Sitting at The Feet of Christ

This sermon by Jeffrey Johnson begins with a reflection on the value and power of communal prayer within the church, emphasizing the unique and sacred space the church provides for believers to come together, uplift one another, and experience God's presence. Johnson underscores the church as the collective dwelling place of God, where the faithful gather not only in a physical building but as a spiritual family, highlighting its preciousness and the importance of gratitude towards it.

The sermon then delves into the story of Martha and Mary from the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus visits their home. Johnson paints a vivid picture of Martha's hospitality and diligence, as well as the anxiety and frustration she feels when overwhelmed with the tasks of serving Jesus and His disciples, contrasted with Mary's choice to sit and listen to Jesus' teachings. This narrative serves as a backdrop to explore themes of service, distraction, and the priority of spiritual nourishment over physical or temporal concerns.

Johnson reflects on Martha's service as commendable but also as a source of unnecessary stress and distraction from the one thing deemed necessary: being served by Christ through spiritual engagement and listening to His word. He argues that active service, while important, should not eclipse the foundational aspect of Christian faith, which is receiving grace and truth from Jesus.

Expanding on the theme of "sitting at Jesus' feet" as Mary did, Johnson outlines several practices for deepening one's spiritual life, including engaging with Scripture, seeking stillness and solitude, meditating on God's word, and delighting in the Lord's presence. He emphasizes the transformative power of immersing oneself in scripture and the importance of creating space and time to listen to God, free from the distractions of daily tasks and anxieties.

Johnson concludes the sermon with practical applications, urging believers to prioritize their relationship with Christ above all forms of service and activity. He stresses that while serving Christ and others is a vital expression of faith, it should flow from a place of being nourished and filled by Christ's own service to us. Through personal anecdotes and biblical insights, Johnson calls for a balanced approach to Christian living that honors both service and devotion, ensuring that one's spiritual health and connection with God are maintained as the foundation for all other aspects of faith life.

Transcript

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If you have your Bibles turned to the gospel of Luke chapter 10, I was really blessed this morning in our prayer meeting. For those who weren't here with this, I would encourage you to consider coming. I was deeply ministered this morning by the prayers of the saints, my God's people lifting up their hearts to the Lord, and the thought occurred to me, "Where else do you find a place like this where God is lifted up in the hearts of the saints, trusted in and looked to and pleaded with?" It seemed to me like every prayer, every single prayer was helpful. Every prayer was attended with grace. And I said, "God is with us. God is with us in this place. God's presence is among His people. This is not this building, but the saints collectively is the house of God. This is where God dwells, not just in us individually, but He dwells with us and in us corporately. The saints together make up the household of God according to the book of Ephesians. This is no place like it, not just, I'm not talking about GBC, I'm talking about the church, wherever the church is gathered across this land, across this world. The church is the most precious thing on earth. It's something to be treasured and be grateful for. And I heard some of the young men pray. I was like, "God is doing a work in the next generation among us." I heard some older people pray. "God has done a work in the generation that is ahead of us. It's very precious to be in the house of the Lord. There's nothing like it." And I pray today that God will feed us. Luke chapter 10 verse 38. "Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house and she had a sister called Mary who said at the Lord's feed and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to Him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her,'Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.'" Now this is the Lord coming into Bethany. Bethany is a little village about two miles outside of Jerusalem. I believe this is the first time that the Lord meets Martha and her sister Mary and I'm assuming their brother Lazarus is there with him. And Martha apparently is the older sister. This is her house and the Lord has made his final journey out of Galilee. He is not going to return to Galilee until after the resurrection and this is most likely middle of December of 29 AD. And so he's got four months left and he's going to spend the rest of his ministry in Judea and the surrounding areas of Jerusalem. And he came out of Galilee with all of his disciples. I'm assuming some of the leading ladies that ministered with him along the way or with him. It says that a large crowd followed him and here he comes in to Bethany and by this time the Lord Jesus is well known to everyone and here he comes into the city of Bethany preaching and Martha having the gift of hospitality says come you and your disciples come and to my house I will put you up. I will take care of you. I will lodge you. I will feed you which is a wonderful wonderful thing for Martha to do. The Bible tells us if we give a cup of water to a prophet you'll receive the prophets reward and as much as you've done it to the least of these you've done it to the Lord and the Lord has commanded us to serve and be hospitable and to serve Christ and to serve the servants of Christ and Martha was doing just that. What a wonderful