Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. And we believe that Jesus ought to be king even over the holidays. And so it just kind of brings the whole thing full circle.
We just got. You know, two months, less than two months left in 2025, and then we have another new year ahead.
So I know you'll enjoy this song. And so, a video he'll sing, and then I'll come right up here after that. And then we'll let everybody eat and have a good time of fellowship tonight. Thank you for being here. Lord, we love you.
We give you praise and glory for it all. Lord, our. Our purpose tonight is Just to do something out of the ordinary so that we can learn to do something out of the ordinary, and that's to stop and take time for you. And Lord, I pray that you would help us just get a good philosophy with the next two months. a biblical philosophy.
And Lord, we want to keep The main things as our priority, the important things, the meaningful things, the needed things. Lord, these next two months, there's a whole lot that's going to come at us and try to take our time. And so, Lord, I pray you would give us some perspective tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Okay. Seriously?
Okay. Oh. Where is it all going? Please, please, please. Why is this happening?
It's twelve seventy-eight. All right, let me get you uh no, buddy. No, no, buddy, no, no, no, buddy. Hey, honey, are you taking things for granted again? Yeah.
I guess so.
Alright, well is there anything you can do about that? Because we really need to do some laundry. Lord, we Please give me a more grateful heart. Buddy! My car!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I hope that after 2025, I know we spent a lot of the first part of the year talking about it, but I hope that you do remember. and do believe that the king is coming. And we are not to wait till he comes to surrender. We are to surrender now.
And that one part about take my mind. That's what we want to talk about tonight. Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, we'll pray in just a second. And thank each of you and all of you for being here.
It's good to have our children and our teens and everybody in here together. I'm so thrilled that we have all the ministries that we have, but I also enjoy when we can just all be together too. And because of that, I promise you, parents, we're going to keep it brief, all right? I know it's a lot to ask. And I want to take tonight a familiar passage that I have really preached on a couple of times.
Let's look at Luke chapter 10. Let me make this statement. As the holidays approach, Our schedules can fill up. but our souls can empty out. if we're not careful.
And um We have a lot going on here at this church. There's some churches that have more going on than we do, some have a lot less going on than we do, but we have a lot as a church, and we're doing a lot. And our schedules can fill up. My schedule sure fills up extremely fast. But I have found that sometimes the more my schedule fills up the the easier it is for my soul to empty out.
And so, Lord just laid this on my heart Friday, that this is just what we need to do. As a body of believers, let's just stop. We got Thanksgiving come up just a couple weeks. And I know how things hit. And so let's just get a perspective that we need to have.
Luke chapter 10, you know the story of Mary and Martha. I know you're very familiar with it, but there's some things that I want to talk about tonight that I've not necessarily shared. out of this passage. Look at verse 38.
Now it came to pass as they went that he, meaning Jesus, entered into a certain village. And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet. and heard his word. But Martha, was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care?
that my sister hath left me to serve alone. Bid her, therefore, that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha. Thou art careful and troubled about many things, but One thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part.
which shall not be taken away from her. Let me make this real clear here at the end. If you're not careful, you can read this verse and kind of think. Jesus says, but one thing is needful. And he says, And Mary hath chosen that good part.
And if you're not careful, you'll think, oh, so that means that. Martha chose the bad part. And that's just not the case. Serving is not a bad thing. Preparing and wanting to have something right for somebody is not a bad thing.
What Jesus is saying here is that Mary chose the part. That would never be taken away from her. Martha chose a part that was temporary. But Mary chose something that was eternal. And we want to talk about that tonight.
Let me make some statements, introductory, and give you some quick principles, and we'll let you go tonight. The holidays can be a holy time. or they can be a hurried time. We fill our calendars, clean our houses, cook our meals, buy our gifts. But we often neglect the guest.
Who matters the most? Martha, and I just wrote some things down. I just was kind of making some observations here. Martha, opened her home to Jesus. But Mary opened her heart.
What a difference. This story reminds me and it reminds you. that what matters most it Christmas and Thanksgiving. isn't what's on the table. It's who's at.
The table. Y'all agree with that? Say amen. You say, well, so Jesus too, but. You know, let's not forget that the people sitting around our table at Thanksgiving.
are way more important than what's sitting on the table. Let's pray. Lord, I love you. Thank you for all that you've done. Give us perspective tonight.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Making room. for what really matters. I want you to notice, number one, in this story, we see the challenge of a distracted heart. And that's what holidays can do to us. And I'm not talking bad about holidays.
I'm a holiday guy, I love it. I don't know if I like Thanksgiving better or Christmas. They're both kind of really even. The one thing that made it better is that Christmas you got presents. Thanksgiving I got more food, so it kind of evened out.
