing the community of that interaction before church, after church. There is something different than just being able to watch online.

I'd like to encourage you to complete growth track. Find your gifts and put them into action, serving here in the house and out in the community. Get involved in the TFH community. Join a life group. We'll be having life groups start up again in the fall. Join a life group.

It's a place where you can find encouragement. You can find accountability. But not only that, you will be the encouragement for someone else. You can help someone else on their accountability journey.

Come to our men's events, our women's ministry events. We had a men's breakfast yesterday, and guys, I hope you were there because Brother Lonnie gave a great word to challenge us. It was a strong word about growing up and being a man and then leading other young men into how to be a strong man of God.

So the second point here today is: I will get rid of every distraction. Hebrews 12:1 tells us this: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let's run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

See, I'm not running the same race as Mike. But I'm running my race, the race that God has marked out for me.

I don't know if you've ever done like a mud run or an adventure race. Got a chance to do a few. And as you're running, you may be going through the mud. But I know that if you don't stay on that path that they have marked out for you, you get off in the woods, you get off here, you get lost.

Or you maybe get into some mud or some thickness that you can't get out of. It's the exact same with our walk with Christ. Paul is telling us here, Pastor Simone, I like the visual also. And Paul often uses the visuals of running a race.

But I like this. I don't think I ever really saw this in this verse before. The race marked out for us. What is the race that he has marked out for you today? We don't want to get distracted.

And you already know what kind of distracts you from spending time with Jesus. I mean, God reminded me of my distractions real soon when we were talking. And I want you to ask God today to reveal to you some of the distractions that maybe you don't see.

I was talking to God, and He definitely pointed out a few things in my life, and I know that He will for you also.

Now, all the distractions in our life aren't always bad, right? Maybe it's working more. Maybe it's working, staying longer at the office, staying longer at your job, taking all the overtime you can get.

In some seasons of our life, we need to do that. But, or maybe, just maybe, are you doing that just to get that new toy and then you come home at night and you wonder why your family's falling apart?

Or maybe you're living your glory days or your wannabe glory days through your kids by having them in so many different activities that as a family you don't have time to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him.

Now hear me, I am not saying extracurricular activities are wrong. I think they are great. But when they begin to take the place of the time at the table where we as a family can sit and hear what God has to say, then it becomes a distraction in our kids' life.

And what we've done is we've set the pattern for them later on in life that sitting at Jesus' feet is not as important as doing something else.

So Pastor Chris gave me this great, great quote today. I want to put it up here on the screen. "I will not let anything that ultimately means nothing keep me from experiencing what means everything."

It is good. And I know you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Really, Pastor Chris? Casey probably gave that to him, right? But no, no, that is a great, great quote.

Let's think about that for a second. The things that ultimately mean nothing. I have a lot of great things in my life that I like to do. Ultimately, they mean nothing.

I like to go shooting. I would love to have that '72 Chevelle. I would love to have that Belgian Malinois. But in the sense of eternity, all that means nothing.

And if those things are keeping me from experiencing what means everything, which is more of God in my life, more the power of the Holy Spirit in my life, then I don't want those things.

Sometimes it just... I mean, sometimes God just really speaks to you. And as I was putting this together, He was really speaking to me about some of those things.

Number three is this: I will prioritize the presence of Christ in my life.

So let me tell you kind of what that means. I'm not just going to come to church on Sunday. I'm going to serve God on Monday, the next day, the next day after that, and every day.

I will always include Jesus to be not just a part of my life, but the center of my life. I want Him to be the hub with every spoke that comes out and a different activity in my life, but He is still the center, working all of those things.

I will live my life as if Jesus is in my living room, my kitchen with me, my office, my car, my spots that I go to hang out with.

But see, in order to do some of these things, I think that what we need to start is to begin to remember to pray first. That's how we connect with God. That's how we begin to form a deeper relationship with Him.

So let's pray. Before you send that email, that one where you just want to snap back, let's pray first.

And a little aside, if you're getting ready to do that, type it out, sit on it for 24 hours, and then think about really whether you want to send that.

How about let's pray first before we post that negative on Facebook. Church, can we stop living our negative life on Facebook and start showing the world the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and the things that we put out to the world?

How about pray first before I go to that appointment, before I go to school? How about before I start my day, I will pray first.

The Apostle Paul writes again, and this is in Philippians 3:7-9. "I once thought of these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless."

He says, "I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done." I wonder what things Paul thought were valuable that now he considered worthless.

The easy answer is probably the persecution of Christians before his life was transformed. But I bet it goes a little bit deeper. I bet Paul had things in his life that he wanted to do, but when he thought about the greater purpose of his life, he considered them worthless.

When compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ, Jesus as my Lord. Paul goes on to say, "For this, for his sake, I have discarded everything, counting it all as garbage."

So all those extra things, Paul said, they're not even worth it. They mean nothing to me. But here's the reason why. Not because he just wanted to live this life and live this super humble life. No.

He said, "So that I could gain Christ and become one with Him." That should really be our goal today. To gain everything that Jesus has for us so that we can become one with Him.

I'd like to spend a little time praying for you today. Because the truth is, you're just one step away from living your best life if we understand the opportunity that's in front of us today.

I'd like for you to bow your heads with me today. We all have distractions in our life. And as I was talking, you probably thought of a couple distractions that you had.

I know for me, God was saying, "Hey Tim, can you just shut off ESPN and maybe spend a little time with me? Can you maybe not watch The Expendables for the 42nd time and grab your wife's hand and spend a little bit more time in my word?"