thing she was doing. She was a servant and a good servant. She loved the Lord Jesus and she showed that love by welcoming him and the disciples into her home. But how would you feel if the Lord Jesus was coming to your house tonight? What preparations would you make? Now it appears to me that Martha did not have a whole lot of time to make preparations. It doesn't appear to me that she knew he was coming. So here he comes into the city and the culture of that day was you welcome in those who come into your city and provided for them. That was the culture and of course Martha took delight in the Lord Jesus of all the gift of a guest to have to have the Son of God lodge with you and that you could cook a meal for the Lord Jesus. What a privilege and what an honor and imagine that being you. Imagine that you're Martha and the Lord Jesus is coming to your house for dinner and not just for dinner. He's going to stay with his disciples at your place tonight and I know what you'll be thinking. Do I have room? Is there enough beds? Is there enough food in the pantry? And you'd probably be stopping at the store on the way home and say do I need this? Do I need that? Do we have drinks? Do we have everything in preparation? Is the house clean? Am I ready for this? And Martha felt these things no doubt. Martha was troubled because she was delighted but also she understandably had a lot to do, a lot to prepare and off she went preparing. Imagine in that day there wasn't a convenience store to stop at. There wasn't any type of fast food stores or restaurants to order in. You had to go and find a chicken and do the plucking yourself. You had to go and fetch water not from indoor plumbing. You would have to go outside of the house and bring water in and did you have enough water? How many trips would it take? And by this time the Lord Jesus and his disciples are already in the house and if you're like me I would be looking at the house and wondering if it's clean enough and so I'd be cleaning and cooking and preparing and making sure they had water and their cups were refilled. This was what I would be doing and most likely this is what you would be doing as well. You would be concerned to do a good job, to all things be prepared and well and what a wonderful thing to do. What an amazing thing to do for the Lord, to serve Him with excellence, to serve Him with care, to serve His people with care. Martha was doing that and we found ourselves a lot of times being Martha's. I've always looked at this passage and always thought of other people as the Martha's and I thought well I'm the Mary in this story. I've come to realize no I'm the Martha. In this story I'm a Martha but don't come down hard on Martha just yet because what she was doing was good. She was not troubled and vexed because she was worried about her own pleasures. She wasn't concerned about all the things the people of this world are concerned about. She was serving the church. She was giving herself to good things. She was a servant of servants. She was a minister. She had the gift of hospitality. She was a kind woman. She was full of love. She was a woman who we should in many ways seek to emulate, seek to be. May we all be servants of the church. May we all be hospitable. May we all take people in and cook for them and clean for them and help them and do what we can to assist the servants of the Lord. The Lord is pleased with those who serve His people and care for His people well. So this is not just Martha being someone who's caught up in sin if you would or caught up in distractions with this world. This is Martha serving the people of God and serving Jesus Christ and we'd all would want to do that would we not? Well she had one complaint however. In her service she began to feel a little bit bitter, a little bit upset with her younger sister. Her younger sister was in there in the living room enjoying herself. I mean she was having the time of her life eating it up you know just with the men hanging out and Martha was all alone. She didn't have anybody else. She didn't have any maids or any other ones to come beside her. There was too many people for her to help. I mean there's a lot of mouths to feed. There's a lot of water to distribute. There was a lot of needs of cleaning and all this work and here her sister who should be by her side is just with the men having a good old time. And how does that make Martha feel? Well she could become a little bitter and upset with her sister. I think I would too under the circumstances. I'd be where are you? I'm doing everything. Have you ever thought that in your work for the Lord you feel like you're all alone? That you're doing all the work and no one's helping you? Like am I the only one that vacuums the sanctuary? Is no one else feel the need to help out here? Am I the only one that does this and only one is concerned about that? Or only one that really cares about greeting people at the door at the church houses? It seems like I'm alone in this work. Sometimes we we feel like we're concerned about an issue and no one else seems to be concerned about it. And that causes us to feel a little just gruddled and we begin to be upset with the other saints because they're not helping out is the way we think they should help. And of course this is how Martha felt about her sister. And so she comes to the Lord and she even thinks the Lord is unmindful of the fact that she's doing all the work. She says you know what we do when we get upset we pray about it. And she prayed directly in the presence of Jesus. Do you not care? Do you not care? Do you not see? Have you not noticed? Is no one noticing that I'm doing all the work? Am I the only one that's aware of what I'm doing and no one else seems to everybody else is enjoying their drinks. Everybody else is enjoying their time here but does no one see that behind the scenes I'm really working hard? That I am