Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / July 9, 2017 | Really? - Spiritual People Are The Busiest People - Abe Mahner

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July 9, 2017 | Really? - Spiritual People Are The Busiest People - Abe Mahner · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning and welcome to Topeka Bible Church.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Abe Maynor.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Pastor Jim is out of town today, so it is my joy to be able to share and continue our sermon series.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: But before I introduce myself further and before we get into the sermon, here at TBC, something that we love to get to do is to share what our church community is doing, how it's engaging in evangelism and missions, both here in the community and around the world.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a group of folks, if you guys want to come on up, led by our young adults pastor Joe Dalfonso, who just returned from a trip to Hungary.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to give them a few minutes.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, give you guys a few minutes.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Get my stuff out of the way here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um to share where you went, some of the things you did, and and what you saw the Lord do.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Good morning, everybody.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's great to be here.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the chance to do this.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you, TBC, for uh sending us to Hungary.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: We were a fully funded team, uh, which was a total blessing, total miracle.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys very much.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to introduce our team.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: So it's myself, Joe Delfonso, this is Leah Maynor, this is Alyssa Stebner, and then Jessica and Jacob Van Wagener.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: There's a couple of us that are missing.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: My wife, Rebecca, is back in Phoenix.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we had dropped off Olivia uh to be watched for the 10 days we were in Hungary.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then Hannah Fairchild lives in western Kansas, so it's about a five or six hour drive away.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: She couldn't be here this morning, understandably.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so this was our very first young adult mission trip.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so that was a huge milestone, and we were excited to go.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the reason we went to Hungary is because I have a friend there, uh pastor friend named Norby.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so I visited him last summer to fill in for him because he needed a break.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's a pastor, he's a father, he's a student taking getting his bachelor's degree, and he teaches school, so very busy guy.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Filled in for him at the pulpit for two weeks last year, and there were so many opportunities to share about Jesus with people not only in Hungary, but also a refugee camp across the border in Austria.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: And there were people there from all over the world last year: Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought let's let's take a team there.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go and share the gospel, let's bless this town in Hungary that Norby lives in and pastors in.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we did.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we went there for 10 days, and it was really a um very uh busy mission trip.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: We had a lot of different things we did.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Every few days we were in a different city.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the first couple days we were in Dunit Varosh, and that's the small town that we partnered with a church there.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's where Norby pastors.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: And there we did a lot of evangelism.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: We did a lot of uh helping of the town, like we passed out balloons and we cleaned up garbage, and we wanted to do more, and we're hoping to do more in the future.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we also spent a couple days at a refugee camp, the one south of Vienna, Austria.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And there we did uh basically evangelism, talking to people from all over the world, a lot of Muslims that we talked with, and a lot of Christians that believed in salvation by works.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we had uh opportunities to share that salvation no is by faith alone, through grace alone.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a great opportunity.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: We spent a day at a sports camp uh in another town, and these guys led all kinds of different sports.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Here's uh Alyssa led a taekwondo class, so the kids loved this.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Leah led baseball, Jacob led uh flag football, and my wife and I led a uh swing dancing clinic.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so they had a great time.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Jessica also did the taekwondo, too.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: So we had a good time doing that.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then we spent two days in Budapest with Jews for Jesus, and there we did uh food ministry, we were passing out sandwiches to poor people, and we also partnered with Jews for Jesus and evangelism.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um that was a very busy mission trip.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: I have way too much in my hands here.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we had four goals for this trip.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, our four goals, uh number one, we wanted to get the word out about our partner church in Dunu Ivarosh.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the church there, a Christian church like TBC, would be viewed as very strange or even a cult.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you're not reformed, if you're not Lutheran, if you're not Baptist, or if you're not Catholic, you're strange.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: You're a cult.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we wanted to get uh some credibility to the church there.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh secondly, we wanted to bond with our Hungarian friends, our translators.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh thirdly, we wanted to get the gospel out and share the gospel.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, bless the town of Dunu I Vadosh.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and all of this, God just really did amazing things through this team.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, first of all, getting the word out about the church.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Our plans were simply just to pick up garbage, maybe spray paint over some graffiti, clean up some things, and wear t-shirts that have the church name on the back.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: But God decided, oh no, you guys are gonna be in the newspaper.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we were in two newspapers and an online edition as well.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that was incredible.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so this gave our church that we worked with a lot of credibility in the town.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: Second goal was to bond with the Hungarian church.