Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical information.
The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus.
Well, good morning church and good morning to everybody streaming online. Welcome to our sanctuary.
That is really loud. Can we turn me down a little bit?
Yeah, just a hair. It's a little overpowering.
I said a little bit, not all the way Tess. Okay.
Yeah, I was catching that reverb myself. So that should be okay.
Alright. I know I'm soft spoken, but I'm not that soft spoken. My goodness.
I know, right? I try not to yell into the mic. You know, I don't want to be one of those guys going, ah, you know.
So well, this morning alone has been pretty busy, has it not? We've had a lot of things going on just to be here.
Things are really getting busy all around, you know, to the season. I think I have something to do with the bird once. I'm not sure.
But you look at everything that's coming up. We've got Halloween coming up later on this week. We've got Veterans Day.
We've got Thanksgiving. We've got Christmas, New Year and everything else that's in there.
Whatever made up, holidays on top of that. I don't know, but I mean, it's just this, that, the other.
And I feel like I need a list just for what I'm talking about now. My goodness. It's a lot of stuff.
But it's all coming at its full speed. It's going real fast.
And, you know, that doesn't even include taking into account work, you know, or people going to school or, you know, just our daily lives in general.
I mean, there's a lot piling up in there. There's a lot that we have to deal with and contend with, you know, going to the grocery store.
So it's very important that we prioritize things in our lives. All right.
A lot of us, we like to make lists. We like to, you know, talk things through with our significant others, our families.
You know, it's basically kind of doing a little early triage, if you would, right, to get things in order. What's the most important?
You know, triage, you know, is it red? Is it black? And so on and so forth.
So, you know, it's a big thing. Haddon Robinson shared an old recipe for rabbit that started out like this.
First, catch the rabbit. He went on to say this about the person who wrote the recipe.
The writer knew how to put first things first. That's what we do when we establish priorities.
We put the things that should be in first place in their proper order.
Catch the rabbit. I kind of feel like I should have said that like Homer Fudd. Catch the rabbit.
We're not so different, though. You think about we all have things that we do, even just getting up in the morning.
We have our routines for me, for example, I get up and I'm kind of for the first hour or so that I wake up grunting like Tim Allen,
whereas, you know, my wife, she wakes up and she chippers a squirrel and ready for her coffee and yoga.
I'm just wanting my shower, you know, but we all have our priorities.
That's just an example. You know, everybody has different things. Humans are creatures of habit.
We're all creatures of habit. We all have things that we want to do in a certain way we want to do them in.
But, you know, and some of these things that we do are good. Some of them are just OK. There's room for improvement, right?
Let's face it, we all have some bad habits. We have habits we need to break, habits that we need to redo or get away from completely.
Right. Some of those habits tend to lead us to sin. Do they not?
So that's something that we need to focus on. You know, and it's like, I know some of you like bad habits. Really? With Christians?
Surely you just. No, I don't. Don't call me surely.
You know, you might have noticed around town we have billboards and signs popping all over. It says breaking bad habits.
It's capitalizing on a certain show that was filmed here. Right.
Same thing. You know, that's just an anti-litering campaign.
I think everybody in here has been guilty at least once or twice of throwing something out the window or dropping something on the ground. Right.
Shouldn't have.
So, you know, it's important. We all get caught up in these things. And when we do, it can be really hard
to break away from them. And it gets really hard to lose sight. We kind of get hyper focused.
Which is even worse when it's a bad habit. When we're doing bad things. When we haven't prioritized properly.
So with that said, let's go ahead. Let's open our Bibles, our Bible apps.
OK, it was working. Maybe.
Either way, let's open up our Bibles, our Bible apps, whatever you're using to Luke 10.
There we go. And specifically, we're going to be looking at verses 38 through 40.
So let's learn a little bit here from Jesus's visit with Mary and Martha. And the word says,
Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into our house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus's feet and heard his word.
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord,
do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.
So step back. Let's look at this for a moment. You know, Jesus and company, you know, he's he's going down the road.
He's got disciples until we don't know how many. It doesn't matter. He's got his crew with him. Right.
And they happen to stop out here at Mary and Martha's. Mary and Martha, of course, are friends.
Later on, we'd see them again when they come to him and Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. Right.
So it's not the not the last time that we'll see them, but they're a pivotal thing.