But I love the holidays, but I also know how the holidays can distract. from what the holidays are actually about. Verse 38, if you'll notice on here, it says, Martha received him into her house. And then in verse 40 it says, But Martha was cumbered about much serving. The challenge of a distracted heart, when you and I are distracted, there's some things that can show up in our heart.
I want you to notice, number one, I want you to see her good intentions. Verse 38, it says that she received him into her house.
Now think about who him is. She invites Jesus. into her house. Martha loved Jesus. She wanted everything to be right.
And I would imagine that most of you ladies here that like to host and Maybe pride yourself that you have the family in for Thanksgiving and Christmas and whatever the case might be. There is nothing sinful about serving, and there is nothing wrong with wanting things to be as nice as you can. It's literally your way to say, I love you. And you need to understand that in Martha's terminology here, what she was doing was kind of her way. to let Jesus know.
That I love you. I want you to come to my house. I'm going to be hospitable. I want to prepare a nice meal. There's nothing wrong with the holidays wanting to be perfect.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to make the perfect meal for Thanksgiving, ladies. We are all for you on that, okay? Do a great job at it. We enjoy that. There's nothing wrong with having a nice Thanksgiving meal.
Just make sure there's marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. Other than that, you know, there's nothing wrong with all that. There's nothing wrong with wanting to try to get the gifts that your kids have actually asked for. Um I grew up in the day of the JCPenney catalog. Or the Sears catalog.
How many of you used to do that with your kids years ago? We didn't have online all that. And my mom would hand me a catalog, and she would conveniently rip out. about 30 pages. That's all I'm going to say.
That's all I'm going to say about that. And you kids, like, what? You just talk to your mom and dad about that later. They'll explain that. And my job was to take a pin and circle anything that I thought I would like.
The understanding was you're not going to get all that. But we want to know what you like, and so I just used to get excited about that JCPenney catalog. Nothing wrong with getting the tree decorated and nothing wrong with putting your Christmas lights out. Putting your decorations, nothing wrong with wanting everything to be just right. They are good.
intentions. I want you to notice, secondly, her growing irritation. In verse 40 it says, but. Martha was cumbered. about much serving.
Now listen to me, serving wasn't the problem. It was being cumbered. That was the problem. Serving had taken over. Serving had gotten to the point that now it wasn't even serving, it was work.
It was obligation. It was an irritation. Because that serving had led to being cumbered, there was a problem. There's an imbalance there. And this is what I want to challenge each of us as the holidays come up.
If we're not careful, there can be an imbalance. I want to remind you tonight, and please understand these statements. And don't think, you know, some of them will sound like, hey, I'm kind of talking to the wives or the moms here, but we're talking to all of us. But for sake of understanding, I want to remind you that it doesn't really help anybody at the house. When we grow frustrated, Because we're so busy trying to do so many things to make our family happy that we make them miserable in the process.
No, my mom Just went to the ump degree for holidays. But there are some holidays that I was on eggshells. Dad and I just didn't know what to do because mom was so overworked that she was frustrated and got angry, and it was tension. And she was doing it for us to have a good holiday. And everybody's scared half to death.
You don't want to make mom mad. She's at her tipping point. And then we sit down and she goes, be happy! Like, okay.
Now it's time to make these good memories. And I want to remind you, it kind of defeats the purpose if we get so burned down, so frustrated. Moms, I do want you to know that most families would just rather have a pleasant mom than a perfect meal. I just want you to remember that. Don't work yourself to death.
I know you know we love it. But we love you more. When priorities slip, even good people can get frustrated. She had a growing. irritation.
This serving had just become too much. I want you to notice number three: her guarded interjection. She says, Lord. I mean, what did he do? She asked him to come to the house.
He comes to the house. And now she's calling him out. Lord, dost thou not care? And she's getting ready to give some things like, you know. Basically, and we're going to find in a minute.
She says, do you not care that my sister's not helping me? You not care that I'm doing this all by myself? But this is just frustration. She had no business getting mad at Jesus. Uh-oh.
Does that not happen at the holidays? Do we sometimes get so stressed out that We're just mad. And we're getting mad. At people Sometimes in home, sometimes at work.
Sometimes at church. that really haven't done anything wrong. And we're taking it out because we're just frustrated. Jesus never asked for a certain kind of meal. I don't find anywhere in the passage that Jesus said, Hey, Martha, would you let me come over and make me a meal?
No, she. Brought him. She wanted him to come. He didn't ask for a certain meal. He didn't ask for a certain meat.
He didn't ask for a certain size. He didn't ask for it to be a certain kind of meal. And can I be honest with you? Jesus had much more important things on his mind than what he was going to eat for supper. But she had gotten so burdened down and busy and was frustrated so much that she had convinced herself that nobody cared.
