Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You can tell whether somebody has really spent some time with Jesus. You say, "Well, look at them. They're going, they're doing, they're serving, they're participating, they're helping the church, they're really active." It's not enough just to be active in a service category, you've got to be active in a worship category or the service starts to become a problem.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's style is unlike anyone else's, where he shares the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that's real, refreshing, focused, and fun. We know that life is pretty challenging these days, but these talks will help you meet those challenges head-on with biblical truth, encouragement, and direction.

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Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Feet First. I want you to turn to Luke chapter 10. We're going to talk about women today a little bit and some similarities they may have to some of us as guys. It's not just a woman thing. One of the things if you slow down when you read the scriptures, it's kind of hard if you grow up with God and church and this whole thing because you read the stories, you know the stories, and you kind of forget or it's hard to get in.

Jesus, if you look at where he went, a lot of times he had thousands of people around him. He had these 12 guys. One of them was a thief and committed suicide. He just had people around him. He had some that were really close, but there were three people that were apparently just his friends. He stayed at their house and we're going to see that in just a minute. They appear at least in the scripture and it's in Luke chapter 10 beginning in verse 38.

I won't read you the whole thing, we'll just pick up here where Jesus is traveling and he got near Jerusalem, a little city called Bethany, which is a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem. But track with me what happens when he goes into this town. Luke 10:38, "Now it happened as they went," and it's important to see that they went. Jesus and his entourage, and I don't know how many it is, but it's at least 13 of them at this point probably.

"It happened as they went that he entered a certain village," and we know by just the context and looking in scripture it's Bethany. They come into this certain village, Bethany, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Now when you welcome Jesus, you can't just take him, you have to take everybody who goes with him. It's not like, "Okay, you guys sit outside, we just want Jesus."

She welcomed him into her house. Now she did a great thing. She was smart, she got him in her house. What an opportunity if Jesus came to town. Whose house would he pick? He picked hers, part of it because she welcomed him in. Now look at verse 39. "And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word." Now we don't know everything going on, but obviously, Jesus gets in the house.

He's either standing or sitting down and the teaching continues or begins. He's in this house. Parenthetically here, let me tell you something. You think that church is about Sunday mornings in an auditorium like this. Jesus taught publicly, he taught in houses. Paul in Acts 20:20 said, "I taught you publicly and from house to house. I didn't keep back anything that was profitable for you." But it can happen anywhere, anytime.

We have small groups that meet in homes and the word is put out there and explained and discussed and there are things that happen. Mary sits down at Jesus' feet and listens to him. Look at verse 40. "But Martha was distracted with much serving." Martha was distracted with much serving. She was distracted by doing too much, being a busybody. Now this isn't just a female thing. This is a male thing. There are guys who can't be still.

If you look at the contrast here between Mary and Martha, Martha is doing some things that maybe need to be done. Но let me tell you something, guys, at some point in your life, it is time to sit down at the feet of Jesus and be still. There's something that we call even what we do here today. We call it a worship service. We don't call it a service worship. And the simple order of that.

There are a lot of religious people, people who are Christians even, who get consumed with doing something for God, serving God. They're so busy chasing the kingdom that they miss the King. There is a time and a place to sit still. Now I can almost tell you by watching people, myself included, when someone is doing things for God, distracted by much serving, you can tell whether somebody has really spent some time with Jesus.

You say, "Well look at them. They're going, they're doing, they're serving, they're participating, they're helping the church, they're really active." It's not enough just to be active in a service category, you've got to be active in a worship category or the service starts to become a problem. Make sure you go to Jesus' feet first before you get up and go do something. Jesus walked into this house. One woman, we think she's in the kitchen or something doing that. I don't know what she's doing, but she is distracted. She's consumed with doing something.

Now I think in all fairness, humanly speaking, if you've ever had the privilege, and one of the things Rebecca likes and enjoys is she's got this lady that comes every once in a while and helps her clean the house. What I cannot figure out for the life of me is that we have to clean the house for the maid to come clean the house. I think the bottom line to me is we don't want the house to look messy for the lady cleaning it up to know that it was messy. I'm like, why do we have her come?