You know, these are friends of Jesus. These are close friends. These are dear ones. Right.
And as you can imagine, you know, especially for those who knew Jesus and knew what he was about,
knew what was about his ministry. This is exciting. Right.
It's like, oh, Jesus is coming. This is awesome. I'd be stoked. Right.
Like, President's not. No. Put the president on hold. Tell him, take a message. I've got better things to do.
Jesus is right here. He's at the door. Right. You know, so this is this is an exciting time.
You know, this is you gather everybody around in the house.
Hey, guys, make sure your phones are charged. We're going to get some selfies with Jesus.
Posted for everyone to see. Right. It's kind of a thing that we do today.
That's a big thing. You know, and Martha, she knows that this is huge. It is gigantic.
This is big news. So she's doing like a lot of us would do. She's getting busy.
She's cleaning things up. She's tidying things up. You know, she's she's dusting the bookshelves.
She's vacuuming, maybe mopping, you know, lighting a candle or two. Kids, those rooms better be clean when I come in.
And before Jesus gets here, you know what's coming to you. I'll take it out. My chocolate. Right.
Sound familiar. And my house as a kid, it would have been a clog or a wooden spoon.
Yes, I'm calling out mom. That's right.
But, you know, this is this is big stuff. So, you know, she's she's busy.
She's trying to make things presentable. Right.
You know, not only that, but it's not just one guest. It's not just Jesus, but it's everybody who came in tow with them.
So in addition to all the cleaning and everything, she's also cooking. Right.
More than what she normally would. And let's face it, I mean, cooking can already be a chore sometimes. Right.
Especially if you don't like it. If you do like it, that's so much.
But when you have a lot of people coming in, I don't even have to be a lot of people. It could just be a couple of people. Right.
And it's still a big thing to have to cook and to prepare for all these extra mouths.
It's like, do we even have enough of this? OK, what do I have? Let's put this together. What can we make?
Do we need to go out and get more? Right. So there's there's a lot at play here.
And then, well, is there enough to drink? What do we have?
Well, we got water on tap. You know, maybe a juice box in the fridge.
It's like Lazarus, are you back there? I need you to go to Wal-Mart. Right.
Picking up stuff. So she's out there. She's doing all this.
She's trying to make the house presentable. She's trying to cater to her guests.
Make sure everything's in line. There's snacks. There's dinner.
She's breaking out the fine china, you know, maybe throwing out a tablecloth, all this kind of stuff.
And over here is Mary.
Mary is just over here sitting down, you know, crisscross applesauce or whatever they call it now.
And she's just sitting there with Jesus feet. Hey, Lord. So excited to see you. Right.
She's not helping Martha out at all. Martha's getting frustrated.
It's at that point, Martha's going to Jesus. Dad, she's not helping. Maker, help me. Right.
Kind of makes you. Which one's the older one here?
But she is just throwing a fit. This isn't right. I'm doing all this stuff and I'm not getting any help.
I'm not.
You know, that frustration set in. She's she's gotten angry. She's whining.
Now, before we look at what Jesus tells her.
I'm going to have have everybody flip back a few chapters. We're going to go go back to Luke 18.
Luke 18, verses nine through 14.
So Luke 18, verses nine through 14, the word says, He also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised by others.
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with themselves. God, I thank you.
I am not like the other men extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
Right.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
See, in this case, Martha is very much like the Pharisee.
Right.
And by contrast, a lot of us are.
She's tangled up and I got to get this done.
I have guessed this has to happen and this has to happen.
And instead of becoming a joyous event to look forward to and to cherish, it's become very legalistic.
Right.
Her priorities aren't right.
You know, it's very much.
When we go out and we do things and everybody has a certain way you get that Karen in charge of stuff and it's like, no, you have to do this and you have to do it this way when the moon is just above us and the dog's howling three times and we hear the car honking three blocks down.
Right.
It has to be perfect.
And we miss out on so much.
We get caught up in the frustration sets in.
You know, and when we're doing all these things we look at it like hey look at all this good stuff I'm doing.
I'm doing it.
I'm the one who fixed all this up.
I'm the one who prepared this meal.
Look at all this great stuff that's going on, and I did it. It was me.
Can I have that cookie now I've earned it right.
Little bit of entitlement comes along with it, that sense of pride.