And even worse, she had convinced herself that Jesus didn't care. And I have watched people in the holidays get so overworked that they just think, hey, my husband doesn't even appreciate it. My wife doesn't even appreciate it. I've seen dads get to the point, man, I work all year and I pay for all these Christmas gifts and the kids don't even seem to appreciate it. And mom will make a meal and stay up all night for Thanksgiving and put a meal and nobody even says thank you.
And extended family comes over and then they complain that the green beans were a little bit dry and this, this, that. And you get to the point, nobody appreciates this. It can happen to us. And I just want to I want us to stop before the holidays, and I want to encourage you. that this is not what the holidays are about.
I want you to notice next her grumbling isolation. She says, My sister hath left me to serve alone. Man, now she is all alone. in the field of martyrdom. Trying to make a meal.
Isolated, and can I tell you that holidays, if we're not careful, we can get real isolated. Want you to notice next in verse 40 we see her And I love this. I termed this this way, her grasping instruction. It's like she's just, she's reaching out for something. Notice what she says in verse 40.
She looks at Jesus and says, bid her, therefore, that she help me. It's like this frustration finally bubbles over, and get somebody to help me. Let me just say this. Martha represents the hurried heart. That's cluttered.
with all kinds of things. She teaches us that activity is not the same as intimacy. Activity is not the same as intimacy. You can be active in a church serving God. It doesn't mean that you're intimate with God.
This holiday season, beware of distraction. Don't let the preparation steal your peace. Don't let serving others make you too tired to sit with Christ. I want to challenge you, our families need moments of stillness. of quietness.
of worship. Together. Number two, I want you to see the choice of a devoted heart. We see the challenge of a distracted heart, but notice. We go to Mary now.
Notice the choices that were made from a devoted heart. Look at verse 39, and it'll be on the screen. It says, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And notice what Jesus says at the end, but one thing is needful in verse 42: and Mary hath chosen that good part. Notice first her posture, she was sitting.
Now, Mary wasn't sitting because she was lazy, she was sitting because she was listening. The word Sat here. Literally Means in the Greek, it means humility, it means rest, it means attention. This means physically she set aside everything to stop. And do this.
In the middle of all that needed done, and by the way, there will always be things that need to be done. Can I have an amen right there? The list will never stop, but she physically stopped so that she could mentally stop. She physically sat at Jesus' feet. It means she took the time to stop.
I'll say it this way. Mary just couldn't think of anything that was more important. than stopping for Jesus. And there were things that needed to be done. She was aware that there was a meal that needed to be cooked, but.
Nothing to her was more important than this moment. And I want to challenge you. That sometimes, as a family and an individual at a holiday season, you're just going to have to stop. And that's what tonight we wanted. Just for a few minutes, we just want you to stop.
And we want to make sure that we are mentally, spiritually, physically prepared. For the next two months. Notice second, not just her posture, but her priority. She was hearing. It says that she sat at Jesus' feet, but notice there's a separation of the two.
She sat at Jesus' feet, and then the Bible makes it clear that she also heard his word. And what that means is, Mary made time to hear from the Lord. The Bible says the word was made flesh. But in this passage, sitting is stopping physically, hearing is stopping emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. It means that she did not just stop her body, she stilled her mind, she stilled her soul, and she said, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and I'm going to open up my heart and my mind, and I want to hear what He has to say.
Let me just say, she focused her attention, she captivated her mind on what Jesus had to say. And you're not going to stop to hear if you don't first stop to sit. Worship is never wasted time. It's the wisest investment of time. I want you to notice number three, her portion.
So, what does she get?
Well, we call it the good part. That's what Jesus called it here. He says, Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken. Oh wait, that means this: meals will end, gifts will fade, decorations will come down, and don't we know? Everybody says, Well, I got to get those Christmas decorations out.
That is not near as bad as taking them down. That is the hardest work there is. It's depressing. There's always going to be something. That stuff's going to end.
But time spent with Christ lasts forever. And families, I'm going to challenge you this year to choose that good part. It's all needed. But this is the good part. It's something that you're going to have to choose.
A choice has to be made. And I'm asking you to make it now before the holiday rushes in. It means this: not just more stuff, but more substance. in your life. When the holidays are done, my prayer is that each of us can look back and feel that we chose the good part this year.
That we made time for the good part, that we had the right priorities, that we made the most out of our holiday season, and we got the most out of our time with our families, that we didn't spend so much time doing for that we didn't have time to spend with. That eventually creates resentment. and distance. During the holidays, school is out many times, and sometimes there's days off of work for some of you.
So choose wisely how you use that. Ephesians 5:15 says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Make a wise choice here, redeeming the time. Because the days are evil. And can I just give you just a couple quick things I just want to challenge you with this?
this holiday season. Just practical commitments I want you to think about. Number one: would you consider worship faithfully? Determine that in the holiday season, nothing's going to get in the way of your worship. And I believe nothing ought to get in the way of you getting to God's house.