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And this really exceeded my expectations.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, these guys got so close with the translators.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: The last night of the trip, like, they didn't want to go to bed, they just stayed up all night uh hanging out with uh some of our translators.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that was cool.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna help us with just future partnership.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, thirdly, getting the gospel out.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just had the opportunity to share with all kinds of people.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people just really wanting to have long, drawn-out conversations, especially the Muslim people just really wanted to talk uh about you know what they believed, but we also were sharing what we believed.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then finally, um, we tried to bless the town.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think we did.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, red balloons all over the place.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: We were passing out red balloons that said Jesus loves you to kids, and that was an awesome time.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: We we picked up garbage.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: We had a guy come up to us and tell us, oh, we respect you so much for picking up the trash, and we got to talk to him about Jesus.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: So God just really did a work, and the I think the goals of the trip were accomplished.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: I want to give these guys a chance to share a little bit about what they experienced in Hungary.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna pass the microphone to Leah first.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: One of my favorite parts of the trip was working with Jews for Jesus in Budapest.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we got to do a day of street evangelism with them, and I was just really blown away by the way that they do outreach.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think a lot of times when people do street evangelism, they're focused on just getting as many converts as they can and kind of throwing Jesus at people, and I know I've definitely been there.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but with Jews for Jesus, they just had real conversations with people.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: Their goal was to go out and make a connection and to get people's contact information, and that way they're able to continue that relationship and walk alongside people as they learn about Jesus and hopefully grow in their faith.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um so that really impacted me and is something that I'll take away from this trip.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_05: I think one thing that impacted me the most about this trip was just learning to trust the Lord even deeper.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um I'm a mom of two little ones, so going on this trip by myself and leaving my littles here was really tough.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_05: And just trusting the Lord that he would not only take care of my kids, but um, you know, trusting him that he had something for me in this trip.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_05: And I think as moms, we pour so much into our children, and um we have this great commission to raise them in the Lord and and teach them to love the Lord that sometimes um we miss that the Lord still has so much more to pour into us.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_05: And so for me that was really impactful to go on this trip and just be able to let go and and get completely out of my comfort zone.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, this entire week was just not comfortable, but in a really good way.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that's something that I take out of that is just to continue to get out of my comfort zone and to allow the Lord to teach me what he wants to teach me in the seasons that I'm in.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um I agree with what Alyssa said.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: I had never um really stepped out of my comfort zone and talked to people about the gospel or Jesus and um never really liked to pray in front of anybody, and I feel like um this trip really made me step out of my comfort zone, and they allowed me at the refugee camp.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I was allowed to be back behind the scenes and pray for people that were um going out and stepping out and talking to people, and I feel like being in that position, praying for people really um I feel like God really worked in my heart to um fill me with what to say, and I trusted him.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: And that afternoon I was able to go out and talk to people with no problem, and it was just I wouldn't have been able to do it without God, so it was really amazing.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I feel like I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, but I'm gonna have to agree with the same that the last two said uh before this trip, before uh starting this journey towards going on this missions trip, I never would have been the type of person to come out and talk to someone and just approach someone and just talk to them about Jesus, let alone like a the gospel.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: But it was amazing to see how God grew us and grew us in our faith so that we could approach people and not be scared to talk to them about Jesus and to talk to them about the gospel.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: So these guys really stepped out.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was awesome to see.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so thank you again for your support, and we hope to go back.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's so much more to do.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many more people to talk with, and there's people we want to follow up with.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you could be praying, there's I guess three names that come to mind.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: There's a guy uh named Farood, he's from Iran, and so we've got his information, contact information.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: We're you know talking with him.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Still, another gentleman named Samim from Afghanistan, uh, and then Abdul uh from Syria.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: So just some great conversations with those three guys.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh again, thank you.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: God bless you guys.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I will, I didn't talk to them about this, but I'll volunteer them.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to hear more about the trip, grab one of them.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they'd love to talk to you.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: If they don't, just choose a different one.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: They'll probably talk to you.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um as I said, my name is Abe Mayner.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: I introduced myself a little bit.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have been married just over a year.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: My wife is here, so if you hear some vigorous amens, it's probably from her.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we are on staff with Christian Challenge on Washburn's campus.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: We work with the freshmen there.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm also in I I'm in my second year of seminary at Midwestern Baptist Theological in Kansas City.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and then there's a picture of some kiddos up there.