That center pride.
And then on the other hand, like, like we started to say she's approaching things from a different angle so we're going to go back now to Luke 10.
And this part right here guys. This is really the most important part of this entire reading with Mary and Martha, it really is.
So, Luke 10 verses 41 and 42 the word says, and Jesus answered her.
Excuse me Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha.
You're worried and troubled about many things.
But one thing is needed.
And Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
It kind of sounds like an episode of the Brady but she does it doesn't it.
Martha Martha Martha.
You know, he doesn't, he doesn't respond the way Martha expects you know she's thinking I'm just going to go to daddy and daddy's going to take care of this.
And he says no.
The most important thing that needs to happen here is being done.
Now we're not going to rob her of that.
She expected one thing and his response is very much like hey you know, I know you have all this stuff on your plate, I know you're busy.
I know that this stuff is important to you.
But you need to step back and to and reprioritize, you need to shift your focus.
You need to take account of what's going on here what's in front of you and figure out what the most important thing is, because it's standing right here.
Now he's not discrediting discrediting her, saying hey, you know, all this stuff that you're doing is garbage, knock it off, right, he's not doing that.
He is very loving here.
He's telling her though that she's going about things the wrong way.
Her intention is good.
But the process that she's doing it in is wrong.
No, I say hey, it's nice you're doing all this stuff.
I can see you've worked really hard.
It looks great. The food smells wonderful. I'm really looking forward to it. But that's not what I'm here for.
It's not what I'm here for.
I didn't come to watch you clean.
I didn't come to watch you cook.
I came here for you.
I came to spend time with you.
I came to further my relationship with you.
I came for fellowship with you because I love you.
And he's telling all of this this.
All the time.
Because we all slip and our priorities aren't where they need to be, are they?
We all fail here.
You know, Mary, she figured it out.
Yeah, things needed to be done. There's some good stuff that was happening in that house. There really was.
However, Jesus is right here.
He's actually come through the door physically.
He's front and center.
Sitting right here in the house.
And she's making sure that this guest, especially, has her full attention.
The cell phone's been put away.
The tablets are charging upstairs, right?
The TV's turned off.
Kids are playing outside, right?
Her full attention.
Jesus and the guest that are with him.
You know, I'm really, you know, in reading this and reflecting on it right now even,
it reminds me a lot of the time I would spend with my Uncle Lanny and my Aunt Susan.
You know, I'd come into town every so often.
I'd stay at their house.
I'd eat their food.
And there's very similar contrast here.
My Uncle, he was a busy man. He had to work. I understood this.
So typically during the day, he'd go off to work.
My cousins would be wherever they were, whether they were in town, out of town, whatever activity.
Sometimes I'd see them, you know, and it'd be good. It'd be great.
My Aunt, on the other hand, was very much like Martha.
She would be busy doing errands, taking care of chores, driving and taking care of this,
driving and taking care of that, and I'd be left alone there at the house, watching TV, playing solitaire.
I'm here for a short time. I don't really get to see her.
I want to spend time with her. I want to get to know this family member better than I do, right?
It's a family member I care about.
But the priority wasn't there.
I didn't get to know her very well. To this day, I still don't.
My Uncle, on the other hand, was very much like Mary.
I'd come to town, other than work, all his other stuff would get put on hold, rescheduled.
He would get off work. He'd get cleaned up, get dressed, tell me, hey, get your shoes on. We're going out.
If he did need to run to do something, you know, grab something at the grocery store or something, guess what?
I was going with him. He just wanted to take a drive. I was going with him.
We were spending time together. We were talking.
He was telling me stuff that he would do with my grandpa, stuff he would do with my dad when they were younger, jokes.
Sometimes not age-appropriate. I'll give him that. That was just him, right?
But it was always a good time. It was something I could look forward to.
All the way to his deathbed.
I got to see him in those last moments, in those last days.
You know, and even at that point, he was able to take that time to tell me he was proud of the path my life had taken.
He was happy to see that I had done something and made it work against the odds, especially at the time that I was doing it.
And it felt good. So very much the priority was different.
And because of that, the memories and the relationship were different.
Two people in the same household, but at completely different ends of the spectrum.
I'd venture to say we probably all have people like that in our families, right? Or at least in our lives.
You know, you go to visit that friend out of state and you're like, no, I'm going to stay in tonight.