Men not usually get really concerned and I'm like, "Hey, this is where we live. If people don't like it the way it is, what do we do? Let them come this way." Но it's got to be right. If Jesus shows up in town and Martha invites her in, it's going to be scamper around. It's not just feeding Jesus, it's the whole entourage. We're going to put out the spread for Jesus. You know what? There is a time and a place for that.

But when you have an opportunity to sit and listen and participate in a personal intimate time with Jesus, let it go. You say, "Well I'm so busy, I got all this stuff to do." Not to the exclusion of your time with Jesus. Verse 40 again, "But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.'"

She was so spitting bullets, she had the nerve not to go to whisper to Mary, "Hey, you got to come help me." She comes in front of Jesus while he's teaching and says, "Don't you care? I'm in here by myself doing all this stuff and there she sits, my lazy sister, won't help me. Tell her to do something. Do you not care?" Let me just put it this way. Martha is not in a very good place. She's not happy. She's got Jesus in her house and she is cumbered, distracted by much serving.

It is possible to have Jesus living in you, with you all the time and completely miss it. If you're just serving without the worship and you haven't spent time at his feet, you start getting judgmental and catty and start picking at people and going, "Well they should be doing that. God, you need to do something to them. They're not helping. They're not doing their part." Let me tell you something, you may be completely distracted with doing too much.

This is a whole other conversation maybe, but sometimes there are some people who get so busy and do so much, there's no way anybody else could help because they won't be still long enough to pull back and create a vacuum for somebody else to say, "Well here's a place for me to serve." There are people in this church who spend time with Jesus and say, "You know what? I'm willing, I'm ready. What is there for me to do? I'm willing to serve. I've worshipped, now I want some service. Where's it to be?"

But if there are people who are distracted by much serving, you can't get them to stop. You can't get them out of the way to let somebody else jump in. Now it is very fascinating because obviously Martha has walked in and interrupted whatever was going on, upset, you need to do something about this, Jesus. And Jesus answered and said to her, and I love it when he comes back. Not "Martha," but "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things."

She is going all the time. Do you know anybody like this? They are distracted by much serving. Going, doing, doing, doing, you can't stop them if you try. You got to stop. God has his way of stopping you if you won't stop yourself. He can allow you to get sick. There's just any number of things he'll do. Let me tell you something, you will land at Jesus' feet one way or another. You are going to end up at his feet.

Some of these people, if you don't know what you're watching for, you think, "Wow, that's so impressive. Look at them go." You have got to slow down at some point. Now how do you think Jesus feels when in the midst of all of our stuff, we stop and say, "You know what? I'm here. I'm just listening. I want what you got for me. I'm going to be still and be with you. I'm going to calm down, I'm going to slow down, I'm going to stop and let you talk to me and let's just be together."

See what the world has told us and even this culture of ours in America has told us, it's about productivity. Do something, accomplish something. It's not about sitting around, it's not about relationship. Men and women interact differently. But guys can sit together and watch a ballgame for three, four hours doing absolutely nothing and talk about almost nothing, nothing of substance. "How's your weekend?" "Good." "You going to the game?" "Yeah."

You don't need but about five or ten words to be great friends as guys. There is something about being together though, not accomplishing anything, not doing anything, just being there together. This stuff works. This is how we're made. But it's the same thing with Jesus. At some point, you've got to stop and say, "Look, we got to talk," or "I've got to listen," or "We just got to sit here together." Maybe sing to him or don't ask for anything. Maybe just thank him.

I cannot figure out where this is coming from in my house, but something's going on in my house. It could be Sunday school, it could be school, but there's a conspiracy in my house. My oldest is doing it and everybody else is picking up on it and I don't know who's feeding them this stuff. But at meals, we go to dinner and we'll order food and everything and in the middle of the meal, my oldest will say, "Thank you, Daddy," out of nowhere, like for buying us dinner.