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Normally Sunday morning, I'm I'm where you guys are at, and then at 11 I go uh go help in the third through fifth grade class.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And last week I told them that I would be doing this, and so I said if they took a selfie with me, I'd make them famous.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you're welcome, third through fifth graders.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh TBC has been my church home as long as I can remember.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Sunday mornings, the normal Sunday morning was right here with you, and so it is an absolute honor to be able to share with you today.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today we are continuing in our sermon series, really dumb things that smart Christians believe.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: But I wanna I want to jump into the important stuff first.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, Luke chapter 10.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: All the way to the end.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 10, verses 38 to the end of the chapter.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Says, now as they were traveling along, he, speaking of Jesus, entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: But Martha was distracted with all of her preparations, and she came to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Then tell her to come help me.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the Lord answered and said to Martha, said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: But only one thing is necessary.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: For Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the experience that they had, for the opportunities that you have given them for pushing them outside their comfort zone and uh and using them to proclaim who you are.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that uh the words that they spoke would would catch, that the seeds that they planted would take root, that the gospel would move.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh God, um we just pray that you would be with every person they interacted with.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: We also lift up the the youth group coming back from uh New York today, also evangelizing.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh God, give them safe travel.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then today, Lord, we lift up this morning.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh prepare us for what you have to say.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: May we open our hearts and our calendars as we explore what you um what you have for us in busyness.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh God, we love you a lot.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have in this sermon series been exploring a number of myths that smart Christians believe.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, myths that maybe we don't even recognize we believe, things that uh we think, but maybe don't fully reflect the truth in the Bible or what God has for us.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that you have enjoyed this.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you have been with us, I know that as I have sat through this sermon series, it has been um wonderful.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: As we've covered topics like forgiveness, judgment, parenting, difficult situations, and decision making.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so today, our myth is that spiritual people are the busiest people.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: That spiritual people are the busiest people.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was preparing for this time, I recognized that busyness is not something that I need to define.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because we all live it.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you're like me and there's if there's times in your life where life isn't very busy, often we could feel guilty about the fact that we have empty space, right?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: We could feel guilty that that we're not doing something, that we're not involved in something.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if busyness is not something that you are experiencing right now, you could probably turn to the person next to you and have them pop open the calendar, and you would probably see a busy life.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: It is just a standard way of living in the in the society that we live in.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't need to define it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even Jerry the great the great theologian Jerry Seinfeld says, I am so busy doing nothing that the idea of doing anything, which as you know always leads to something, cuts into the nothing and then forces me to drop everything.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: You got it, Jerry.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: But busyness is something that we all interact with.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what is I wanna I wanna get us all on the same page.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is today not going to be?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Today is not gonna be a self-help.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: You could pick up a book at Barnes and Noble about busyness, and that that will be a self-help.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, not today.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is not going to solve your busyness, and this is not gonna make you less busy.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: And this is why it's not going to today's not gonna accomplish any of those things.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because as I look through the stories of the Bible and the people of the Bible, I see a lot of busy people.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right at the very beginning, here's Adam, and he is the only man on earth, and you would think, man, it's probably pretty chill.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then God comes to him and says, Hey, I've got a job for you.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to name all the animals.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, Adam becomes a very busy person.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: You turn, you turn a couple pages, and here's Noah.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Noah tells him, or God tells Noah to go build a boat, and then he spends somewhere around a century building this boat.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like a busy person.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You go to Exodus and here's Moses, and he's handed the job of leading well over 600,000 people out of captivity in Egypt.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what's crazy is that their busyness was handed to them by God.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: So busyness in itself is not a bad thing.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Busyness in itself is not a bad thing.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is why we're not going to solve your busyness, this is why we're not gonna make you less busy.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: But in busyness, there are real dangers.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna look at three dangers.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at three ways to combat those dangers, and then three ways to apply, uh, three things to apply as we move into our week.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: The first danger is that busyness can ruin our joy.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Busyness can ruin our joy.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Philippians 4 4 says, rejoice in the Lord always.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: I will say it again, rejoice.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now it doesn't say rejoice in the Lord when you get time, or rejoice in the Lord sometimes.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: But the verse is rejoice in the Lord always.