Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Luke 10, verse 38. As Jesus and
the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem,
they came to a certain village where a woman
named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her
sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet, listening.
to what he taught. But Martha was distracted
by the big dinner she was preparing. She came
to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair
to you that my sister just sits here while I
do all the work? Tell her to come help me. But
the Lord said to her, My dear Martha. In other
translations it says, Martha, Martha. Everybody
say, Martha, Martha, and shake your head. Martha,
Martha. But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha,
you are worried and upset over all the details.
There's only one thing. Everybody say one thing.
There's only one thing worth being concerned
about. Mary has discovered it. It will not be
taken away from her. One thing, one thing was
necessary. You know, the food wasn't the most
important thing to Jesus. It was the most important
thing to Martha. And we really dealt with this
last week, and I hate for you not to be with
us where we're moving from. I love that you're
here today, visiting with us. trying us out,
whatever it is that you're doing. You're welcome
to be a part of our family. We would love for
you to be with us. And if you're just here for
this week, we hope that you're blessed and have
a blessed week and a blessed trip back home.
Jesus said one thing was necessary. Food wasn't
the most important thing. Martha invited Jesus.
She's the one who gave the invitation. She invited
him to come to her home. To spend time with him.
To get to know him. Is what we looked at last
week. But now she's in the kitchen working. She
can overhear maybe just the noise of him talking.
But she's not receiving what Jesus is saying.
And that's the one characteristic of Jesus that
was more pronounced than any other thing of Jesus.
Was his words. I mean, we see paintings and pictures.
We don't know what he actually looked like. We
don't know what color his eyes were. I mean,
we know that he was a Jew, so that gives us some
type of look, I guess. But we don't know. Because
those things weren't the most important things.
The Bible says that every time he talked, people
just were amazed. Just said, wow. Because he
didn't talk like everybody else talked. When
he talked about the kingdom of God, he talked
with authority. It wasn't just a suggestion.
It was with authority when he talked. So Jesus
said there's only one thing that's necessary,
one thing that's needed, one thing that should
not be left undone. And Mary... That's what she
did. The necessary thing, the needed thing. I
think this comes out of New King James where
it says, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his
word. Everybody say one thing. Everybody say,
sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word. Now, Jesus
was speaking, but Martha was distracted. Mary
was not distracted. Mary sat at his feet and
heard his word. When you look up that word in
the Greek, in the Koine Greek, that word heard,
here's the full definition of that word, to hear,
to listen. Now, it's easy to hear. You can't
help but hear if your ears work, right? You can't
help but hear. But to listen, it takes some effort.
Most of the husbands are laughing now. I don't
know why. Most of the wives are thinking that,
yeah, selective hearing. There it goes again.
Now, we can hear you. The key is listening. Everybody
say listen. I had a friend, and J .T. was his
road manager for a while. He would always say,
While he was preaching, he would always say,
if you're listening, say, I am. Because when
he felt like people were daydreaming and wandering
off, and, you know, believe it or not, I'm not
just looking at the back wall. A lot of preachers
just stare at the back wall the whole time. I
scan you and look at your face as I'm preaching,
and I can tell if you're listening or not. I
can tell if you're distracted or not. And my
friend Ken would say, if you're listening, say
I am. And that would just kind of shock people.
He would say, I know you can hear me. But if
you're listening, say I am. So Mary wasn't just
hearing, she was listening. She was listening
to understand. This word encompasses both the
physical act of hearing. And the deeper understanding
of what is heard. It's more than just auditory
reception. It's being attentive. So attentive
that obedience follows to what you hear. That
gives us a deeper understanding of what Mary
was doing and what Jesus said was most important.
One thing is most important. Being focused and
intentional. Last week we talked about this.
I hate to re -preach last week's message. There's
a whole lot more to it. You need to hear it if
you haven't heard it. If you were here last week
and you say, if you haven't heard it, get on
the podcast, raise your hand. Just to help all
these other people that didn't hear it. They
need to hear it. But we talked about this. Just
because you're close to someone, it doesn't mean
that there's intimacy. You can live in a house
with the same person. And unless you have focused
attention, you're not experiencing intimacy.
