Luke10:38 “...A woman by the name of Martha welcomed Him and made Him feel quite at home.
39 She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word He said.
40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."
41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing.
42 One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it--it's the main course, and won't be taken from her." (The Message)
Intimacy refers to a feeling of being close personal association and belonging together
Intimate- a person with whom one has a particular close relationship
Appointment- an arrangement for a meeting.
1- INTIMATE TIME:
In each day there are 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds-and every one of them is a precious gift from God.
Time is something we feel we never have enough of, yet we give it away so easily. Someone once said, “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”
Time is our most precious resource. It is perishable and irreplaceable. God in His grace has given us all the same amount; — 24hours/day. The quality, joy, and impact of our lives are directly related to how wisely we use the time we have. Mother Theresa had said; “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
Let us begin to use our time wisely!
Appointed Intimate Time...
This does not mean that we have to hurry or hustle through life.
If you give your time to God, God will give His divine time to you. And when God gave us His time? Wow! Just like David.... “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!....” (Psalm 84:10)
Time matter as it shows how you treasure quality with your family and love ones... You would not glance on the wall clock or on your wrist watch as the Pastor is preaching his “eternal” sermon of the week! Week after week.
Our appointed time with God, should be our primary concern. Jesus had said it in Matthew 6:33’s... “seek ye first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS ( what you are seeking after God) would be added unto you...
Here’s an expanded version of Matthew 6:30 and following verses from the Message Bible. "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of which are never even seen--don't you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you, DO HIS BEST FOR YOU?
6:31 What I'm trying to do here is to get you to RELAX, TO NOT BE SO PREOCCUPIED WITH GETTING, SO YOU CAN RESPOND TO GOD’S GIVING!
6:32 People who don't know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works.
6:33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
6:34 Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. ” ( Emphasis mine...)
An Appointed Intimate Time with God should be our first priority. Then everything from that appointment flows, that we could have a time to hear and getting familiar, buddy-buddy conversation with our family, friends, co workers, yeah! Revival for us indeed!
Lastly, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” — Charles Darwin,
(The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin)
Let us evolve our ordinary time with appointed intimate, perfect time well spent with Jesus, our TimeMaster.
2- INTIMATE ATTENTION:
Illustration:
All about focus and attention.
This story I could never forget from bible.org.
“Too long, too far, and too low.”
Those words have stuck with me ever since I read them in a story about Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron”).
The day was April 21, 1918. Richthofen led his flight of triplanes to search for British observation aircraft. An engagement ensued between a flight of Sopwith Camels led by Canadian Royal Air Force pilot Capt. Arthur Roy Brown. Brown’s friend Lt. Wilfred May was a rookie on his first offensive patrol. May had been ordered to keep out of combat, but couldn’t resist. He jammed his guns and, defenseless, headed away from the battle. Richthoten spotted the lone plane and chose it for kill number 81. Brown observed the scene below him and dove to help his fellow airman, knowing that May was no match for Richthofen. Read what happens next, “It was then, with Brown closing from behind, that Richthofen, usually a meticulous and disciplined fighter pilot, made a mistake and broke one of his own rules by following May too long, too far, and too low into enemy territory. Two miles behind the Allied lines, as Brown caught up with Richthofen and fired, the chase passed over the machine-gun nests of Australian Field Artillery.” The debate continues over who fired the fatal shot that passed through Richthofen’s torso. Ultimately it doesn’t matter— whether hit from the air or the ground, The Red Baron was mortally wounded.
Richthofen was good. Probably over-confident. But he “broke one of his own rules.” Maybe in his mind he was just stretching the rule a bit. Or he was distracted by something that appeared too good to be true. Whatever the case, he compromised his own standards, which led to his demise. For the Red Baron, the temptation of number 81 was too much.
The temptation always exists in ministry to focus on the wrong things, forget where you are, and stretch, or compromise, our own rules. It is easy to be distracted by “the numbers” or something else. There are always new gimmicks that will try to lure us away from our first love. You are a target of the enemy. Don’t lose your primary focus. Keep the main thing the main thing. “Fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Heb. 3:1, NIV).
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
(Source unknown)
And so, Martha gave her attention to Jesus, as the elder sister, in fact, she welcomed our Lord in their home. And He entered and Jesus honoured the attention that the family gave Him. Look what happened next in verse40.... “But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."’ Not an intimate attention she gave to Jesus. You see, when you would not give your full attention to God? You would be distracted, and worst is you even coach or advise God! And tell Him you are far more better than Him! Martha instructing Jesus what to do! You can just imagine Martha, directing The Beginning of everything?
Jesus would surely give His 100% attention to you if you have focused and set your attention on Him! And it would not be taken from you, it would be eternal and far beyond eternity!
