The One Thing Necessary - Part 2

Welcome to this edition of Power Point with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's evangelism bundle. But first here's the message, The One Thing Necessary, Part 2. Martha, another by the name of Mary. One who lost focus and balance in her life and was therefore filled with anxiety and distraction and trouble and she lost her way. And yet another woman who found faith and chose to live in the power and yes in the peace. Way down in the center of your life, the peace that Jesus gives. So beginning in verse 38 of Luke's Gospel and chapter 10.

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. Martha, who was a woman given to activity, no doubt talented, and devoted to Christ herself, yet she chose activity and work over worship. And as a result she became frustrated and stressed out, critical and angry.

On the other hand, her sister Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus chose the one thing necessary and in this conversation with our Lord Jesus commended her commitment to Him. She had learned that being comes before doing. Now have you discovered that the way you start your day often determines how your day goes? Now if you get up in the morning and you're hustling around and you're hurrying and you're in a bad mood, you're stressed out, you'll spend the rest of the day on a mental edge. But if you start rather than focusing on your problems, and your situations rather than complaining and dwelling on what's wrong in your life, if you will start rather looking to the Lord and finding His grace, finding His peace, you will discover that your day is going to go according to God's way.

And what we do at the beginning of the day certainly impacts and influences how we spend the rest of the day. And if you are going to live an abundant life, I mean an abundant life rather than an overwhelmed life, an overloaded life but rather an overflowing life, then you need to seek God the first thing in the morning. The Psalmist said early, will I seek you? To give God the first part of your day before the stress and the busyness of life comes. Before you think about all the things that you've got to do the rest of that day, you need to take time to spend alone with God. To be quiet and be still and know His presence. Thanking Him for His goodness in your life. Thinking about His love and His grace. Meditating upon His word and building your faith. And when you do that, you are doing what Mary did and that is choosing the good part of life, the good portion of life. You are doing the one thing that is necessary and the one thing of all the things in your world, the one thing that's really going to last.

Jesus Himself said in Matthew 6-33, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you. This is the one thing necessary and when you begin your day by saying, Lord, I love you. Lord, I worship you. Lord, I praise you. Lord, I thank you. Thank you for being a gracious God to me. Thank you for being such a good God and for all of the blessings of life. Lord, I give you my life today. Lord, I love you.

I love you. I'm really talking about, sometimes it's simply being still and quiet before the Lord. For me it's taking the Scripture and reading the Word of God and digesting it and ingesting it or just underlining it or reading a passage of Scripture. Not typically long links or passages of Scripture at this particular time.

But just to let God speak to me. I pray, I meditate upon His promise. Promises like Proverbs 4, 4.18, the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn which shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.

That means every step we take it gets more beautiful and brighter each step of the way. Psalm 84-11, for the Lord our God is a sun and a shield. He gives favor and honor and no good thing will be withheld from them who walk uprightly. I may just take that promise and say, Lord you are my son, you are my shield, you have given me grace, you have given me favor, you have given honor and I know that you want to give every good thing into my life this day.

Thank you for that promise. Or I may quote Psalm 23 verse 6, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Or I may quote the Apostle Paul at Philippians 4, 13, as I get ready for some particular challenge in my life I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You see, just taking time to listen to His Word, this fills my heart with peace and when I do this, my attitude changes, my body recharges, my faith is strengthened and I'm ready to take on anything that day with enthusiasm and power.

One translation, the Phillips translation of Philippians 4, 13 says, I am ready for anything in the power of Jesus Christ who lives in me. Many of you are mentally fatigued and emotionally drained and physically exhausted. Why? Because you're not choosing the better part. You're not putting Christ first in your day.

You're not getting up and meeting Him in the morning. Therefore you're running down. The Apostle Paul tells us that the inner person, the inner life can be renewed every single day. Even though the outward man is failing. Physically it's a fact of life, we are deteriorating. But yet, he says that the inner man can be strengthened and renewed every day. 2 Corinthians 4, 16, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. So you know what some of you need to do is to get your life back in balance. You're more like Martha than Mary. You're distracted with many things. Jesus looked at her and said Martha, Martha.

I don't know about you, but if Jesus called my name a couple of times I'm listening up. Martha, Martha, come on. You're bothered and distracted and now you're critical of your sister here. You're irritable, you're upset, you're agitated, you're anxious. Come on, Martha, Martha. Choose the better part.

Take time for me. Get your life back in balance. You don't have to live on the edge emotionally. You don't have to be cynical and critical, exhausted, running through life, just knocking things over. So what I'm asking you to do, what I'm encouraging you to do is to get up a little earlier in your day, to spend time with God, to start off every day at His feet and begin each day soaking up His Word and His presence. And if you will do this, you're going to get more done in your life, not less. You're going to be more productive, more fruitful.