Same way with God. You can visit. You can come
to church on Sunday morning and visit and just,
well, I did my religious duty, but if you don't
have focused attention, you're going to miss
out. One thing is necessary to spend focused,
intentional, Or we could even put in the word
intimate time with God and receive a word from
Him. Receive a word. Receive revelation. Receive
spiritual wisdom from Him. Here's the deal. We
can go through the mechanical activities of praying
every day. You can say, okay, it's 2025. I'm
going to pray every day. We can pray every day.
You can read your Bible every day. We have a
Bible reading plan where, as a congregation,
we're encouraged to read through the New Testament
every year by reading five chapters a week, one
chapter a day, Monday through Friday. You can
do that reading plan just going through the motions.
You can attend a worship service or, as people
say, go to church. You can do that every week.
Perfect attendance, 52 weeks this year. You can
do all those things and still not experience
God's presence or hear His voice. And that's
sad. That's sad. To just go through religious
activity and never really connect to God and
experience Him. What's the difference? What's
the difference? Everybody say, want to. You've
got to have a want to. You've got to have a desire.
You've got to have a desire, just like the psalmist
said, as the deer pants for water. Have you ever
been really thirsty? I mean, where you've got
cotton mouth, and if you try to spit, there's
no spit there. We called that spitting dust when
I was... It's just dry. You can get so thirsty
for a drink of water. You just got to have it.
That's the only thing that's going to quench
your thirst. That's a desire that we need to
have for God, for the living God. So we have
to have a desire. And chances are, if you're...
you know, praying and reading your Bible and
coming to church, you most likely have some kind
of desire for spiritual things. What you may
be missing is expectation. Expectation. You may
be a person that's never been told that God will
meet you at the level of your expectation. If
you came this morning really expecting nothing,
you're probably going to leave with nothing.
And this is the thing. I mean, you can sit right
beside a person and they can walk out saying,
I didn't get anything out of that today. And
you could be so full you're about to bust. Two
people seated in the same room. One of them had
a different level of desire and expectation from
the other one. God will meet you at the point
of your expectation. I want to bring a new story
to us today in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel was a young
boy. His mom was older and she didn't have a
child. She made a promise to God. She says, God,
if you'll let me have a child, I'll give him
to you. And she really meant it. A lot of people
have said that prayer before, but she really
meant it. When he got to be about four or five
years old, she even took him to the tabernacle
to live at the tabernacle. Sure, she would go
visit him and things like that, but when she
said, I'm going to give you to God, I mean, she
gave him to God. She kept her end of the deal.
Let's pick up in chapter 3. Meanwhile, the boy
Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli, who
was the priest. Now in those days, this is a
sad statement right here. Now in those days,
messages from the Lord were very rare. And visions
were quite uncommon. That's sad. That's sad.
Most likely due to a lack of desire and a lack
of expectation. One night, Eli, who was almost
blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God
had not yet gone out. And Samuel was sleeping
in the tabernacle near the ark of God. Suddenly,
the Lord called out to Samuel. Samuel. Yes, Samuel
replied. What is it? He got up and ran to Eli.
Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't call you,
Eli replied. Go back to bed. So he did. Then
the Lord called out again. I wish I had a big
booming radio voice right here. Samuel. Samuel.
Maybe that's better. Again, Samuel got up and
went to Eli. Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't
call you, my son. And I can almost think that
Eli might be a little frustrated because he's
old and he's trying to get his beauty sleep.
He's like, I didn't call you. Go back to bed.
Samuel did not get to know. did not yet know
the Lord because he had never had a message from
the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time.
And once more, Samuel got up and went to Eli.
Here I am, did you call me? Then Eli realized
it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he
said to Samuel, go and lie down again. And if
someone calls again, here's what you need to
say. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.
So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came
and called as before, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel
replied, speak. Your servant is listening. I
want to tell you something. The Holy Spirit of
God in you desires to speak to you. We're supposed
to be led by Him. We're supposed to walk with
Him. We're supposed to follow Him. And He's speaking.
He's speaking. If you're in Christ today, the
Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Now, it was a
long time before anybody told me that. So I guess
I could see myself during those years as like
Samuel. I mean, God's trying to talk to me. He's
trying to lead me. He's trying to direct my path.
He's trying to help me. He's my helper. He's
my comforter. He was trying to comfort me during
times when I needed comfort, and I didn't know.