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, the the danger in busyness is that we may experience that joy, but then our busyness forces us to move to the next moment and then to the next moment, and to think about the next 12 moments coming up.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that that joyful moment is is left behind.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Busyness almost attacks the joy in our lives.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first the first danger.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Second danger is that busyness can rob us of opportunity.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Opportunities.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we opened with Luke chapter 10, and just a wonderful story.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Here's Jesus, and he comes to this village, and Martha invites him to stay in her home.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: A great example of hospitality.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So she brings Jesus into her home, sits him down in the living room, and then goes and starts preparing.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there was food to make, sleeping quarters to be prepared.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so she's she's busy preparing, and then we have this interaction.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I just imagine her hair a little disheveled and probably a bead of sweat coming down her brow as she comes into the living room and taps Jesus on the shoulder and says, Jesus, so good to have you here.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So excited.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um don't know if you noticed, I got a lot going on.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So excited to have you here.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Got a lot going on.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: But Mary, my sister Mary, okay.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um she's just kind of sitting here, and that's great.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've got a lot of wonderful things to say, but uh, could you could you just point her in toward the kitchen?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just tell her, you know, we'll both come sit with you later, okay?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Jesus, just just tell her to stop hanging out, dilly-dallion, okay?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's not in the Bible, that's word I gave you.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but Jesus' response to her, Martha, Martha, why are you so bothered and worried in your preparation?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Mary has chosen the good part, the one thing that is necessary to be and listen and sit with me.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And in this moment, busyness robbed Martha.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: She had Jesus sitting in her living room, and busyness had trapped her in the kitchen.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So busyness can rob us of opportunities just like it robbed Martha.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Third danger, busyness can cover the sickness in our soul.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we all know people who have gotten so busy, so overwhelmed, so stressed that it came out in a physical condition.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it was you.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: It could have been illness, sickness of some sort, or your body is just so worn out that it can't even defend against whatever's attacking it.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe maybe it's migraines or just anxiety or different things like that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I I don't say these things to make light of any of those.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Those are real, those are real struggles for a lot of us.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: But busyness can also create and then cover sickness that's in our soul, spiritual sickness, where we have things inside of us, spiritually, maybe it's uh temptation, a sin that we can't just we can't beat, um just these things, heartache, pain.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Struggle, spiritual struggles that our busyness doesn't allow us to take care of.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't allow us to just sit with Jesus and take him in and recover in his presence.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: We forget, 1 Corinthians 6 19.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Have you forgotten that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: We get moving so fast that we forget what we are.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: A temple of the Holy Spirit.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: So dangers can ruin our joy, rob us of opportunities, cover the sickness in our soul.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: How do we combat these dangers?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: How do we recognize these and then move forward?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: The first one, now stick with me because it is gonna look a little upside down.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Alright?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: The first is to do everything that God would have you do.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Colossians 3, 23, 24, whatever you do, do your work heartily is for the Lord rather than for men.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now God has placed responsibilities just like He did on Adam and Noah and Moses.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: We have responsibilities to family and relationships.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have responsibility to fellowship and community.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: We have responsibility to evangelism and discipleship, much like what we saw from our, I called them the hungry team in first service, the team that went to hungry.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Evangelism and discipleship, and a responsibility to serve in ministry.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now, those are all God-given responsibilities on our lives.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: The dangers of busyness sneak in when we start to add things that aren't in the responsibilities that God has given us.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: When we start to add things to what God has for us, the jobs or responsibilities that He's given us.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're going to combat busyness, the dangers of busyness, it is vital that we recognize and put priority on the responsibilities that God has given us.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: That those are the things that we pursue instead of pursuing other things, which often are good.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that social media can rob hours of my time, that TV can rob hours of my time, that sports can rob hours of my time.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, I'm creating an unhealthy balance of busyness in my life because my priority isn't the responsibilities that God has given me.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: So do everything that God would have you do.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Second way to combat.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that you are not Jesus.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is more for me than it is for you because I need it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I have a tendency to say yes to anything and everything.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Abe, can you help with this?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Abe, can you do this?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens is through the process of saying yes, I start to build up this really inflated picture of who I am.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I get to I start to like build my pride on my busyness.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I just need to be reminded, you're not Jesus.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let Jesus be Jesus and go do the responsibilities that God has given you.