There's a ballgame I want to watch.
Others, you know, definitely, you know, they have work, they have their stuff, and things happen.
But it's nice to be acknowledged, right?
This is the same point that Jesus was making to Martha.
Things need to be done.
But he needed to be her priority.
Jesus needs to be our priority.
He needs to be our focal point.
Now, Jesus knew that Martha cared for him. She was just showing it in a different way.
Just as he knew Mary cared for him.
But there is a right way and there is a wrong way.
Let's turn to Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14. So Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14.
And Jesus said, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.
And there are many who go and buy it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.
And there are few who find it.
Jesus is our gate, right?
This is our way to life.
Just like the Pharisees, just like Martha, we get caught up in all this stuff.
We put value, far more value, into things than what they are worth.
We put more time into these things.
We put effort into these things.
We commit things to memory.
We do so much.
And unfortunately we do so at the sacrifice of our time and our relationship with Jesus.
We start doing this stuff and we get proud. Man, we get proud.
It's that old saying, I did my good deed for the weak.
I know I buttered that a couple times.
And that's the way of the world.
This is what the enemy wants.
It's that twist on things between our pride and the things that we ultimately turn into idols.
These are the things that pull us away.
And we don't even necessarily realize that we've created an idol out of all this stuff.
We love it so much.
It makes us so happy for a short time.
Right?
And we start avoiding Jesus.
As time and time goes on, we start getting tied up in these things.
And we stop going to church.
Right?
We stop going to Bible studies and all the different groups and the activities and being around other believers.
That's where that old saying comes, the more you miss church, the less you miss church.
And you miss it less and less.
And so the point that the church and Jesus become a stranger to you.
They become a stranger.
People turn, they walk away, they forget things, and it's less important.
The ballgame takes the priority over Christ.
And with all the good deeds that we pile up, all the stuff that we're focused on, that we think is so wonderful,
we're cruising down that highway to life, and we don't even see the exit.
Narrow as the gate.
We miss the exit completely, just cruise on by, happy as can be, bumping our music, smiling out the window.
Right?
Here's the thing.
This is the stuff, you know, it makes us happy, it makes us feel good.
It makes us feel like the popular kid.
The popular kid, however, is often one of the loneliest because they know they're being used.
Just like a king, people are going to them and trying to see what they can feed off of them, what they can get off of them,
what they can take advantage of, their looks, their stuff, their wealth, certain skills.
Right?
And then as soon as they can no longer get it, they're gone.
They disappear.
But that was my friend.
Were they? Were they? No.
You know, and unfortunately sometimes, you know, things get built up really good.
We see it a lot with actors and athletes.
You know, they're king of the hill for a moment.
They got all this money, all this fame.
And then maybe they're not playing as well anymore.
They have some bad movies.
They're not earning what they used to.
They can't pay what they used to.
They can't have all this lavish stuff and give things away like they used to.
What happens?
All these leeches find someone else to suck the blood off of, right?
And they disappear.
And now here they are living in poverty, trying to figure out where things went wrong and how to restart.
Now, Nicholas Cage is a great example of that.
He had somebody he trusted managing his funds and what happened?
The IRS came after him and it took him decades to get things straight.
He almost went to jail over it, right?
He's a little bit more guarded these days.
I would be too.
You know, when things are going good and things are getting easy, things are coming to us,
you know, life feels good when we're cruising down Cool Street.
It almost feels like we have a lifetime lease.
And like a lot of these celebrities that people fawn after, even if they know they're being used,
you know what, they like that time in the limelight just a little too much.
That pride takes over.
That sin takes over.
They're being herded away from Jesus and may not even know it.
They don't even realize what they're worshiping and often it's themselves.
You know, when it comes to the narrow gate, you know, Jesus, he doesn't want the popularity contest.
He doesn't want to win the popularity contest.
He's not after that.
He's after a real relationship with real friends.
Real friends are family.
These are people you can depend on when you need it.
These are people who are there for you.
And we only have a handful of real friends in life, right?
You go to any church and you see how many people are there, not counting the mega churches.
That's a whole different animal, right?
But, you know, even some of the more popular churches here, and you see how people connect or don't connect.
It's one of the nice things about being believers, right?
We're true believers, kind of like veterans.
We have a connection.
