Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] I'm reading from new King James version. But whatever version you have, just try and follow along with me.
[00:00:14] Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, who had been dead, whom Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he had raised for the dead. There they made him a supper and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them. One of those who sat at the table with him.
[00:00:38] Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
[00:00:55] But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
[00:01:07] This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, let her alone.
[00:01:19] She has kept this for the day of my burial.
[00:01:23] For the poor you will have with you always. But me, you do not have always.
[00:01:28] Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for this precious word. I thank you that we have access to your word in 2024 in the United Kingdom. And we give you thanks for that. And we just remember now just the persecuted church and that actually there's millions of people that don't have the full word of God.
[00:01:48] So we just give you thanks today for your word.
[00:01:53] Thank you, Father. So before we kind of launch into things, I want to give us some context. This verse may be really familiar to you. It may not be. So I just want to kind of give us some context. So, starting off six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, this place called Bethany. So we can conclude from the proximity to other events six days before the Passover that this occurred very late on in Jesus ministry, in his life, his life, ministry, signs and wonders and this whole buildup. You can imagine that we get to this point now. You can imagine the atmosphere, the pressure, how Jesus must have felt knowing that in just a week's time, just over a week's time, he would be going through those gates into the city for one final time to be crucified. So I just want to kind of locate us in that.
[00:02:46] Bethany. What was Bethany? Or where was Bethany? Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem. It's about 2 miles east from the city of Jerusalem. It's just kind of, you know, it's like Newton Albert, just an ordinary suburb. But this was special to Jesus. It was significant to him because it was a place where he spent a lot of time with his friends.
[00:03:08] And especially during the build up to the crucifixion, he would have frequently visited that place. So we see some of his friends named here Lazarus, who he raised from the dead, Mary and Martha.
[00:03:22] So that's significant. And I'll come back to that in a minute, but just to locate us. Bethany. And then kind of the star of this story, of course, is Jesus. But there's a significant person here. Mary. Who was this Mary?
[00:03:39] I want to know, who was this Mary? She seems like an incredible woman, right? She was the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
[00:03:46] She would have been in close proximity with Jesus. And we see earlier on in some of the other gospel accounts that Jesus. Jesus would have come upon Martha, Mary and Lazarus got to know them. She would have witnessed his relationship with the father. She would have witnessed his miracles, his ministry, his teaching, this radical message of love and grace. And that, to be honest, would have turned her world upside down. As a first century jew, for a woman to have that proximity with a rabbi would have been offensive to jews in that time.
[00:04:32] And it's clear that her whole life was just turned upside down. She witnessed her own brother being raised from the dead by this man, Jesus, this man, the anointed one. Imagine that if your own sibling was dead and was in that tomb for days and stunk of death, imagine how much that would have turned your world upside down. So I'm not going to comment on, was this Mary Magdalene? There's scholars that have done that for thousands of years arguing and trying to debate. Was it the same Mary Magdalene? If it was great, you know, she would have been delivered from seven demons, if you know the story. So she would have encountered Jesus and she would have had history with him, real history. And we can all relate to that. You know, we build history with God, don't we? And that changes and affects and builds on our relationship with him when we have history with God. So I just want to point out that it's really clear that alongside the other disciples, this Mary would have had an access to Jesus that couldn't be obtained by the religious people, by the Pharisees. She would have had an access, a real close intimacy, not essential intimacy, but a friendship intimacy that would have been offensive and obnoxious.
[00:06:02] So there we go. And the final point to make in terms of context is, yes, had history, but ultimately she had a revelation of the messiah.
[00:06:13] And revelation is a word that we use. It's like churchianity, because there's a book called revelation and we're used to it, but for those who don't know, kind of are on the same page and just bring you up. He revealed himself to her. That's all. Revelation is a revelation of something or someone is when it's revealed to you. So Jesus would have revealed himself to her throughout his life and his ministry those three short years.
[00:06:42] So to move on to the text, to just look at this text and try and unpick it, there's some points I want to just highlight here. So the first one is that, Bethany, Jesus felt, he felt at ease there.
[00:06:59] You know, we see many times throughout the Bible where Jesus reclines and, you know, you look back at history and how they would have drank and eat to recline at the table.