I believe of all times of the year, what are we celebrating? We're celebrating Christ. And of all times we've ought to be faithful to church, it's during this time. You just decide that I'm going to worship faithfully. Number two, you need to rest purposefully.
You're going to have to be mindful when things are getting out of hand, when people are getting too busy. Listen, I have three boys, and over the years, man, we have this time of the year is holidays. It means what kind of gifts are you going to get for Christmas, and what are you going to do for the holidays? And in the middle of all this, we have basketball games about three out of every five days. And you're running here and running there, and schedules are made for you, and you run out of time, and you get stressed out to where you barely even eat supper together.
And when you do, it might be at a McDonald's or something like that. And I'm saying that this year you need to worship faithfully, you need to rest purposefully. Number three, you need to schedule wisely. Just literally make it an object. that I'm going to be wise about how I schedule our time for our family this year.
Listen, November the 23rd is our Sunday before Thanksgiving, and we. We have a big Vision Sunday coming on that day. I have a number of things we're going to share with you about Projects we're going to do here with Christmas offering and things. Hopefully, we're going to give maybe a sneak peek of. Hey, what God might could do here as we try to expand.
And we're going to have a, we're baptized, we're going to have a big Sunday, but we're not having church Sunday night. We're not doing any services during the week on Thanksgiving. You can criticize us if you want to. We're going to have a good long service on Sunday morning. It's a big day for us.
But I'm just going to be honest with you, as a pastor, I'm determined to try to schedule wisely, even when it comes to church.
Next, number four, I want you to give intentionally. Give intentionally. Determine how you're going to Spend wisely this year. And I'm just talking about your gifts and clearance shopping as opposed to go to the back of the store. By the way, most women don't realize this.
Start in the back of the store shopping. You walk to a store, go to the back. It used to be people went to malls, nobody goes to malls anymore. And I had to teach my wife this when we first got married. She had never heard of this concept.
And the back is where the clearance items are, okay?
So you go back there, see what's there first. The closer you get to the front, the more expensive it goes. All right, that's just a free tidbit. All right, men, you're welcome.
Okay, but it means this Christmas, hey. God, what do you want me to give in the Christmas offering? God, you want me to help a family this year? God, how can we get involved in helping in some charity that give intentionally and last love? sacrificially.
So let me share this as we close. Number three, the change. of a divided heart. Verse 41, Jesus uses these two words: Martha. Martha, that can't be good.
That's never, Martha, Martha. I want to give you a compliment. It never works out that way. That that Name twice. kind of stems correction.
We see first her worry. He says you're careful. about many things. Full of care, anxious, overburdened. Her mind was full of menus, not the master.
Her mind was full of her menu that day. instead of the master. Busyness made her forget the blessing of his presence. Number two, we see her weariness. He says, You're careful and troubled.
This troubled about many things, literally in the Greek means overwhelmed, restless, agitated. Listen to me, the same thing that was meant to bring joy became a job. And that's what the holidays can be for us if we're not careful. What we are doing to try to bring joy can turn into a job. We notice thirdly His warning.
She was weary, she was worried, and Jesus says, Martha, Martha. One thing is needful. Busyness. without balance. leads to burnout.
without blessing. Busyness without balance leads to burnout. without blessing. And I close with this, the contentment of a devoted Heart. The contentment of a devoted home, a devoted heart.
He says, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, notice, which shall not be taken away. from her. Notice these two things. Jesus said, first there's the needed thing. And he says, second, there's the good part.
The time your family spends with God can never be taken away. It's eternal. You're going to forget gifts, meals, decorations. But the time you and your family talk about Christ, you will have for an eternity. And I just want to remember during these holidays, that's the needed thing.
Notice, secondly, the good part. Why did he call it the good part, sitting there hearing his word? Because it was eternal. It had eternal weight. Jesus was teaching us a lesson here.
You see, Jesus would eat this meal, but the next day he would eat another meal. It was a temporary thing. It was a needed thing and a necessary thing. But it wasn't Eternal. Eating a meal is important, but it's just not going to last forever.
The time that Mary spent with Jesus would last way beyond this meal.
So, what Martha did was important, but it wasn't eternal. And what we want to make sure is during the holidays that we don't just do the things that are important to us. We want to make sure that we do enough things in the holidays that will be eternal with us. One day we won't be here and our kids will have their own kids. We want them to remember those kind of things.
So what am I saying as I close? Just some statements. Make this holiday season about his presence, not... presence. Make the holiday about presence, not presence.
presence. Make it about worship, not worry. Make it about Christ. not chaos. Make it about joy.
instead of judgment. Make it about peace instead of performance. Make it about contentment over clutter. You know, when Jesus came to Bethany, Mary gave him a meal. Excuse me, Martha gave him a meal, but Mary gave him a moment.
Martha filled her table. Mary filled her heart. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina.
You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web. At Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today.
God bless you.