Because you see you're not going to be wasting time, you're going to be investing your time. You never give God something that He doesn't give you far more back. So if you give Him some time, if you get up as a principle, if you get up and begin your day with Him, then He's going to give you so much more back in your life. When we give Him the control of our day, when we begin each day worshiping Him, then He's going to make sure that every step of the day, all throughout the day, everything is going to be working together for good.

Even the bad things in life, the tough things, the interruptions, the interchanges of life, the intersections of life that come, all of that is working together for good. Is Christ really a vital, necessary part of your life? The word vital means that you can't live without Him. Paul said, Christ is my life. Is He your life?

Is He vital for your life? Jesus in John 15, one of the most important passages for the believer, John 15, talks about abiding in Him. He says, if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you will bear much fruit. So abiding in Christ means to do what Mary was doing.

It means to take time to connect with Him and to stay devoted to Him. And the way we stay strong in life, the way we get more done in life, the way we live in joy and abundance in life is by abiding in Him. This is why I'm saying this is the one thing necessary. It's what Jesus said. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, The One Thing Necessary, Part Two. You have a God-given calling to take the gospel to the world. That's why we've put together a special bundle of resources to help you grow in your love of the gospel and share it with others. This evangelism bundle includes three of Pastor Jack Graham's books, The Hope of Easter, Life Book, and God's Promises for Doubt-Filled Days. This evangelism bundle is our thanks for your gift today.

And thanks to a generous matching grant, your gift today will be doubled. So call now to request your evangelism bundle when you give. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is JackGraham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, The One Thing Necessary, Part Two. It's the one thing necessary. So this isn't take your pick, multiple choice. If you would like to do this, this would be a good idea.

Or if you feel like it or if you get the time, if you can work it in, no. The psalmist said, as the deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God. David said, O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. God, I'm hungry for you.

I'm thirsty for you. And David said one thing I've asked of the Lord and that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and so gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. No wonder David was called a man after God's own heart.

Think about it. The God of creation invites you to spend time with Him. The Almighty invites you into His presence. And if you will be there at Jesus' feet, your life will be filled with His Spirit and you will find there listening to Him and learning of Him wisdom for making decisions and strength to overcome those trials and temptations and you will find forgiveness and grace for your failures in life.

And all you need to do is to do what Mary did, to do the one necessary thing in your life and that is to sit at His feet. Now on a practical note, that means you may need to make some changes in your life and in your schedule. You could start by going to bed earlier the night before or sitting at a clock a little earlier and getting up a little earlier. It may mean eliminating some things that really aren't important, spending time reading material that really doesn't edify you or spending time on the internet or text messaging or emailing. It may mean cutting back on some things that you're doing that aren't important. And on a practical note, find a quiet place in your house. Now I know that may be hard to do sometimes.

But find a quiet place. This all may be a sacrifice and it is a sacrifice in one sense but it will be worth it. And if you are stressed out and maxed out and burned out in life, I can tell you the reason why you're not spending time with Jesus. You're not spending time listening and learning at His feet.

So don't be surprised if you make this commitment to do this that it's going to be difficult and sometimes even demanding. People may not understand. Martha didn't understand Mary's commitment to be at the feet of Jesus. Some may not understand and you'll find all kinds of distractions and interruptions like Mary did. Why? Because Satan doesn't want you to spend time at Jesus' feet. So you start spending time, you get up, I guarantee you the baby's going to cry, the phone's going to ring, your husband will, you know, where's my shirt?

All of those sorts of things are going to happen. So you need to be determined. You need to be disciplined to make this the one necessary thing in your life. Because if I don't spend, if you don't spend time with the Savior, you're going to be running on empty. Your life is going to be barren and stale and I won't be at my best for my family, for my friends, for my job, my influence, my witness. Jesus said you've chosen the better portion, the good portion. One of the Beatitudes, the first, among the first of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled. Are you empty?

Are you hungry for something else, something more in your life? It is by seeking Him, His love, His grace, His righteousness. And when you meet Him the first part of the day, that means that you are welcoming Him into your life. And then during the day when things get hectic, when the pressure piles on, when things don't go in the right direction, you know what you can do? You can just take time out. What I call a blessing break and just remember what God said to you, how God spoke to you. You can acknowledge God's presence once again in your life. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Sometimes it's just taking time out in the middle of the day to acknowledge Him in His presence.

But this means that you must be willing to get aside and to get alone with Him. Now you may be thinking, hey, I'm not the meditative type. You know, I'm more of a Martha. I'm a doer. You know, I like to get things done. I mean five minutes by myself drives me nuts.