I'm like, am I teaching them that? Somebody is telling my kids that. I'm telling you guys, there is something about unprompted thanks, unprompted praise, unprompted presence. Climb up in your lap where you just go, "What is going on?" This is an expression of gratitude. It's an expression of praise, of appreciation and I as a father, I'm telling you, you respond to this stuff. Imagine what God does, what he thinks when we crawl up in his lap, sit at his feet, be still. I'm not here to get anything from you. I'm here, I'm after you.

Verse 41, "And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.'" Now does it mean you never serve, you never do anything? No. But for some reason, Jesus tells Martha, "One thing is needed and Mary chose the good part." Mary did the right thing.

It wasn't that they couldn't serve and couldn't do the things they were doing, but Martha was distracted by much serving. She was consumed with it. She couldn't be still and Mary chose, not wisely, she picked the right thing. Now some of you say, "Well that's not my personality, that's not who I am. I can't stop." The worst thing about being a husband, I'll tell you what is very revealing. You can tell a lot about me and my relationship with God with me and my relationship with my wife.

If I do not know how to sit down. You say, "Well I'm a man and I don't sit down. I'm not going to do that. That's not who I am." Let me tell you something, you will. You better figure it out because women need this stuff. When there's an issue, a problem comes up, what do husbands want to do? "All right, well let's solve that problem and move on." You know what? You don't have to solve the problem.

Now if you're supposed to and you don't, that's a whole other problem. But most of the time it is not about solving a problem. It's about sitting still, shutting up and listening. Be there. But men are not good at that. Get your wife on the phone. She calls you at work in the middle of something and start going, "Sweetie, what are you doing?" "I'm working." Men are working, right? Now they can sit there and chit-chat with another guy in the office for 30 minutes or at lunch and no problem.

But the wife gets on the phone. "What are you doing?" "I'm working. What do you need?" We're trying to get them off the phone the second the phone rings because we don't have time to chit-chat. You're going to have to chit-chat sooner or later. That woman will find somebody who will chit-chat with her. God is the same way. At some point, it's not about calling all the time asking for stuff or telling God what he's doing wrong or what he should be doing right.

Sometimes just like, "You know what? I didn't want anything. I just came by to say hi. How are you feeling? What's going on? Just want to be here." You say, "Well it's your personality, I can't do that." Let me tell you something, you better try. Or you're going to blow through the only life you've got, distracted with much serving, much doing, much activity and end up with zero relationship. Why do you not know God personally, intimately the way you think you're supposed to if you don't spend time with him?

It's like anybody else. You're not going to know him. Think of the people that you're close to and you know. It has something to do with time spent with them. It's just the way life works. And somehow he says here to Martha, the one thing that was needed, Mary chose that good part and it will not be taken away from her. All the serving being distracted can be taken away. What she's got cannot be taken away from her.

Jump over to John chapter 11 verse 1. It says, "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." And we'll read about that in John chapter 12 about the hair thing. "Therefore the sisters sent him saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.'"

Obviously, they were friends and she sent word saying, "You know what? Jesus, you got to get here." Martha here who sends the message, she's the proactive one. Okay, she's going to make something happen. Get word to Jesus. Lazarus is sick. It's all going to be okay if we can just get Jesus here. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. He's sick. Well, let's just stay here a couple more days and let him die.

Then after this, he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him." These things he said and after that he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."

In other words, well, look at the next verse. Then his disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he'll get well." However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him." Jesus purposefully stays away so his friend Lazarus can die so that when he gets there he can raise him from the dead if you keep reading the story.

Now just really parenthetically let me say this. Sometimes it appears that Jesus does not show up and the reason is to let whatever's going on die so he can come raise it from the dead and get all the glory. And it's not about your timing. He's got to fix it now, he's got to fix it my way, he's got to show up now and Jesus says, "You know what? I'm not showing up. I'm staying right here and I'm going to let it crater so that I can come fix it my way in my time and I'll get all the glory."

Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Though he may die, he shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world." Now look what happens in the next few verses.

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister saying, "The teacher has come and is calling for you." As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her saying, "She's going to the tomb to weep there."