That kind of hit me a little bit. So at the end of service, our prayer team will be down front. We're going to pray over those distractions corporately.

But if you would like someone to specifically agree with you to help get rid of a distraction in your life, at the end of service, our prayer team will be down front and would love to pray with you.

So if you have a distraction, if God pointed something out to you and you'd like to lay that at His feet and say, "Jesus, I don't want this anymore," I just want you to raise your hand. I'm not going to ask you what those are. My hand is up.

There are hands going across up here today because we all have something.

So Heavenly Father, again, Lord, we want to be one with You. So I would ask that You would give us the strength to step away from the distractions.

But then make us purposeful as we step away from those distractions to spend that time with You. Lord, we humbly just lay those down at Your feet. And we say, "God, as important as spending time with You."

So in Jesus' name, we give all of those to You today. Amen and amen.

There's a few people out here though and maybe watching online that are saying, "Tim, how can I spend time at Jesus' feet if I don't have a relationship with Him?"

See, I can sit at my wife's feet because I have a relationship with her. I can go hang out with some of my friends because I have a relationship with them.

But I can't go like across town and just knock on somebody's door and they open the door and say, "Hi, I'm Tim. I'm here to sit at your feet." That's weird, right? Because I don't have a relationship with them.

So my next question is, if you would like to begin a relationship with Jesus today or you would like to renew that relationship with Him, I just want you to raise your hand. I just want to pray for you.

I see some hands being raised up here today. And again, as we talked earlier today, we're a family. We stand shoulder to shoulder with each other.

I want us all to say this. Let's pray this prayer together with these ones that have raised their hands.

Dear God, thank You for sending Your Son. I want to transfer my trust to You. I want to sit at Your Son's feet to learn to be one with Him.

I give You my life to walk the purpose that You have prepared for me. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.

Church, let's celebrate today. It's amazing. That's awesome.

Hey, those of you that raised your hands or prayed that prayer, maybe you didn't raise your hand, but that's really sitting on your heart. I got some great friends over here, some great friends over here at our first step table.

Would you just swing by that table on the way home? I have some material I'd like to put in your hand to help you as we move on with our journey.

Hey, it's been so much fun telling you these stories today. I want you to have a great, great day. Hang on. We're not quite through yet.

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "So today, your battle might be physical. It might be emotional. It might be financial. It might be a relationship issue. If you have something that you would like to give over to God today and say, Jesus, fight my battle, I want you to just lift your hand right now, wherever you're at in this sanctuary." [17:35] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "One thing I ask of the Lord. This is what I seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in the temple. One thing. Now, I don't think David was actually saying, God, I just want to live in the temple. I think he was saying, with everything that I have to do, I want to live so that Your presence surrounds me." [47:38] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "What Jesus puts in our hearts, what he puts in our lives, that is what has eternal value. But as we continue with the story, I want to give Martha a little bit of grace here. Because she often kind of gets dogged out in this story. As, you know, preachers, we like to preach this. She kind of gets, you know, beat up a little bit. But I was looking at this and I was like, Okay, God. There has to be a lesson in what Martha was doing, too." [52:45] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "I will not let anything that ultimately means nothing keep me from experiencing what means everything. It is good. And I know you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Really, Pastor Chris? Casey probably gave that to him, right? But no, no, that is a great, great quote. Let's think about that for a second. The things that ultimately mean nothing. I have a lot of great things in my life that I like to do. ultimately, they mean nothing." [01:00:42] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "I will prioritize the presence of Christ in my life. So let me tell you kind of what that means. I'm not just going to come to church on Sunday. I'm going to serve God on Monday, the next day, the next day after that, and every day. I will always include Jesus to be not just a part of my life, but the center of my life. I want Him to be the hub with every spoke that comes out and a different activity in my life, but He is still the center, working all of those things." [01:02:03] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




### Quotes for Members

1. "The first step in making changes or improving our lives today is listening to what Jesus said. Not all your friends, not all your family, but what Jesus said. And we do that by spending more time in the Word of God. I mean, how can we take in the Word of God? How can we take in the words of Jesus if we're not spending time in the Word of God?" [48:30] (20 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "When we lose our focus on Jesus and we get distracted by all that's going on in the world, our lives can often go negative or our attitude can get negative. That ever happen to anybody? You kind of begin to lose your focus on Jesus and you find your attitude going sideways a little bit. And this happened to Martha to the point where she yells at Jesus. She yells at him and she's like, Jesus, make Mary get up and come in here and help me because I'm doing all this work by myself." [50:15] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "I will make the most of my opportunity. I mean, it's Sunday. It's the start of a new week. Here we are. We're in the house of God. We have an opportunity today. Martha had an opportunity. Jesus was in her house. She missed the opportunity because she was in the kitchen. But you have been given this great day today. Jesus is right here in front of you. You have opportunities to connect with him, to hear from him. So don't get distracted in the kitchen." [54:31] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "I will get rid of every distraction. Hebrews 12.1 tells us this, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let's run with perseverance the race marked out. For us. See, I'm not running the same race as Mike. But I'm running my race, the race that God has marked out for me." [57:40] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "I will live my life as if Jesus is in my living room, my kitchen with me, my office, my car, my spots that I go to hang out with. But see, in order to do some of these things, I think that what we need to start to is to begin to remember to pray first. That's how we connect with God. That's how we begin to form a deeper relationship with Him. So let's pray. Before you send that email, that one where you just want to snap back, let's pray first." [01:02:36] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)