You could just meet them for the first time.
Matter of fact, Brian and I just did yesterday.
There's a pretty fast connection, right?
It's a good time.
And it brings us together.
And that's what Jesus is looking for, a real relationship with people who believe.
He wants us all to sit down like Mary, put all the other stuff to the side, let the noise die down, and just spend time with them.
Grow our relationship with them.
And with that, our love for one another grows.
We already know nobody loves us more than Jesus.
How much more can we love them though?
The more we get to know them, the deeper our relationship is, the more we will.
To truly love one another as friends.
Because remember, he calls us friend.
Not slave.
We don't call him master.
Friends.
As we're adopted into the family, right?
And he's telling Martha and each of us, stop feeling about, come and listen to what I have to say.
Come and talk to me.
I'm right here.
Talk to me.
Tell me what's going on.
Talk to me about your hurt.
Talk to me about your challenges.
Tell it to me about your triumphs.
I want to hear it all.
I didn't come to sit around and watch you cook and clean.
I came here for you.
So stop what you're doing.
Just chill out for a bit.
You know, it's one of those things we also have to keep in mind.
This is where we need to form that relationship.
This is our chance, our one chance to form that relationship with them is what we're here on this earth living this life.
Because when our time here ends and it will end for each and every single one of us, we're going to be standing there before the father and we're going to hear one of two things.
It's either going to be, be gone.
I never knew you.
Or hey, welcome home, friend.
Come on in.
Right?
It's like check out what I prepared for you.
Look at what I've built for you.
Look at all the treasure that has been piled up for you.
Come and meet more of your family.
Meet more of your family.
That's a good feeling right there, right?
People that you know care and love you.
And that's what we'll be surrounded with in heaven.
It's like we focus on God.
We focus on Jesus.
And yes, that's going to be wonderful.
That right there.
I mean that's, that's the enchilada.
We got dessert waiting for us over here.
Maybe an egg thrown on top.
Right?
So you know with that, you know, I caution you.
Wherever you are in your life right now, choose your heart.
Choose your heart.
You know, a life of stuff now.
Or a life of some hardship and relationship.
Waiting for us in eternity.
Time with Jesus.
Time with the Father.
Or a time of torment in eternity.
Look at the big picture and not the small picture.
Choose your heart.
Step back and listen to what Jesus is telling you.
Listen to what he's putting on your heart.
And keep him at the forefront of everything.
Keep him at front and center.
Everything you do, you should be praying before.
And you should be praying after.
And if you have time to pray during, pray during.
But talk to him all the time in everything you do.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank you for another day.
We thank you for bringing us together at your feet.
So we could hear your words.
We're so grateful for the things that you've done in our lives.
And all the things that you continue to do.
We know we struggle. We know we misstep.
We get lost in the day to day shuffle.
And just all the stuff that surrounds us.
All the stuff that's coming at us.
That day to day shuffle.
And we ask that you help us to step back.
And take a look at how we've really been prioritizing things.
And when we're messing up.
We ask that you continue to remind us just how important it is
that you are always there at the forefront of our lives.
How important it is that we depend on you to help us get the first thing first.
To catch that rabbit.
Meaning that we keep you involved in all things and always leading the way.
Help us to prioritize.
Help us to see the things that we're missing that we shouldn't be.
Help us to see the things that we're putting too much value in.
And to move away from those things.
And put them back in their place where they belong.
To let go of the things that you don't want us to hold onto.
And when we leave here.
As we know we live in your love and grace and your mercy.
That as we learn to reprioritize and restructure the things that need to be moved.
That we also adapt and learn how we can continue and how we need to change the ways
that we're pointing the way to you.
And showing your love, your mercy, your grace.
Reflecting the light that is you and us.
To every single person that we come in contact with.
Everyone that we have the opportunity to touch in some way or form.
We love you and we pray all this in the name of Jesus and all his people said.
Amen.
Alright.
Remember you are loved and you are blessed and when you leave here today go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Please like, subscribe and share our podcast on any platform it is that you tune into us on.
If you do have any questions, any prayer requests or would like to know more about our ministry.
You can find us on our website at Be The Light Sanctuary.org or on Facebook at Be The Light Sanctuary.
You can also find how to contact us there whether it's direct message or email.
We look forward to hearing from you all.
God bless.