Now look at verse 32. "Then, when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'" Mary ends up where one more time? At his feet. She's distraught and if you've lost a loved one, a brother, anybody, you know what? There's something very final about somebody dying. And Martha realizes that. You know what? People just don't get raised from the dead, do they? People that die just stay dead except Jesus, except Lazarus.

Now Jesus let Lazarus die and then raise him from the dead for a reason so that people would believe. But you know what? Lazarus died. Jesus didn't raise everybody from the dead that died and if you want proof of that, look at his cousin, John the Baptist. If anybody was a good guy, he could put his head back on his shoulders and bring him back to life. Why did he leave him dead?

He lets Lazarus die and here Mary shows up, came where Jesus was, saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." The story goes on, he goes to the tomb, open the tomb, Lazarus comes out and then Lazarus's life is threatened because Jesus raised him from the dead. They conspired to figure out a way to kill Lazarus.

John chapter 12 verse 1, not much later. "Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. Martha served." It doesn't say she was distracted with much serving. It's who she was, but it's when you get distracted with it that it becomes a problem. But Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

So Martha's serving dinner. However many people were there, Lazarus is also at the table. Then look at verse 3, Mary. "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." 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?"

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. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always." Mary once again had chosen the best thing, to be at his feet. She did the right thing.

Not distracted, not just serving all the time and you say, "Well Mary never did anything but sit at Jesus' feet." Let me tell you something, if you start at his feet first, you will end up serving him somewhere. Но it won't be with much serving, distracted and cumbered. It'll be balanced. It'll be appropriate. Not just trying to do everything shotgun style, scattered. It'll be more targeted.

It'll be out of the relationship with him, knowing who you are. You're a human being, not a human doing anyway. So you say, "Father, are we okay? I'm listening to you, you listening to me, we spent time together." Now out of that relationship, then he tells you what to do. If you even go to the Lord's Prayer, what does he start out with? "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done." Worship, then immediately, "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

But it starts out with worshipping him, with praising him and then out of that you get the direction you need to know what to do. Go to Revelation chapter 1. And what's great about the book of Revelation, if you know anything about it, John, one of the disciples who had walked and talked with Jesus himself and seen him and been with him physically, seen him live, seen him die, seen him raise from the dead.

And now John, probably the oldest of the disciples that was left, outlived the rest of them, an old man receiving all this revelation. And even at this age, having seen Jesus in the flesh, look what happens. Revelation 1, let's go to verse 17. He sees heaven, he sees Jesus and the description there. And it says, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." You know what? Everybody who sees him, anybody who wants to know him, sooner or later ends up at his feet.

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.'"

And he goes on, but John starts at the feet of Jesus. Look at Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. "After these things I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.' Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne."

And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal and in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion and the second living creature like a calf. The third living creature had a face like a man and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within and they did not rest day or night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, look what happens. The 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, "You are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created."

Guest (Male): Richard will be back in a moment to wrap up today's talk. But first, I want to share a couple of thoughts with you. Let's be honest, real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others to see. Most people have deep hurts, questions, and struggles. We get it and want to help you in any way that we can. So, let's keep this conversation going. Give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD or connect with us at our website, richardellistalks.com. You can even put in your prayer request right there on the prayer wall so others can pray for you as well. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD or online at richardellistalks.com. And now, let's get back to Richard with a final word on today's show.

Richard Ellis: If you don't even know this Jesus you're talking about, then let me tell you where you got to go feet first. It's at the foot of a cross and there are feet with spikes driven through them and blood being shed for you. And you say, "Jesus, I put you there. It's my sin that got you nailed there and I see that now, I know that now. And I'm not here for any other reason but to acknowledge my sin and accept the forgiveness of my sin that you paid for and receive this gift of eternal life and to thank you and praise you and worship you for who you are and what you've done.

And ask you to come live in me and through me and change me from the inside out and teach me to spend some time with you, feet first. Worship that turns into service, not try to serve my way into worship." If you start with your feet, you'll work your way up to your heart and end up with your head. But we think about these things. We calculate. We work our way through this relationship. I'm going to do, do, do, give, give, give. You know what? God's not against our giving. He's not against our doing. But if you don't have time to spend with him, it's not going to work the way he intended for it to.

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