Jesus had given us in His discourse on the Mount. Matthew 6:26 BEHOLD (pay attention to ) the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. ARE YE NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THEY?
A challenge for all of us!
Focus and Father God goes hand in hand.
Father + Focus ( intimate attention) = Bright Future! Matthew 6: 34 and Jeremiah 29:11 in action indeed....
When Mary gave here Appointed Intimate Time and Attention without any distraction.... see the result in John 11.... And the only thing that’s essential, she had chosen it--it was not taken away from her when the proper time, in a time of their bereavement, a time of uncertainty, a time full of questions, a time of loneliness and brokenness... Her tears became Jesus’ tears! Time to honour her and respect her for that...
Now, ....and Jesus’ wept.
Attention will fully affect our behavior and principles of life....
3- INTIMATE RESPECT:
Out of an appointed Intimate Time and Attention comes Respect.
Stephen gained our Lord’s respect by standing on His Throne.
Mary earned Jesus’ respect by weeping. The Lord sees the dilemma of mankind. He saw history.... the pitfall of all men beginning from Adam until that moment. Face to face with death. That’s why He groaned.
That groan. That tears, that no words and emotions could describe...
Only respect for Mary.
How Intimate Respect could that be?
Before answering that question, a good illustration I can give you is this story:
“Once there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife didn't like the arrangement.
"I can't have this," she said. "It interferes with my right to happiness." So she and her husband took the old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his food in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes.
One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke.
"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough." So they made him a little wooden trough and he got his meals in that.
These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were very fond. One evening the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing.
"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big."
The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything. Then they cried a little. They then went to the corner and took the old man by the arm and led him back to the table. They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things.
This is from Grimm's fairy tales.
Honor and Respect begets honor and respect.
In the case of Martha and Mary, you can see who gained the Lord’s respect. Mary’s Response and Martha’s Reaction. Because these two words are almost the same but carries different meaning. It may seem to some of us like nothing more than semantics, but there is a significant difference between these two words – reactive and responsive.
Reactive is in the heat of the moment. It is knee-jerk. It is emotional. Fight or flight. You lash out. You shut down. You are a fighter. You are a defender. You are a victim of events and not fully in control.
Contrast this with being Responsive.
Response is taking time to think things through. It is being empathetic. It is being two steps ahead. You consider. You plan. You do the right thing. You take things less personally. You are calm.
In John 11, let us compare Martha and Mary on a similar situation, as they both face the death of Lazarus. This is the one thing that could not be taken away from Mary.
Observe their REACTION and RESPONSE and the REPLY they got from Jesus.
Let us now fast forward to John 11: 6When He had heard therefore that He was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 7Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. 8- His disciples say unto Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9- Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
( see? Jesus is taking His perfect time. Intimate time and attention. He is focused).
20- When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet. BUT MARY STAYED IN THE HOUSE.
The respect she gave to Jesus when she sat on the Lord’s table. Just that intimate time and attention. Mary sat still. What a poignant moment. When you’re intimate with God everything is the same, rain or shine. Storm or no storm. Trust. Peace. It is still the same. Because God is the same. HE IS FAITHFUL to the core! From eternity to eternity. The Great I Am! Whooooooooaaaaa.... JESUS!
But,
21- Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would not have died.
32- Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, SHE FELL DOWN AT HIS FEET, (wow! So intimate. Mary always can be found at the feet of Jesus... for this the highest place we can ever be! Just like Mary!) saying unto Him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Wow what a response!
That’s Intimacy. That’s how she knew and respected Jesus!
33- When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34-And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto Him Lord, come and see.
35- JESUS wept.
The shortest verse in the Bible, but the most dramatic of all. Exceedingly tender! Romans 12:15; “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” For me, this is the best human identification of Jesus. He truly is one with us.
“We have here an instance of the tenderness of the character of Jesus, The same Savior wept over Jerusalem, and felt deeply for poor dying, sinners. To the same tender and compassionate Saviour Christians may now come Hebrews 4:15; and to Him the penitent sinner may also come, knowing that He will not cast him away.” (Barnes Commentary)
With Mary and Jesus’ tears... Lazarus had an Appointment with The Author of Life! “Remove the stone...”
The fruit of Intimacy is now ready to be harvested.
Nothing is impossible with the tears of Jesus and Mary.
John 11:53 From that day on, they plotted to kill Him.
The start of victory for mankind.
And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26 (NLT)
Are we all ready to make an intimate appointment with Jesus?
Let us all welcome Him.
SEE YOU AT HIS FEET....
1153pm01september2018saturday34thSunday2018@powerHouse!
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