Urgent Invitation: Deepening Our Relationship with Jesus

Good, everybody? Doing good? Hey, welcome, welcome! We're glad that you're here.

I've noticed it's been hot the past few weeks, especially at the 11 o'clock service. That's why you're here at the nine, right? Because you don't want to be here at the 11.

I want to thank some church members who recently gave me a do-rag. I'm so thankful for that, so I came prepared today.

Hey, if you're new with us, we love you and we're glad that you're here. We'd love to put a gift in your hand, so outside at the welcome center with the desk with the blue "e" on it, to your left, we'd love to give you a welcome packet. One of the things it has is a Luke Journal where you can continue to track with us through this series. So, we hope you'll pick that up.

As always, if you need the mother-baby room at some point during the service, that's outside to the left, and the sermon is streaming in there. I'd love to assist you that way.

I'm really excited to continue our series through the Gospel of Luke. As you're going to see a little bit later during announcements, we've got a ton of stuff launching. It's like launch season here at Tamaya, so a ton of ministries beginning right now or in the next couple of weeks. So, I'm really jazzed and excited about that.

But all that to say, Luke chapter 10 is where we're at. We're verse by verse walking through the Gospel of Luke as a church, and we've been for the better part of almost a year now walking through this incredible book of the Bible.

We find ourselves in Luke chapter 10, and so we're going to pick it up here in verse 38 where we left off last Sunday. And as we get a running start, here's the thing. A couple of Saturdays ago, I had a free day. My schedule was clear, which, how many of y'all know when you have kids, that's very rare, amen? It's very rare to have a free day when you have children, especially like T, we have teenagers.

But on this particular Saturday, it was free. I had nothing on the schedule, so I made a plan. I made a plan, and my plan was that that afternoon, seriously, I was going to take like two hours and I was just going to hang out with Jesus. That was the agenda, that was the plan. I was going to get alone with my Bible and just sort of be with the Lord. That was the plan for the afternoon.

But before I did that, I was going to cook lunch for my family, and more specifically, I was going to grill red meat because I enjoy happiness, right? So, I go outside and I get the grill with the cover off, and I turn on the propane tank and I hit the button to fire the thing up, and nothing happens.

So, I'm like, "Well, that's weird." So, I tried it again, hit the button, and again, nothing happens, right? And at this moment, you might be thinking, "Well, Lance, maybe your propane tank was empty." But no, that's the problem. It was a brand new propane tank. It hadn't even been used before.

This is just frustrating, right? Because I want to grill some beef, and now I have a defective propane tank. So, I unhook the thing, I drive all the way back up to Home Depot, I walk inside, I exchange it, I bring it back, I hook up the new propane tank, I turn it on, I hit the button, and still nothing happens.

So, at this moment, again, I'm frustrated. So, I did what any intelligent, brilliant, capable American man would do at this moment. I went to Google, right? And I asked Google, I said, "Why is my gas grill not working?" I read all these articles, and apparently, one of the things that could be wrong with it is this thing called a regulator hose, right? This little hose that goes to the propane tank, and maybe the regulator hose was broken.

So, I'm like, "Well, I guess I need a new regulator hose." So, I drive back up to Home Depot, I buy a regulator hose, I bring it back. But the problem is, first, you have to disconnect the old regulator hose before you put the new one on.

So, I go and get my toolbox. Here's the thing about my toolbox. I don't really own tools. I don't really fix stuff around the house, so to speak. So, I opened the toolbox, I have two tools. I have a hammer and a wrench. And I deduced that the hammer is not going to do much in this situation.

So, I get the wrench and I put it on the little doohickey. I don't even know what it's called. And I start to untwist it. But the problem is, no matter how hard I'm twisting it, nothing's happening. It's like it's crazy glued to the thing. So, I'm pulling it, nothing's happening.

And so, again, I did what any other American man would do in my situation. I yelled at it, right? Because this is what we do. We yell at inanimate objects. It makes us feel better, right? So, I'm like, "Come on, listen. What's the problem, man?" But for some reason, it wouldn't respond to my yelling.

So, I did the rational thing and I yelled some more. I'm like, "Come on!" And so, after I've been outside for an hour, in 95-degree heat, and I don't know if you noticed, I sweat sometimes a little bit. I got issues. I'm outside, I've been working on this thing for an hour in 95-degree heat.

My wife comes out to me and she looks at me, my face is red, I'm covered, I'm drenched in sweat. She looks at me, she goes, "Sweetheart, are you okay?" I said, "No, I'm not okay. I'm the opposite of okay. I feel like I've lost my salvation five times in the last hour, and I don't even believe you can lose your salvation."

It's like, I'm angry, I'm mad, I'm frustrated. And so, she said, "Well, maybe you just need to give up." And so, finally, I was like, "Okay, fine, I give up. I give up. You know what? I'm going to cut the grass. I'm going to go do something that will actually work."