running to and fro trying to serve everyone? Well she prayed about it. Do you not care Lord that my sister has left me to serve alone? Please tell her. Ask her. Tell her to come help me. I could use it. Look at verse 41 this is the Lord's response and she the Lord lovingly rebukes her. I don't think it was a harsh rebuke. I think it was a tender rebuke but he does rebuke her and basically he says no to her prayer request. No I'm not gonna do what you're asking. But the Lord answered her in verse 41 Martha Martha you're anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her. That is I'm not going to tell her to leave. She's chosen wisely. She's enjoying herself. She's delighting at setting at my feet. I'm not going to ask her to leave. She's free to stay. She's free to take it in. She's free to have a good time setting at my feet. You see he says there's only one thing necessary. One of the things we often forget I know I forget this. One of the things we often forget is there's only one thing necessary and it's not us serving Christ. Serving Christ doesn't get you to heaven. Serving the church is a good thing but it doesn't get you to heaven. It's not vital. Now this is not a encouragement to not serve Christ and his people but we got to remember the heart of salvation the heart of gospel is not what we do for the Lord. It's not us serving the Lord that is vital. It's Christ serving us. That's the essence of the gospel. One thing is necessary the thief on the cross did not serve the Lord but the Lord did serve him. One thing is necessary for all of us is that we set at the feet of Jesus that we delight in his presence that we you know that his burden is easy. He says come and dine with me. Come I will serve you relax for a moment. You're anxious you're troubled by many things. Come take off your burden take off your concerns take off your worries let the house work set aside let all the ministries you're in be put aside and just set for a while. Set at my feet and I will feed you. I will serve you rich things good things. I will bless you I'll feed you. I will nourish you. I'll give you life. I'll give you water. I'll give you food. I'll give you joy. I will fill your tanks. You're not going to be able to serve the Lord if you're not feasting from the Lord. You're not going to be much good to the church not much good for Christ if you're not taking time to set at his feet. Setting at the feet of Christ is the better portion. If you choose what to do don't neglect your quiet time. Do not neglect your personal devotional time setting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it mean to set at the feet of Christ? We see in verse 39 it's to listen to him. It's to be taught by him. It's him serving us to set at the feet of Christ is to enjoy his presence. In fact I have seven things that this morning that help us set at the feet of Christ. Then I'll have ten applications. First of all setting at the feet of Christ is Bible intake. It's taking in his word the words of Christ. It's setting under the word and listening to him. It's feasting on his word. Now I want us to be careful as I work through these six other things all under this idea of taking in the word. I want us to make sure that we don't rush through this process. The concept of setting at the feet of Christ is not opening up your Bible on your phone app in the car as you're driving to work and just you know breezing through your your checklist. I read my Bible today. It's really as we'll see it's taking our time and dwelling in the presence of Christ. So second aspect of setting at the feet of Christ is to slow down and be still. Zachariah 2.13 says be still before the Lord. When's the last time your heart has been stilled? You know Martha was anxious running to and fro vexed and she was anxious and vexed by doing good things wonderful things not sinful activities. She was serving the Lord. I find that that's true of myself. I'm so busy it seems. So many people to counsel. So many people to see. So many people to respond to and emails and text messages. There's so much events. Every night there seems to be something right and off we go. We go to sleep tired. We wake up and we have a list of things to accomplish and we're busy. All of us were busy and we're distracted. We have notifications constantly ringing in our ears. But the Lord tells us be still be quiet. Psalm 40.16 be still and know that I am God. Back at 220 the Lord is in his temple and the earth is to be quiet in his presence. Setting at the feet of the Lord is just harming your soul removing distractions becoming quiet. Spurgeon says there are times when solitude is better than society and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone waiting upon God and gathering through meditation on his word. Spiritual strength for labor is from his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God because we thus get real nutrients from them. So being still but being still is not this form of mysticism where you're you just enjoy quietness for quietness sake. Maybe there is some therapeutic benefits of just being still and not thinking about anything but I honestly think it's impossible to have a blank mind. It's not trying to get into some mystical trance where you think about nothing. It's stealing your soul from all the other distractions so that you can put your whole attention and focus on the Word of God so that you can listen not to some extra biblical voice but you can listen to Christ speak in and through and by his word. And one of the lost arts of contemporary Christianity is taking time to meditate, to muse, to soak in, to contemplate the Word of God. Take your Bible reading you would do better to read less and think more on what you did read than to read a whole chunk and not think much through it. What is meditation? Jerry Bridges says the word meditate as used in the Old Testament literally means to