[00:07:11] They didn't have chairs like we did. He would have done this like that. And just if you're really, really tense and you're in front of religious people, you're not going to be doing that, you're not going to be reclining. So he reclined there and he felt at ease in Bethany and it said there they made him a supper, so Martha served. Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. But it's interesting because they created a resting place for him and he felt so welcome there. They made him a meal, they laid the table for him. Even before this act of radical and extravagant worship was unpacked, he already felt at home there.
[00:07:56] And I think that's significant for us as the church in this hour and what he's calling us to and more of that later.
[00:08:02] So here we go. Here's the climax then. Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance.
[00:08:20] I had to look up what Sparknard is. Obviously we've heard of the anointing oil, so most of us have. We've heard of the fragrant oil. We've heard, we know we have. We have a concept of this in the ancient times about anointing fragrances, perfume. But what is Spikenard? Spikenard is derived from a root of a plant from India. Typically grows on the himalayan mountains. And it was reserved for only the best. It was reserved for people with money, kings, people of a regal nature.
[00:09:01] And so, you know, imagine that importing something from India to the westernmost part of the Middle east would have come on a donkey or a horse or a mule or a camel.
[00:09:14] Shipping cost must have been horrendous, right? So it was reserved for significant people? It was reserved to anoint kings. It was reserved to prepare people for burial. Significant people for burial.
[00:09:29] And 300 denarii, again, I don't have a concept of foreign currency, really. 300 denarii. We can see from the text that Judas was indignant at this. So 300 denarii is basically about a year's wages for a laborer. Back in those times, we see from the feeding of the 5000 that 200 denarii was not enough to buy bread for 5000 men. So 300 denarii sort of gives us some context. A year's wages for a labourer, what's that, 25, 30,000 pounds in today's money? Maybe a bit more, I don't know, but that's significant. And a pound of spikenard is. So. I'm a science guy, I looked up the density of olive oil because Google wouldn't tell me the density of Spikenard. And it's slightly less than water, so we're looking at about half a liter, about a pint. So this oil would have come in an alabaster jar, which is basically a clay jar. It's like a white ceramic jar, half a litre of oil.
[00:10:42] And scholars reckon that this probably would have been Mary's inheritance. It would have been like a nest egg. It would have been, you know, it was essentially something of high value, which she had, and it was hers to keep and hers to give. So I want to point us towards Song of Solomon. Would you turn to me? Turn with me to song of Solomon. 112.
[00:11:19] And it's quite a short verse.
[00:11:33] I just want to highlight this.
[00:11:37] So it simply says, the bride says, while the king is at his table, my spikenard sent forth itself fragrance.
[00:11:47] That was it. Sorry I made you turn all the way to summer Solomon.
[00:11:52] Those words imply that despite all the other fragrances in the room, all the other things that could have caught the attention, only his bride's fragrance would matter to the groom. The presence of Spikenard represented their passion for each other and their desire to have only the best, which defined their love and devotion.
[00:12:15] So when Mary of Bethany broke that alabaster jar of Spikenard and bathed the feet of Jesus half a litre, that oil, too, would have defined that she wanted only the best for her lord. She recognized the value of Jesus and she wanted to pour everything she had on the feet of Jesus. Yes.
[00:12:46] So that's costly, right? That's really costly. But to be a woman, to walk in that room, everyone's eating, everyone's at the table, and to then get down on your knees and touch the messiah, the rabbi, with your hands, break the alabaster jar and to pour out that oil. And to start, she would have been weeping as an act of worship, I think, drying her hair, wiping, drying his feet with her hair, wiping his feet with her hair.
[00:13:26] She wanted to offer everything she had at the feet of Jesus.
[00:13:33] And I just want us to take a moment, as I'm speaking, to put yourself in that situation. Maybe you're someone that was sat around the table watching, thinking, who the heck is this woman? And what did she see?
[00:13:48] What did she see in the messiah that maybe we don't, because they didn't do it. It was her.
[00:13:54] And I want to know that. What did Mary see in Jesus, what was revealed to her that invoked such an act of devotion and worship?
[00:14:06] So it was undignified.
[00:14:09] The others around, the smell, the tears, the touching.
[00:14:13] It was an intimate touching that would have cost her. That would have cost her everything, her reputation. She didn't care.