So, I go get the lawnmower, and I take the lawnmower to the backyard, and I crank the thing up. And I kid you not, it's a true story. I'm in the middle of mowing the lawn, one of the wheels falls off. No explanation, no reason. It's just like, boop, it just didn't want to be there anymore.

And so, the lawnmower falls and it stops, and I'm going, "You've got to be kidding me." And so, I walk inside, my wife's in there, and I said, "Baby, you're not going to believe this. One of the wheels of the lawnmower just fell off." She said, "Oh no, what are you going to do?"

I said, "I'm going to mow the lawn with three wheels." She said, "Is that even possible?" I said, "I don't care if it's possible. I'm going to make it possible right now." She says, "Why don't you just go up to the store and buy a new lawnmower?"

I said, "I can't, darling, because if I do that, the lawnmower wins, and the lawnmower can't win." And she just looked at me and smiled, probably thinking, "Wow, you need therapy." That's what she's thinking.

And so, I go outside and I pick the thing up, and I crank it, and now I'm mowing the grass with three wheels. I'm serious. I'm mowing it with three wheels, and neighbors are looking at me like I've lost my mind. And in fairness, I kind of had lost my mind at this moment.

Now, here's the thing. As I'm mowing the grass in my front yard, I happen to look over at my car that's sitting in the driveway, and I think to myself, "What's that thing sticking out of my tire?"

And so, I stop the lawnmower, and I walk to get a closer look at the thing sticking out of my tire. Hey, you know what I saw sticking out of my tire? We brought in a picture. Took a picture. Here we go.

Now, I wish, as your pastor, that I could tell you that at this moment, when I saw this, I responded by throwing my hands up into the air and saying, "God, you're so good! God, you're so good!" But believe it or not, that's not what happened.

You know what I did? I yelled again. Look, you've got to be kidding me right now. I was so mad. Could you see that? You know what that is? You know what that is? It's a demon claw. That's my theory. That's my theory, man.

Some demon decided, "What can I do to totally ruin Lance's life today? I know. I'll tighten up his regulator hose, and I'll break his lawnmower wheel, and I'll stick my claw in his tire. Boop! That'll learn him." Right? And I was so mad. I was so mad.

And so, all I could think to do at this moment was to pray. And it was a simple prayer. You know what my prayer was? Lord, Lord, I know that you tell me in your word, "In your anger, do not sin." But Lord, I'm just telling you, I'm close. I'm real close.

I was so frustrated. I was so angry. Family, now, here's why I tell you that story. Listen. One of the things that every single one of us has in common is this right here. We all have things that frustrate us sometimes. Amen? We all have things that make us angry sometimes. We all have things that sometimes just make us kind of want to scream.

And I know that in a room this big, there's a couple of y'all sitting out there going, "Not me. Not me. I never get mad. I never get angry. I never lose control." You know what? You make the rest of us mad. You make us angry.

Because let's face it, man. Listen, what most of us in here have in common is that sometimes we get frustrated. We get frazzled. We get mad. We get angry.

Now, just so you know, beloved, this is exactly what brings us back to Luke chapter 10. Right? Because watch what's happening in this passage of Scripture that we're going to be walking through for the next few minutes.

Like, we find this woman named Martha who has this moment where she sort of loses her cool. She gets mad. She gets frustrated. She gets flustered. She gets upset.

And here's what's so fascinating, man. In her moment of frustration, in her moment of anger, in her moment of losing her patience, Jesus has a very powerful lesson that he's going to teach this lady Martha.

So let me show you what I'm talking about, family. Luke chapter 10, verse 38.

Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."

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."

So here's the thing, family. Here's the thing. Martha is doing a good thing. She's serving Jesus, and that's a good thing. But she's doing it in the wrong way. She's doing it with resentment in her heart.

And Jesus is trying to teach her that there's something more important than just serving. There's something more important than just doing good things. And that is sitting at his feet and listening to him.

And that's the main point of this story. It's not that serving is bad. It's not that serving is wrong. It's that there's something better. There's something more important. And that is being with Jesus and hearing from Jesus.

And that's the main thing. So, family, let's not allow good things to become bad things by making them the main thing. Let's prioritize our relationship with Jesus above all else.

Let's make time to sit at his feet and listen to him. Because even a good thing can become a bad thing when it becomes the main thing.

So, let's not be distracted by serving or any other good thing. Let's focus on the one thing that is necessary, being with Jesus.

And when we do that, we'll find that it is the good portion that will never be taken away from us.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this reminder that our relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. Help us to prioritize our time with you above all else. Help us to sit at your feet and listen to your teaching.

And may our hearts be filled with gratitude and worship as we do so. In Jesus' name, amen.