mummer or to mutter and by implication to talk to oneself. When we meditate on the Scriptures we talk to ourselves about them turning over in our minds the meanings the implications the applications in our own lives. By meditation you become your own preacher you preach to yourself what you've read you think through the words the context the meaning the applications Psalm 1 2 says delight in the law of the Lord meditating on it day and night Psalm 1 19 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways Psalm 1 19 verse 97 oh how I love your law it is my meditation all the day you know we meditate upon the things we love you know whatever you're interested in or if you're making a big purchase or you're buying a new car you're buying a house it's easy to have your mind with joy and excitement meditate upon those exciting things or a vacation your mind just wonders naturally to these things we need to fix our minds on the things of the Lord in his word where throughout the day our morning meditations our morning readings is feeding us throughout the day is nourishing us throughout the day and we're going back to what we read and thinking through it meditating is to become a laser focus on what we have heard is taking heed how we have what we have read Spurgeon says why is it that some Christians although they hear many sermons make slow advances in the divine light it's because they neglect their clauses and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word they love the wheat but they do not grind it here are some people listening to 30 podcasts a day a 30 podcast a week and they're they're just reading so many sermons and listening to service so many sermons and they're taking all this Bible content but they may be neglecting the art of thinking through things deeply meditating is keeping your mind on the Word of God Isaiah 26 3 you will keep perfectly peaceful the ones whose mind remains focused on you Thomas Madden says one of the old Puritans to hear and not meditate is unfruitful we may hear in here but without meditating it's like putting a thing into a bag with holes Joshua 1a the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night another Puritan Thomas Burks remember that is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul it's not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey but her abiding for a time on the flower by the bee biting for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet it is not he that reads most but he that meditates most that will prove to be the choicest sweetest wisest and strongest Christian this is what it means to set at the feet of Christ and take it in soak it in to revelish it to apply it I do I do think sometimes we we need to pray until we pray sometimes I think we need to read and think until we have heard my sheep Jesus says know my voice and they hear me and we all have experienced those light bulb moments when we read something and some spark affects us or some encouragement comes to us or some rebuke or correction we're edified by what we've heard or it's something comes afresh and new to us and it's it makes our soul sing within and it's so sweet because we know it is the voice of Christ speaking to us it's our beloved ministering to us and there's nothing sweeter nothing more precious nothing more vital to us than to hear our savers say you are mine I am yours and here is a fresh word here is a new word for your soul to keep you to minister to you and we need that and God it will I'm getting ahead of myself out of excitement because God's not going to turn us away he's not going to turn Mary away I'm not going to tell her she can't set at my feet the Lord's not going to push you away and say no you don't need time with me he beckons us to come and set it as feet the fourth aspect of setting at the feet of Christ is to take heed how we hear Proverbs 4 20 says my son be attentive to my words incline your ear to my sayings let them not escape from your sight keep them within your heart for they are life to those who find them they're healing to all the flesh sometimes we just need to hear from God and I say sometimes that's how we live we don't live off bread food sometimes we say I just need some encouragement I just need some good news I just need something for my soul I'm weary I'm trial I'm tired I'm vex I'm troubled I'm going to and fro I got all this stuff on my mind and I'm anxious about this and that we just need to go and follow the example of Mary and just set for a while well how am I would get my things done if I'm relaxing and that's the temptation that Satan says you don't have time you don't have time to set at the feet of Christ I was tell you you don't have time not to in the preparation of this sermon I think it was Tuesday my wife asked me when I come home how were your day I said was awful so why was it so bad said all the work that I did today it was erased it wasn't saved I worked 30 minutes try to recover it and it's gone the next day I apologize to the Lord I apologize to the Lord I said Lord I'm vexed about this and I'm vexed about that and regardless of what I accomplish or don't accomplish today please be with me today I just need to I need to refocus myself my thoughts and you know sometimes I'm tempted I'm back not sometimes I'm tempted every day to be honest and transparent to you I'm tempted every day to to rush through devotion time because of the list of chores and duties and responsibilities that's upon me well the next day I spent a good time just soaking in the word and delighting myself in Christ and and I found that it was ten times easier to prepare a sermon and then I had time left over and I in about two hours did everything that I lost the day before you're not gonna hurt yourself by spending time with Jesus you're not gonna be a lesser servant you'll be a greater servant if you spend more time with Christ you see fifthly