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: John 1, 20 through 23, great picture of this.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he confessed and did not deny, speaking of John the Baptist, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: They asked him, What then?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: Are you Elijah?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, I am not.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Are you the prophet?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he answered, No.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Then they said to him, Who are you?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that we may give an answer to those who sent us.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: What do you say about yourself?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way for the Lord.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist in this moment was a great picture of what it looks like to recognize what his job was.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: His job was not to be the Messiah, his job was not to be a prophet, his job was not to be Elijah come back.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: His job, that God had given him, was to declare that Jesus was coming.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we need to take a step back from our busyness and recognize the pride that's building up.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: The last way to combat our busyness is to preach the good news.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: And when I talk about the good news, I'm speaking about the fact that God looked at me and said, Abe, I want to adopt you.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Abe, don't no, I know you're gonna say something, Abe, but I already know that your busyness causes you to ignore and forget about me all the time.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Abe, don't say anything.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: I also know that your busyness causes you to neglect the people that you love more, love most much more than you would like.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And Abe, I also know every, I know intimately every dark spot in your history, every moment that you wish would just be forgotten.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: But Abe, I love you.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: And my love for you is so deep that it can't sit still.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta take action.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sending my son to the cross because I love you.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Abe, because I want you to be with me and I want to be with you.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, think about how our busyness would change if in the morning getting up, that was our thought.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: That our thought was I am loved by God even though this life is crazy.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I am loved by God even though I tried to do the right thing and I end up going the opposite direction all the time.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, we're taking our eyes from our to-do list and turning them up to the cross.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And our busyness, while it doesn't go away, our perspective on it would change dramatically.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because the most important thing is not what we have to do in our list, but that Jesus died on the cross for me, and I am redeemed, and I have my feet placed on a foundation of hope.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the third way to combat busyness is to preach the good news.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how do we apply these things?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: What do we do with these things?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: In this, what is probably a busy week coming up?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: The first is to create time for prayer and silence.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hear this first.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is amazing.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Psalm 46, 10 and 11.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Cease striving and know that I am God.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord of hosts is with us.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: See striving and know that I am God.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now I don't put prayer and silence together because they are the same thing.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Prayer and silence are two very different spiritual disciplines.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I put them together because they take the same effort to make them happen.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Prayer and silence are not things that often just naturally happen.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like we just look at our calendar and like, wow, there's just a moment for prayer, there's a moment for silence.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not, it's not the way that we function.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so to start combating the dangers of busyness means that we're going to need to take a step toward creating time for these things.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Creating time to talk with God, to converse with God, and taking time, like Mary did, to sit and be with Jesus.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Second application is to engage in Bible intake.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: And this phrasing comes from Donald Whitney's book about spiritual disciplines.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: And when he talks about Bible intake, he is speaking of all of the different ways that we engage with God's Word.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: All of the different ways that we engage with God's Word.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that may be quiet time, worship services, Bible study, discipleship relationships, all of the ways that we cut out time in our lives to hear from God, to read what He has said.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's the second application.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Engage in Bible intake.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then the third thing: make God's purpose our purpose.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you a story to kind of wrap this one up.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: For three summers, uh, while I was in college, I had the opportunity to work at Camp Barnabas, which is a camp uh for individuals, kids, and adults with special needs.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: And what Camp Barnabas strives to do is to give the campers the fullest summer camp experience possible.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if you went to camp, you would see all of the normal summer camp things happening, just with a different demographic of people doing them.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, before I served on staff, I had an opportunity to go just volunteer a couple times.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: And in one of those times, I'd already been once, so I kind of knew what to expect, and I was building a plan.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to go in with a plan.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And my plan, I know I was lowballing with my goal, but my plan was to give the camper that I was paired with the best week that they had ever had in their entire life.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know, small plans, Abe, small plans.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um but that was what I wanted.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to give this camper the best week that he had ever had.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I was gonna do that by giving everything I had, all the energy that I could muster.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna do that by giving us to all the activities, and we're gonna do everything and then go to all the parties and just have a great time.