[00:14:21] So Mary knew her lord. She recognized who he was and acknowledged him for his worth.
[00:14:28] And we've been singing about how much he's worth. We've been singing about how he's the one. He is the one. He's the one, isn't he? He's the lifter of our heads. He's the deliverer, he's the savior. He's the one who has life.
[00:14:42] And she had a revelation of the messiah, and she responded to that.
[00:14:49] And I just want to say that our posture in worship and in life, because life is worship. Worship is life. Worship is not us singing five, four, three songs on a Sunday. That's not worship. That's an expression of. Worship is part of what we do. It's an overflow. We use our voices. We sing, we dance, we lay down, go for a run. But that's not worship in its entirety. Worship is us being and living and just giving him our all.
[00:15:23] It's living life for him in full surrender. So I want to say that our posture in life and in worship directly corresponds to our revelation of Jesus.
[00:15:38] It directly corresponds to the grasp that we have of his grace. I remember years ago, I was in HDB Brompton and Pete Hughes, Tim Hughes brother, was preaching about the prodigal son in the eyes of a first century jew. It was amazing.
[00:15:55] I always remember, after all these years, him saying that the height of our worship will directly correspond to our grasp of his grace.
[00:16:08] And finally, it was also prophetic. Her worship was prophetic because she anointed him as a king.
[00:16:17] It was a kingly fragrance that he would have had on him. And going into some research, I found out that Spikenard actually lingers for days, possibly even over a week afterwards. It's not like Dolce and Gabbana. It doesn't just wash off after two days. This is like, powerful stuff. So it would have lingered, that regal fragrance. And she prepared him for burial, which Jesus reveals to us in the text, and something which she probably wouldn't have had a full grasp on.
[00:17:04] And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
[00:17:13] Is your house filled with the fragrance of Jesus today?
[00:17:19] Is your life filled with the fragrance and the beauty of Jesus today?
[00:17:27] I say our houses. I'm not talking about bricks and mortar. The Bible says, we're the house of the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:33] We're the house of God, we're the house on a Sunday.
[00:17:40] And I believe he's calling us to fill our lives with the fragrance of Jesus, to fill our lives with just worship to the king. It's a posture. It's a life posture.
[00:17:54] So let's just look at some of the responses.
[00:17:57] We've already touched on them. The room.
[00:17:59] Jesus. Wrong. Judas rebuked Mary for wasting such a precious ointment. I mean, this guy, a piece of work.
[00:18:08] Judas was indignant, incensed, outraged. Why wasn't this sold and the money given to the poor, knowing that he had no interest in the poor?
[00:18:24] If you know the account of the sinful woman in Luke seven, she did a very similar thing. Again, scholars have debated this for many, many years. Was this Mary? I don't think it was. This woman was from a different region. She was actually a prostitute. We won't go into the text in Luke seven, but she did a very, very similar thing.
[00:18:45] And again, the response around the room was offence.
[00:18:51] They didn't get it, didn't understand why a response like that would be invoked.
[00:18:59] And I've been through, you know, walking a few years with Jesus, and I've seen, like, sometimes that people don't understand me. I misunderstood.
[00:19:15] And I want to tell you this morning that sometimes people aren't going to understand your worship. That's okay.
[00:19:21] Sometimes people aren't going to understand the way you live your life.
[00:19:27] But the promise is that Jesus will draw all men, all flesh, to himself one day, might not be tomorrow, might be next year, but we're just called to faithfully live out a life of worship and devotion. We're just called to do that. And when you get a. When you. When your heart is captured by the one.
[00:19:51] And I've been on the side of living and just dipping my feet into the world. 1ft in the world, 1ft in Christianity. But when you're fully captured by the one, when your heart is captivated, you can do nothing but live a life of devotion and worship. See, there's a joy in full surrender.
[00:20:14] And we're all at different places today. We're all at different levels, and not levels, but stages in our walk, stages of maturity. We're all at different areas of our relationship and our history that we built with Jesus. But I just want to tell you this morning that there's a joy unspeakable in full surrender.
[00:20:36] There's a joy that doesn't come from anywhere else. The world can't give it to you, relationships can't give it to you. Your finances can't give it to you. Stuff will never give it to you. Only the one. That's good, man. Only the one.