Well, if you're like me, a hard charging type A kind of personality, a kind of doer person, then you especially need to do what I'm talking about for the sake of your body, for the sake of your soul. What Jesus tells us here is that Mary was listening to Him. She wasn't doing all the talking. She was sitting at His feet, soaking it in, listening and learning. Sometimes the most powerful times of prayer are just sitting quietly before the Lord. The Bible says be still and know that I am God. And just to open His Word, the Holy Spirit is our teacher.

Say how do you sit? I mean this all sounds a little mystical to me. How do you sit at the feet of Jesus? How do you listen to Jesus today? Well you quiet your soul and your heart and you open God's Word and the Holy Spirit will make His presence real to you. His Spirit will speak to your heart. It's important that you take your Bible and read the Scriptures.

It doesn't have to be a long passage, an extensive reading. But maybe you'd like to take up the motto, no Bible, no breakfast. And that you would feed your soul even before you feed your body. And you will discover if you will spend time taking and meditating, memorizing the Scripture, thinking about the Word of God in your life, the Scripture will be a part of you. God's Word and God's wisdom will begin to live in you. And then when circumstances, you turn a corner and there's a problem, there's a situation, you need an answer, you have questions, you're dealing with a difficulty, maybe some terrible thing, maybe some tragic thing comes along in your life. And when you do, you will discover at that moment many of the Scriptures that you've thought about, many of the Scriptures that you've memorized, those that you've contemplated, those that you've poured into your life. God will give you those when you need them the most. Some people wonder why in the middle of a crisis, a critical moment in their lives, they cry out to God and seem to get nothing.

You know why? It's because they've not cultivated this relationship with Christ and therefore God seems far away. The Word of God, the Bible is called a seed. The seed of the Word of God. So when you ingest the Word of God, when you take in the Word of God, it is like planting a seed in your life and that seed will bear fruit.

It's the one necessary thing. And we get God's attention when we give Him our attention. You honor Him, He will honor you. He will give you strength and blessing and joy and honor. So what I'm asking you to do is to develop and discipline yourself in this holy habit. If you're already having a quiet time each day in the morning with God, then continue in it. Be encouraged in that. Don't give up. Don't be weary in well doing.

But if you've never done this, maybe you're a new Christian, you're a new believer, maybe you've just now come back to the Lord in some way and you don't have this habit in your life. I want to encourage you to make this commitment again, preferably in the morning. You say, can I do this another time?

Yes, you can. But I'm telling you there's something special and something strategic about taking time early in the day. I encourage you to make a definite decision to start. To do the one thing that is necessary. There are hundreds of things that demand our time and our energies every single day, but this is the one thing you need the most. Some of you are like Mary. You love God. You love Jesus. And you often show it by doing things for Him. Working hard.

But you just need to get your life in balance here. And not just do good things, but do the best thing. And when you do, you will live an abundant life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, the one thing necessary part two 3.2 billion people in our world still have no access to the good news of Jesus. And we must do whatever it takes to reach the lost with the hope of Christ. That's why we're excited to tell you about a matching grant that will double whatever you give today to help reach more people through PowerPoint. Your support will help broadcast the gospel into some of the most spiritually dark corners of the earth. We'll say thanks for your gift by sending you three of Pastor Graham's books to help you share the gospel right where you are.

This evangelism bundle includes the hope of Easter life book and God's promises for doubt filled days. So call now to have your gift doubled by the match and request your evangelism bundle. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. That's PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Well, priorities are so very, very important and we saw that today in the story of Mary and Martha.

Before you can be really effective for Christ, you must make it a practice to be still, to know that He is God, experience His presence every day of your life. In the story of Mary and Martha, we see two very different responses to Jesus. While Martha is busy getting the food ready, making sure the house is clean and so on, we find Mary sitting at Jesus' feet, listening, learning, loving Him. And as you know, this made Martha very upset. There she was, frantically preparing a meal, running around, trying to make everything perfect in her house for Jesus while her sister wasn't even helping. Well, Martha was so upset that she even made a comment to Jesus about this lack of help from her sister. But Jesus came back at Martha with a fascinating response, a response that most of us need to hear today. Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

Note that. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which shall not be taken away from her.

What is that one thing? The one thing that Jesus talks about here is spending time with Him, getting to know Him, honoring Him, loving Him, spending time at His feet. And while serving others and sharing our faith and being active in ministry is very important to every believer, we need to make sure that we are first spending time with Jesus, that we are taking time every day to replenish our resources and to restore our faith and our love for Him. So let me ask you, when it comes to your walk with God, are you a Martha running around knocking things over? Or are you a Mary sitting at Jesus' feet listening, learning, experiencing His presence?

It's my prayer that you would be a Mary kind of person, the kind of person who spends time with the Lord every day and makes it your number one priority. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint, your gift will be doubled by a matching grant. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how Jesus can move through the common parts of your life to do incredible things. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.