I didn't know. Maybe you could be here today,
and you might not know that. I hope you know
that. But I'm telling you today, God, the Holy
Spirit, is speaking to you. Not just every once
in a while. Not just once a month or once in
six months or once a year. With God in you, the
word from God is not a rare occurrence like it
was during this time in the Old Testament. He's
wanting to work in you. Speak to you. But you
have to acknowledge it. He's not just going to
knock you down and say, now listen to me this
time. It's not the way God works. We have to
be sensitive. Because the Bible says His voice
is a still, small voice. And just like Martha,
many times we're too distracted to hear a still,
small voice. We have too much going on, too many
distractions, too many things that we deem more
important, just like Martha did. And those things
may not be bad things. They may be good things.
But we're missing out on the one thing that's
most important, most necessary. See, Samuel heard
God. Samuel heard God. This was the first time
he heard God. He's going to hear God a lot more.
Right? But hearing God led Samuel somewhere.
It led him to becoming. That word, as we were
studying this week and talking, that word becoming
just, boy, it just, it blew up on the inside
of me. And I want you to get that. I want you
to take hold of that. This word from God, he
was in the tabernacle near the Ark of the Covenant,
and God is speaking to him, and that first word
from God led to a lot of words from God that
led to him becoming. Without hearing God, he
wouldn't have become. He became the last judge.
This is right after the book of Judges. He was
the last judge, and I'm not talking about like
a Supreme Court justice. I'm talking about a
military leader is who the judges were. He became
the last judge of Israel. He became the first
prophet of Israel. Now, there have been some
prophets before then, but he's the first prophet
of Israel. And the priest, a priest of God, who
would anoint the first two kings of Israel. And
one of them wound up being a boy, just like he
was a boy when God first spoke to him. We've
got to remember, he's probably not even ten years
old when God's speaking to him. God spoke to
him. And God speaking to him led to his becoming.
Listen. God speaking to you will lead to your
becoming. You're not going to be the last judge
because there's already been one. You're not
going to be the first prophet because there's
already been one. You're not going to be a priest
anointing the kings of Israel. But you can become
who God wants you to become. You can be empowered
to do what He wants you to do, what He's calling
you to do. One word. Everybody say one word.
One word, a revelation from God, can change the
situation that you're facing today. I'm sitting
on that a minute. One word. I've had one word
from God change the situation I was in. I was
in my darkest point of my whole life. In the
middle of the night. It was bad. The darkest
day I've ever faced. And one word from God changed
my situation. I went from not being able to sleep
and turning and tossing and worrying, being overwhelmed
with worry and fear. And one word from God, in
the middle of the night, I moved from there to
peace and sleeping like a baby. One word from
God. One word from God can change the situation
that you're facing today. One word from God can
change your home. One word from God can change
your business. You can consult someone who knows
everything about everything. One word from God
can change your life. The very first time I heard
the Holy Spirit speaking to me, He was drawing
me to Jesus and drawing me to salvation. That
changed my life. There are also times when you've
got one word from God to get prepared. So that
led me on a course of being prepared. One word
from God to go into evangelism. One word from
God to sell our house and move into an RV for
20 years. One word from God to start a youth
conference. Over 5 ,000 people came to Christ
during that conference. One word from God. We
left the comfort where we were in Myrtle Beach
with a free place to live, all utilities paid
for, and the best salary I've ever had. One word
from God to move to Davenport and start a lesson
church without a salary, moving back into the
bus. One word from God. And as a result of that
one word from God, you're here today hearing
that what you need... What's necessary is for
you to have focused, intentional, intimate time
with God to receive a word for Him about what
you're going through and what you're facing.
Because it'll change your life. It's changed
my life so many times. I grew up. I'm a preacher's
kid. And then my mom was a preacher's kid. My
grandfather was a preacher's kid. Boy, I had
an agreement with God that I was never going
to be a preacher. You know what I'm saying? But
God had different plans. One word from God changed
all that. But I grew up thinking that my problem,
you see, I always thought about my problem. You
know, there were people around me that seemed...