[00:20:53] So, yeah, and I've just got a note here. King David, two Samuel, six.
[00:21:00] When the presence of God on the ark of the covenant or in the ark of the covenant came back home.
[00:21:06] Yeah. David danced, didn't he?
[00:21:09] Think about the response of his wife. His wife, what are you doing dancing in your underwear in front of the servant girls?
[00:21:20] And he said, I'll become even more undignified than this because he knew the one.
[00:21:27] He knew the one.
[00:21:31] And the most important response in the room is Jesus. Jesus. Oh, how his heart must have been moved by this act of devotion.
[00:21:40] You see, in another account. In another account. So Matthew 26 and Mark 14 are basically the same account of this part of the story.
[00:21:52] Although Mary is not named, it just says a woman. But we can put two and two together.
[00:21:59] I assure you and most solemnly say to you, wherever this gospel of salvation is preached, the whole world, in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her.
[00:22:13] Not Judas, not the religious people, not anyone else that was around the table, whoever it was, but this woman.
[00:22:24] And that's, I believe that's part of this story, because she responded. She responded to a revelation of Jesus. And now he's calling us to.
[00:22:40] This was pre cross church.
[00:22:43] He hadn't died and risen again and forgiven us of all our sins and come back and ascended. But now we get to respond.
[00:22:57] Jesus silenced her. Sorry. Jesus silenced him. Let her alone, for she has kept this for the day of my burial.
[00:23:04] Only Jesus truly understood what he was saying.
[00:23:07] He knew that in the last days he'd be arrested, he'd be mocked, beaten, whipped. His flesh would have been torn from his back. He would have felt the nails in his hands and his feet or in his wrists.
[00:23:22] And, you know, we talk about spikenard lingering on the skin.
[00:23:29] Those soldiers actually would have got a scent to that fragrance.
[00:23:37] They would have recognized that fragrance as a costly and a kingly fragrance. But most of all, Jesus.
[00:23:45] Jesus being beaten on the walk up to the hill, on the cross, I think he would have been able to get a sense of the fragrance that was still on his skin days after. And it would have reminded him of Mary's act of devotion, probably would have encouraged him and given him strength.
[00:24:09] This is why I'm here. Not my will, Father, but yours.
[00:24:17] So tell him this message. Extravagant worship. I believe this is the kind of worship that the father desires. And I know that because we can look in Ephesians five.
[00:24:32] Turn with me if you will, Ephesians five.
[00:24:39] It says, therefore, be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ has also loved us and given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.
[00:25:03] So Jesus modeled a life of full devotion, didn't he?
[00:25:14] Not only was he expressed image of the Father, but was the father's son in whom he was well pleased. So his whole life, I believe, would have been this sweet smelling aroma to the father. The father doesn't. Well, I suppose he can. He probably can smell. Does he have nostrils? I don't know. But this aroma is more than that. It's deeper. It's a heart aroma. See, God speaks heart, doesn't he?
[00:25:45] God speaks heart. Remember when King David or the boy David before he was anointed, God reminded Samuel and said, remember, I don't look at the outside appearance, I look at the heart.
[00:26:03] John 423 but a time is coming when Anda's already here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit. I'm reading from the amplified from the heart, the inner self and in truth. For the father seeks such people to be his worshippers. God is spirit, the source of life, yet invisible to mankind. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. So we worship with understanding, we worship with recognition. We worship with the truth on the inside of us.
[00:26:40] Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. We worship with the revelation of Jesus before us and on the inside of us. So the kind of worship the father desires, I believe, is extravagant.
[00:26:56] It's intimate and it's wholehearted. This is a life posture.
[00:27:03] It's extravagant.
[00:27:05] As I said before, the depth of our worship directly correlates to the grasp we have of his grace.
[00:27:13] Remember, in Romans it says, therefore, in view of God's mercy, therefore, like Paul has preached the whole gospel, Romans one to eleven, and then in twelve he goes, therefore, looking at all of this, in view of God's mercy, present yourselves as a living sacrifice.
[00:27:36] So we respond. We respond to the extravagant love of the Father. We respond. I mean, we can never outdo God, right? We can never out love God. We can never outgive God.