setting at the feet of Christ is delighting delighting in his word how many Psalms talks about the psalmist say I mean I just love the word it's joy to me I delight in it I find it to be precious I find it to be sweeter than honey I find it to be my life my nourishment I I can sit there and muse upon it think about it dwell upon it and joy it soak it in and it's not burdensome it's not a cumbersome it's not like this is a heavy weight a heavy burden you know this coming to Jesus setting his feet is not a burden well how do I add that to my list of chores and duties now you're asking me to spend more time with the Lord no don't look at it that way this is the Lord says relax relax for a while especially on the Lord's day come put aside your concerns the duties of the week and joy yourself feast on the Lord in his word Jeremiah 15 16 says your words were found and I ate them and your words become to me a joy and the delight of my heart and we've all experienced it we all know what Jeremiah is talking about there's been moments in our life we've heard a word from the Lord and it wasn't the word from the preacher it wasn't word from the Sunday School teacher it wasn't a word from mom or daddy it was a word from his living book the Bible the word of Christ and that word came with power and might and killing and balm to our soul and it helped us throughout the week it helped us throughout that day and it became our life it became our nourishment it become our joy the words of Christ are rich the Bible tells us in Colossians 3 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly for your mothers and fathers that are worried about your lost children you're worried about this need and that need don't get all your worries about all your needs good needs good prayer requests first put your time in seeking the Lord first come and be fed yourself one of my mentors Conrad Merle told me he says if you're not eating from Christ you have no food to serve to others if you're not first being fed and built up from the word you're gonna be a poor servant to the other servants of Christ so delight in the Lord let the word of Christ dwell in you richly not just dwell in you but dwell in you richly setting at the feet of Christ I think includes memorizing the word the Psalmist and said in Psalm 119 verse 11 I have stored up your word in my heart I have I have memorized it I have put it in my heart I I'm letting it richly dwell in my heart and I'm focused upon in I asked my dad once how he had so much Bible in his mind how could you quote this passage in that passage like he could almost quilt the whole Bible from cover to cover it's a marvel I asked him how are you doing this where did you learn to memorize this he says I've never tried to memorize it I just have read it and read it and read it and read it and he has he reads the Bible probably two hours a day it's unbelievable but he has it in his heart in it and he can't speak without the Bible coming out of his words because it's in his heart in his mind I pray that I can be like that take time to store up the words in your heart memorize it study it seventh setting at the feet of Christ and I love this last one and and I think this is what Mary's doing she's just having a good old time she's enjoying the presence of Christ now what now think about this I know if he was coming to your house the Lord Jesus was visiting your house you would want your house to be clean you would want to have food you'd want to be a good hospitable servant to the Lord no doubt we had all want that but what would be amazing is sitting there with them in the living room and he starts teaching he just starts saying some things he would be sitting there I mean we would just be sitting there and just like no and and let's imagine your friend your spouse missed out on it like I can just I can just imagine Kayla Irons not being there and she's thinking to Eric what did he say what did the Lord say and Eric would be going well he said this now no go back over again did he say anything else and he would say yeah he said this and this what no go back over that again I want to make sure you're not missing anything tell me again I want everything he said he was in our living room tell me more and it was just be with such a joy and delight every word hanging on every single word this is the words of life tell me more tell me more what the Lord said and here you have the most precious book in the whole world it's not like playing over Aristotle it's not like anything else it is the words of the living God at your fingertips you have it go open it up and feast dive in enjoy yourself store up for yourself these words of life and joy it delight in it in the presence of Christ there is joy and much of the times if we're anxious and fretting and worried about all our service we need to just stop light ourselves and get back to the fundamentals it's more important as I said to be served by Christ than to serve Christ here's my ten closing applications one serving Christ can be distracting this is not being distracted by the world or ungodly things this is being distracted by good things and be careful again this is on our exhortation to serve less per se this is not a discouragement for all the great servants of the church thank God for each of you but we have to keep in the back of our mind or in the front of our mind even pastors even me being called to this conference called to this thing asked to do this asked to serve this person asked to go here even I need to go wait a minute am I making time for my Lord am I serving become a distraction second application serving can lead to anxiety and stress she went up to him and said verse 40 Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone the Lord says you Martha Martha you're anxious and troubled about many things I think when we become anxious and troubled about our service to the Lord it's time or