to be more spiritually mature than I was. There
were people around me that were talking about
experiencing God, kind of like we're talking
about today. And I would say, I don't even know
if that's possible for me. For me to encounter
the living God in an intimate way and Him speaking
to me, this sounds foreign to me. So I thought
my problem from a lack of spiritual growth, from
me not experiencing the manifested presence of
God and the Word of God, like it coming alive
on the inside of me, I thought my problem, because
I would always fall to temptation over and over
again, kept falling that same temptation. Anybody
know what I'm talking about? And I just went
through that and went through that and went through
that. I thought my problem was due to my... Level
of dedication. You see, I thought I wasn't dedicated
enough. Anybody ever been to a church service
where at the end of the church service they'll
have an invitation and almost every church service
is like, who wants to rededicate their life to
Christ? Is anybody ready to rededicate? Is there
only like three of us who've ever heard that
term before? I would go to camp. And it's like,
who wants to rededicate their life? I'm trying
to be dedicated. I want to be dedicated. So over
and over again, I had this experience of rededicating
and rededicating and rededicating. And I got
to the point that I rededicated so many times
that I think my rededicator wore out. How can
I rededicate more than I've... I mean, a rededicator
wore out. See, it would last for a little while.
It would last for a little while. I'm not saying
there's no benefit to that. It would last a little
while. But in my experience, it never lasted.
And I'd have to rededicate again about a month
or two later. It's time to rededicate again.
Just got to keep rededicating. I'm going to connect
that one necessary thing to where we are. Because
I believe there's a connection. I believe there's
a connection. I didn't need more dedication.
What I needed was some more revelation. I needed
revelation more than I needed dedication. See,
what I needed, what I was lacking was a hearing
with understanding that would lead to my becoming.
I'm going to say that again. What I was lacking
was a hearing with understanding that would lead
to my becoming. In Ephesians, Paul prays. He
prays a prayer. And this is what he's praying
in his prayer. He's praying that the followers
of Christ in Ephesus, Would receive revelation.
He didn't pray that they would be more dedicated.
He prayed that they would receive revelation.
Spiritual wisdom. Understanding from God. That
would lead to their becoming. Here we go. I want
to read the text. Y 'all got to listen faster
because we're still going to be doing baptism.
So y 'all got to listen fast. How many of you
know I could probably preach until about 2 this
afternoon? It wouldn't bother me a bit. But your
fanny wouldn't handle them seats that long. Ephesians
1 .15 Ever since I first heard of your strong
faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's
people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking
God for you. I pray for you constantly. Now let's
listen to this prayer. Here's what Paul was praying.
Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to give you something, to give you spiritual
wisdom and insight. Not more dedication. Spiritual
wisdom and insight. Why? So that you may grow
in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts,
will be flooded with light so that you can understand
the confident hope. That's good. The confident
hope God has given to those He called His holy
people. Look to the person beside you and say,
that's me. That's me. are His rich and glorious
inheritance. I also pray that you will understand.
Everybody say understand. We're talking about
spiritual wisdom, insight, the eyes of your heart
being enlightened to the truth, right? That you
will understand the incredible greatness of God's
power for us who believe Him. Let me tell you
a little bit about that power. This is the same
mighty power that raised Christ from the dead
and seated him in the place of honor at God's
right hand in the heavenly realms. That's some
power right there. It's more power than the nuclear
plant. Can't raise anybody from the dead with
nuclear power, can you? Now he, Jesus is far
above any ruler or authority or power or leader
or anything else. Not only in this world, but
also in the world to come. God has put all things,
everybody say all things. God has put all things
under the authority of Christ and has made Jesus
head over all things for His personal benefit.
Somebody help me out. Don't go along with it
if I'm not telling you the truth. God put Jesus,
He put all things under His authority. He's the
head over all things for your benefit. Everybody
say, for my benefit. I mean, if you're in Christ.
If it's the benefit of the church, that word
church means called out ones. That's a direct
definition from the Greek. It's called out ones.
You're called out one. So Jesus is an authority
over everything for your benefit. And guess what?
In the church, everybody say, that's me. In the
church is his body. It is made full and complete
by Christ. The anointed one is what Christ means.
Who fills all things everywhere with himself.
That was Paul's prayer. And I want to challenge
you. Starting this week. And I'm going to challenge
you to continue. I'm going to challenge you to
pray this prayer for yourself. Make this request
to God for yourself every day. Every day before
you pray. Every day before you pick up your Bible.