[00:27:49] We can never do more than God. But our response, the only response is to go, to give. All right. To respond to the extravagant love of the father.
[00:28:03] It was so intimate worship. We come close. We come close. Why? Because we're brought near by the blood.
[00:28:11] If you don't feel close this morning, maybe we need to break down some lies. Because you are close. You're already close. There's nothing you can do to bring you closer than you already are. You're brought near by the blood. Once we were far away, we were aliens. We were enemies of God. But because of his great love, because of his extravagant mercy, demonstrated on the cross, we're brought close. I wake up in the mornings and when I'm at home, my son, my youngest son, is usually in my bed, in our bed by that time. And he comes sometimes and wakes me up and his face is like there.
[00:28:54] And he's like just giving, he's just kissing me.
[00:28:57] His face is there.
[00:29:00] And so many times I'm like, what time is it? But then so many times I'm like, oh, I love this. I love this.
[00:29:10] Like your own two year old just there on your face, pressed up against you and just reminds me of, like, his love is just unhindered. It's unhindered, he says, childlike love. It's just there. And I believe that's the way our father wants to be with us. Our father wants us to be with him. He didn't ask permission. He didn't go and get on his face for 4 hours and pray. He didn't sacrifice animals. He just came boldly to his father and wholehearted. Wholehearted.
[00:29:48] I mean, what do you give to the one? What do you give to someone who has it all?
[00:29:55] What can we give to someone who has it all?
[00:30:01] Just think about that reverence.
[00:30:08] Attention, for a start.
[00:30:11] So many times I've been alone and quiet and not giving God the attention that I know he craves from me.
[00:30:20] But then when I get in that place and I shut off the noise, turn off the phone, man, the affection starts to come, starts to flow. Thanksgiving, which turns into devotion.
[00:30:34] So often our lives are just frenetic. Put your hand up if you feel like you're at 100 miles an hour. Most of the time, it's me.
[00:30:46] So being intentional and actually saying, you know what? This is a relationship.
[00:30:52] My wife, Caroline, she's amazing.
[00:30:56] I could never expect to have a real marriage relationship with her if I never spent time, if I never gave her my attention for a start, let alone affection.
[00:31:07] Am I right for time?
[00:31:11] So this relates to our heart posture in life and our relationship with him, which is manifested and overflows into our personal, private times of worship.
[00:31:23] Yes, serving is worship, giving is worship, going into your workplace and living a heart for Jesus worship. But we're talking about extravagant worship where our attention is just on him, our affection is on him. We have to have those times in our life because in doing so, there's an exchange that happens when he comes, when he comes into the room. And many of us will relate to this. There's life that just comes, there's refreshing that comes. He doesn't have to, but he's so good that he does anyway. We're the only creature in the whole of heaven and earth who actually are able to choose to worship God and live our lives, because all the rest don't have a choice. They were created to do that and they don't have a choice.
[00:32:13] They are so our private, our personal times and our corporate times are worship as a body. So I'm going to have to speed this up a bit. So I believe he's calling us two. Firstly, when I was preparing for this message and I was in the kitchen, it was like a random day, 02:00 in the afternoon. Anyone heard of the book five love languages by Gary Chapman?
[00:32:40] We've got this book somewhere on the shelf. I mean, I've not looked at it since we got married, like ten years ago. And this book just flashed before my eyes. I saw the COVID the purple. Is it a beach scene or something?
[00:32:54] The writing, it flashed before me. And in that moment, God spoke to me and said, I want them to, excuse the pun, rediscover my love language.
[00:33:08] I want you to learn my love language.
[00:33:14] I'm just going to leave you with that.
[00:33:17] First love is drawing us back. He's drawing me back. This is what we were created for.
[00:33:23] One, John 419 says we love because he first loved us.
[00:33:30] He first loved. It was always love in the beginning. He first loved, and that's the only way we can love because we respond.
[00:33:38] We respond not just to the one who gives love, but is love. Amen.
[00:33:46] Am I speaking to anyone today?
[00:33:51] I believe he's calling us graciously to take a look at what we give our attention to, maybe our affection, to our time, to what happens when we start to look at that.
[00:34:10] What are we enthroning on our hearts today?
[00:34:14] What have we enthroned on our hearts for the past few months?
[00:34:19] What have we enthroned on our minds?