maybe it's our jobs whatever it may be where we become anxious and troubled is time it's a little light on your car - it says you need fuel you need refilling you need nourishment you're getting weary you're getting depleted you're getting more thin it's time to fill your gas tanks come set aside richly enjoy the Lord third serving can lead to pride and sin it seems like Martha had a tendency to be a little bitter and upset with her sister and it made her like look don't you see I'm doing the I'm doing the better part I am just a servant I am the one that is doing all the work a sense of pride and then a sense of bitterness towards a sister you see Martha became anxious and I don't think there's too many occasions or any occasions we need to be anxious about anything and here Martha fell in in her service she fell into anxiety and the Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing fourth setting at the feet of Christ is the better portion and now we can do both and I think our service comes out of being fed by Christ setting his feet gets us the nurture the nurture nutrients the fuel to serve him and serve his people but again that's the nature of the gospel it's Christ giving to us and we take what he's given to us and give back to him someone described it like Niagara Falls the Niagara Falls is his love his gifts his service to us it's the pouring into us our service back is the mist that little bit of mist that flies back up in comparison it's nothing to the water that's coming down on us this is the better portion setting at the feet of Christ and being fed by him fifth the necessity of being served by Christ verse 42 but one thing is necessary you can go to heaven with little to hardly any service it could be the thief on the cross it did not do much but you can't go to heaven without being fed by Christ without hearing from the Lord it is necessary necessary your Christian walk is necessary it is the good portion six Mary has chosen the good portion she shows of the two she shows the right one the better portion seventh Christ will not shoot us away Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her when you go before the Lord and just sit at his feet and say I'm here Lord I'm ready to listen please speak to me speak please minister to me I need food I need what you have to serve he's not gonna go I'm too busy for you he's not gonna push you away he's not gonna say well don't you got some work to do don't you got some important things to accomplish you see setting at the feet of Christ and knowing Christ is the end of all end it's not a means to some greater even though knowing Christ does empower us to do all the other works that God has called us to do all the fruits of the Spirit comes out of the knowing Christ in his word but the goal is knowing Christ that's the tentacle that's the best use of your time you could do nothing better with your time than to spend time with Christ it is the good portion and Christ will not take it away from us if Christ will not take it away from Mary or take it away from us why do we take it away from ourselves it's not Christ pushing us away why do we not go into the living room and sat down eight well that was my eighth if Christ will not take this away from us let us not take it away from ourselves and this is just a question when was the last time you have heard the voice of Christ in his word hums or let me ask you this question when is the last time you sat down and prayed without a without a time limit to tell you to stop it was it's been a long time since I've done that I did it this morning for the first time in a long time I just woke up and I said you know I don't have a time limit here I don't have you know I gotta get this done so I get back to my sermon preparation I just I'm just gonna pray and pray and pray and there's no there is no end time and just to be honest it was the most delightful time I've had in a long time 10th it is just encouragement look give the best energy of your day I mean sometimes it might be at the evening you're more awake at the evening maybe that's when you're more attentive maybe it's at noontime maybe it's in the morning time you know there's no rules or when you get alone but you know the Lord he was a busy man and he went off to nights without sleep because he was so busy but he always made time to pray and he would pray and pray for good lengths of time and this is the Lord he had to wake up sometimes he went in the middle of night and prayed through the night yeah this is the Lord and this is not like hey you're putting all his legalistic burdens on me no this is this is saying here's here's the buffet coming enjoy what kind of burden is that common enjoy feast say as long as you like there's no good pressure to brush off view it as a joy do you view the presses of Christ as a delight it's not a burden it's not hard it's not a time living you have to make God's not putting you on an oil you're not you didn't spend an hour no if you can spend five minutes in this real meaningful that five minutes will push you throughout the day and keep you but if you can have an hour that's even better spend time with the Lord give your best energy to serve Christ and in that you'll be a much better servant and you won't be as filled or I won't be as filled with anxiety would be full will be satisfied will be useful for his service setting at his feet let's pray dear Lord we we love the fact that you love us and we love the fact that you tell us to come to you you told the children to come to you tell us old people to come to you tell me to come to you what a how would you be mindful of us Oh God God of the universe that I can have personal intimate time with my God with my Savior my Lord Lord I hear you call me I hear your words saying come Lord I want to come you said seek my face and my heart says back to you your face will I see amen thoughts.[ end ] Thanks!