Every day. Somebody say every day. If you want
the Word of God to come alive to you, if you
want to experience Him, if you want this spiritual
wisdom and insight and understanding, if you
really want to accomplish this one thing that's
most necessary to sit at His feet and to hear
and to understand and to apply, I want to encourage
you to pray this prayer. I double -dog dare you
to pray it. Every day. If you do, and if you're
consistent, I can't make you do it, and I can't
make you consistent, but I promise you, the Word
of God is going to be different to you. It's
going to come more alive to you if you'll do
it. And you might say, well, Dean, didn't you
tell us that we're not beggars? And when we come
to God, we just shouldn't beg. It shouldn't be,
oh God, please. Please, God, please. It's part
of this series too, and we're going to continue
and talk about that. But you're not a beggar.
If you're in Christ, you're not a beggar. You're
a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
You're not a beggar. I used to pray, and when
I prayed, it's like I was begging God. We're
not beggars. God's Word gives us great and precious
promises that deal with every part of our life,
so we come boldly before the throne of God and
say, God, this is what you said. This is what
I believe, and this is what I receive. That's
the way believers pray. Not as beggars. You might
say, but you told me to pray this every day.
Well, the Bible says, Jesus said in Matthew 7,
7, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and
you will find. Knock and it will be opened to
you. But that's... It's actually saying this,
Ask and keep on asking. Now that kind of sounds
like a beggar, right? Ask and keep on asking.
Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.
That's the tense in the original language. And
it will be open to you. For everyone who asks,
receives, and he who seeks, finds, and to him
who knocks, it will be open. Somebody say, that's
me. See, we ask and keep on asking. We seek and
keep on seeking. We knock and keep on knocking.
Not that we're begging. but because we have received
what we've been asking and we know that there's
more. There's more spiritual wisdom. There's
more insight. There's more revelation from God.
Hallelujah. For those of you visiting, that's
my amen button that the church gave me for my
birthday. I think we just needed some more amens
than we were getting at that moment. We ask and
keep on asking because we've asked before and
we've received before. Hallelujah. I put this
into our words. The same prayer that Paul prayed
for the church in Ephesus. If you want to take
a picture of it, you can. I actually have 40
pieces of paper. 39. I think my wife got one.
I think Ganna got one. 39 pieces of paper. And
if we run out, I'll bring some more next week.
But I want you to take this prayer. It's got
Ephesians. It's got the verses that we just read.
And then it's got the prayer put in our words,
praying to God. It's back on the middle of that
back table. I encourage you to begin to pray
this. Father, I ask you for spiritual wisdom.
I ask you for revelation. I ask you for insight
so that I can grow in my knowledge of you. I
pray that my heart will be flooded with light
so I can understand the confident hope that you've
given me. I want to know. I want to understand.
I want to take hold of the incredible power and
authority you have made available to me. The
same power that raised Jesus from the dead, you've
made that available to me. The same power that
seated him in heavenly places, you've made that
available to me. And I want to know it, understand
it, and take hold of it. Jesus, you're in authority
over all things. You're the head. I'm part of
your body. I'm in you. And you're in me. So all
the things of this world, I declare all the things
of this world are under your feet and under your
authority, and because I'm your body, that means
they're under my feet too. Somebody smile. Some
of you just choked. Some of you just choked a
little bit right there. If he's the head and
we're the body and everything's under his feet,
Is it not under your feet if you're the body?
Come on. It's time that the things of this world
keep beating us up and beating us down. All the
things of this world are under His feet and under
my feet too. So I ask you, reveal to me who I
am in you. Reveal to me. All that you've made
available to me, all that I have in you, Jesus,
reveal that to me. Amen. You see, I improvised
a little bit. I write it one way and then I write
it another way. The main thing is you're not
just reading a piece of paper. Don't say, Jesus
is in authority over. Just use that as a guide
to pray. Ask God for these things. I'm going
to tell you, it's going to help you. I don't
care where you are today. It's going to help
me. It's going to help you. Whether you're spiritually
above me or spiritually behind me, we're all
on this course together. And it's going to help
us. It's going to help us. And when we receive
this word from God, and when we take hold of
it, when we understand it, when we have this
insight, when we have this revelation, when we
have this spiritual wisdom and we begin to apply
it, it's going to work towards our becoming.
It's going to work towards our becoming. Let's
pray. God, I thank You. Thank You for Your Word.
Help us take hold of it with joy today. Help
us to be doers of Your Word. Not just hearers
only. I pray that Your Word would be planted
into our hearts. And it will find good soil.
Not soil that's distracted and can't take a hold
of it and it won't be planted in. But the good
soil of our hearts, where the roots will go down
deep and strong, and a harvest will be produced
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