[00:34:22] Craig Grishel, great preacher of the word, great communicator, says that our lives will always travel in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
[00:34:33] What's your strongest thought today? What was the strongest thought this morning when you woke up?
[00:34:40] And he's graciously asking us to look at that.
[00:34:46] And then I want to look at a resting place. The idea of a resting place.
[00:34:52] They made him a supper.
[00:34:54] I believe that God is calling us as a body, as individuals, as families, as married couples, to create a resting place for the king of glory.
[00:35:09] And in doing so, his heart is moved because that's his desire, that is this desire that he would have a resting place. Isaiah 66.
[00:35:22] We see that thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of my rest?
[00:35:39] For all those things my hand has made and those things exists, says the Lord. But on this one I will look on him, who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word.
[00:35:52] So God is looking for soft hearts, hearts that are broken and contrite before him so that he can make his resting place in us.
[00:36:08] I need to move on. This might be overflowing to a second message.
[00:36:13] So what happens? So his heart is moved. Secondary, second order effect. What happens when we create a resting place for the king?
[00:36:21] The kingdom comes.
[00:36:23] Who wants the kingdom to rest in their home?
[00:36:30] Who wants the kingdom to rest on their marriage? Yeah. Amen.
[00:36:35] When the king comes, the kingdom comes. When the king comes, his power comes, his authority comes, his favour comes, his blessing comes. Who wants that? I want that.
[00:36:46] I want that. So I'm going to speed this up because it's 12:00 but I believe this is a word for the church. I'm sorry, what does this mean for you and me? You and me. Me and you. And you might say, Matt, I'm a million miles away from that. I can't do that.
[00:37:05] Well, you were created to love. You were created to love and be loved. We see right back in the garden. We were created for that.
[00:37:16] And sin entered the world. God didn't make us his robots, did he? He gave us choice to choose between his love, everything, or our own way. And we see this story unfold. And we have this now. We have this. You know, religion couldn't do it. Man spent thousands of years, religion, tradition couldn't do it. Only Jesus. Only Jesus could bring us back to the father's love.
[00:37:46] Secondly, we need to see him rightly.
[00:37:51] We need to see him rightly. Get a revelation of Jesus, get a hold of who he is. See him for his worth. That will cause you to worship like you've never before. When we see him rightly.
[00:38:03] And then thirdly, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is dwelling on the inside of us. If you're a believer, if you believe in the anointed one, the Christ, then his anointing is in you. That's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can enable us and empower us to truly worship.
[00:38:24] To truly worship. If you don't believe in Jesus or you don't have the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you can't worship the way that he desires. Because John Four says that the Father desires spirit and truth worshippers. It's when the Holy Spirit comes on the inside of you that enables you to bring the worship that God desires. And finally get real with God.
[00:38:47] If you don't feel like maybe as passionate as I do today, or as passionate people here, then just get real with him. I had to do this. I had to get real with him. I said, God, I don't feel like I know you want me to. How can you fix this? Do something on the inside of me. Invite the Holy Spirit to come.
[00:39:10] Transform your heart. Come. And doesn't mean you have to be all fixed up to worship him. Not at all broken in a contrite heart. Invite him. Just get real with us. Never let your stuff, your other stuff detract from him. It's that whole Mary and Martha dynamic. Martha was doing lots of good stuff. She was serving, she was giving, she was self sacrificial of her time. How many people can relate to that? We all give, give, give.
[00:39:38] But Mary was the one who had found the good thing because she felt sat at the feet of Jesus.
[00:39:47] How do you want to do this, guys?
[00:39:50] Yeah, I'm going to wrap up now. So I just encourage you. How do I. For some of us, we don't know how to practically enter in. How do you enter in? You just turn off the noise that would be a good start. Turn off Facebook, whatever it is, Insta TikTok.
[00:40:09] Turn it off. Turn off the noise and just get alone with him. Maybe put some. Just background music on. Just turn it off. And my gosh, you will encounter Jesus in that place. You invite him here, and that's his promise. You shut the door when you pray. Prayer is connection to God.
[00:40:27] And then just set your attention on him. Just remind your soul what he's. Who he is and what he's done for you. And let that turn into affection, let that turn into thanksgiving, into devotion.