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: The camper didn't know it yet, but he had a good week coming to him.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: So here camp happens.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: I get paired with a young man named Clayton.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Clayton uh had has severe autism, also nonverbal, and had a hard time engaging with the world around him, but a wonderful, wonderful young man.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I get paired with him, and Clayton, you lucked out, man.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're about to have the best week you've ever had in your entire life.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: So get ready.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we get paired up, the first day comes around, and we're heading to our first activity.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to Archery.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so the cabin all leaves together.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Clayton and I are moving a little slower than everybody else, but that's fine.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Activities last like 45, 50 minutes.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we got time.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're making our way, and the cabin keeps getting further and further ahead.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually we can't see them, but I know where we're going, so we're gonna we're gonna make it.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: Even if we only have like 10 minutes, I mean it doesn't take a long time to put an arrow an arrow on a bow and shoot it a couple times and have the best time ever.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: So so we do make it to our tree, but it is right as they are putting the bows and arrows away and turning to go to the next activity.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we turn around and head to canoes.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: And we make we're wandering our way.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Cabin works its way ahead, eventually we can't see them.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're making it down the stairs to the creek.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: We make it down there, but just as they're picking the canoes out of the water and putting the oars away.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Clayton, don't you realize that I'm trying to give you the best week that you've ever had in your whole life, and we can't even make it to an activity?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And this is how the next couple days went.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Except for swimming.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Clayton loved swimming, and it was right next to our cabin.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we definitely made that one happen.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: But outside of that, we would make it to an activity, or sometimes we would be in the process of getting to an activity just to turn around because the cab the cabin was headed the other direction.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: And in this, there was a real frustration that was building in me.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to give Clayton the best week he had ever had, and we couldn't even get to an activity.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: But as we got to day four, day five, day six, something astounding happened.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: I came to realize that Clayton was having a marvelous week.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: He was having probably what was the best week he'd ever had in his entire life.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Even though we weren't making it to activities, we weren't, we weren't always making it to the parties because they were almost too overwhelming.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: But the reason for this was because every other part of Clayton's life, he was having to move from thing to thing to thing.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: And this week, it was just okay for him to get there.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Just to take his time and make it there when he made it there.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: And what I came to realize as I got to get know Clayton more was that he even appreciated knowing that I was just going to be there no matter what.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: That no matter how slow, or no matter how much time it took for us to get somewhere, he was gonna have me there with him.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he was looking for.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and what had happened was I had created this plan.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was a good plan.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: It had Clayton's or a future camper's best interest at heart, but I had taken my plan and then tried to force it onto Clayton.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Even though Clayton and I were looking for the same goal, we both wanted to have a great week.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: What Clayton needed, he just needed some time, and he needed somebody there with him.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: And as I look at how we create busyness, the dangers of busyness in our lives, oftentimes it happens because we create a plan.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then, okay, God, here's my plan.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Here's how we're gonna do it.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: And God goes, you know what?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a better plan.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that story about Mary, she chose the good part, the necessary part, to just sit and be with me.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And she knew that I was gonna be there.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: That was the plan that I had.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Stop building this plan, creating busyness, because I've got a good plan for you.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: So are spiritual people the busiest people?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: The answer is sometimes yes.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that is marvelous.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes spiritual people are the busiest people.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: But spiritually healthy people recognize that busyness is not their purpose.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritually healthy people recognize that busyness is not their purpose.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes what we need to hear is cease striving and know that I am God.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, you are good.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: You stick with us even when we are going the opposite direction.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: You stick with us even when we're forcing our plan.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that this week would be a week of combating the dangers of busyness.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: That we as a church would decide that we want to recognize the responsibilities that you've given us, the purposes that you've put on our lives.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that we are done having our joy ruined, having opportunities robbed, and covering the sickness in our soul.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: God, may we take a step toward finding time for prayer and silence and Bible intake.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then may we turn your turn our eyes every day to you, recognizing the amazing gift that we have in the cross.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: God, we love you and we thank you for a time to praise and worship you.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: You are dismissed.