YP Talk—John Bilisoly
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OK, well, it's really a privilege to be here to speak to you this evening. And it's nice to see so many faces. I got this privilege not long ago in at the Burbank conference. And there must have been, I don't know, a couple of 100 young people in the room. It was really amazing. So it was, it's nice to see somebody here. Well, let's, let's ask the Lord for his help. And then I'm just going to share a few thoughts with you. I don't have much time and you've heard so much today.
Already so, but let's give thanks for all that we have. Our loving God and our Father, we do thank Thee for all that we've been brought into by thy grace. We think of what we heard this evening, that Thou has created us for thy glory and that us have a purpose for each one of us That's in the gymnasium this evening. And we think of the privilege it is to to know.
The Lord Jesus as our Savior to know that the question of our sins has been dealt with at Calvary's cross, and we don't have to.
Wake up with fear or apprehension as to where we are headed. For we know that we're bound for heaven for the glory, and we look forward to that time and we pray, Lord Jesus, that we would respond in our hearts and say, Even so come Lord Jesus. But we think of this world in which we live and we're trying to find our way through it, and we have an enemy that is putting pitfalls.
And snares in our way. And father, we ask for thy help.
That the Word, thy precious word, would illuminate these things that are a danger to us. Help us, we pray we need thy help. We cannot walk on our own safely through this scene. So we just thank thee that thou has promised to walk beside us and to help us. And we thank you for the Spirit of God that is a comforter to us, that indwells us and that.
Can take of these things in Thy word, and make them good to our hearts.
So we ask for thy help and the little time together in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Came out well, I think.
I think what I have to share with you this evening is really only going to take me about 10 minutes or so.
I thought it was interesting and helpful what we had this afternoon in the reading meetings and I and this morning too. And I hope that you've enjoyed it. I, I have.
We talked a lot about serving the Lord using the gift that the Lord has given us and.
I think I understood from what was said this morning that the Lord has given each one of us something to do and.
Our desire should be to try and determine what that is with his help. But I want to, I was thinking a little bit in the last few days and weeks actually of a little portion that I want to share with you because I think that, you know, we often get perhaps taken up with what can we, what can I do for the Lord.
And it is a privilege to be able to serve Him in some way. But I think that there is a portion that is even, let's say, better than that, better than serving the Lord. And the Lord himself calls it a good part. And you'll see what I mean in just a minute as we look at this little portion in Luke chapter 10. So if you want to follow along, there's just a few verses I want to read. We're very familiar with this portion.
But it is just impressed me of late with what we have here in this little account of the Lord being in a home in Bethany, that He perhaps often.
Spent time in and it was a home that he was comfortable in, and it was a place where he felt loved and wanted. And that must have been a tremendous comfort to the Lord's heart when in general he was rejected and he came into his own and his own received him not but here in this house in Bethany.
Where these two sisters lived and their brother the Lord felt welcome. So let's pick up here in in Luke chapter 10 and verse 38 and read just a few verses. Now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had a sister.
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Called Mary which also sat at Jesus feet.
And heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she helped me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful.
And troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part.
Which shall not be taken away from her.
Well, we know the account well, so I won't go into a lot of details, but I think it's it's nice to see these two sisters. They're both, they're both active, They're both doing something. Martha was cumbered about much serving and Mary is there sitting at the Lord's feet now, I'll have to admit that.
I feel, I felt I have read this and I have felt kind of sorry for Martha because.
I can understand in some sense her frustration, how she must have felt like, you know, why isn't Mary helping me? I, she just left me to, to do all of this by myself. And yet it's interesting, isn't it, that the Lord, as it were, he gently rebukes her. He does it in a very loving and kind way, but he rebukes her for the spirit and this attitude that she has. And he commends Mary, her sister, who in her eyes.
Was just sitting there at the Lord's feet. But the Lord sees things differently than she sees them.
And he, as it were, he has to correct Martha's thinking and saying and saying to her that, you know what? What your sister has done is what I would hope for you too, Martha, that.
Here's an opportunity to hear my words, to sit at my feet. And your sister has chosen the best part. And so as I thought about that, I thought about this whole question of serving, and we had a lot about that today, serving the Lord. And so here's one that is serving the Lord. And you think as you as you read this, you think, isn't that that beautiful? Here's Martha, she's serving the Lord, She wants it.
Special for him, and she's doing what she can for him. Why does the Lord speak this way to her? Well, there was a need in Martha's heart. And I wonder how many of us here have perhaps gone through this struggle, maybe similar to Martha, where we've compared our lot with someone else's and we've had similar feelings that Martha had.
And you know, it's, it just struck me as I read through this.
And thought about this, that, you know, there's a lot.
That is said about serving the Lord, but you don't hear as much about the Lord serving us, do you? We, we think about what can I do to serve him? We we talk about it serving the Lord and and what a privilege that is and and that is so true. But the Lord here in a sense is saying to to Martha, I want to serve you.
And that's what Mary is letting the Lord do.
Mary is sitting at the Lord's feet, hearing His word. The Lord is serving her and.
That's the point that I want to convey to you young people this evening, is service is important, but there's a better part, and that is letting the Lord serve us. What do I mean by that? Well.
It's as we are sitting in the Lord's presence, quietly letting Him, as it were, minister to us. That's the the better part or the good part that the Lord is talking about.
And that really has to pro ceed our service for him. So so before you and I can really serve the Lord in the right spirit and attitude and do it for him out of a heart of love.
We, as it were, need to let him serve us first. We need to enjoy that communion with him. And as we enjoy that communion with the Lord, as we let him serve us, then we're going to want to serve him. It's going to be natural if.
If if you if you are in someones presence and you you feel that they love you and that they have the very best for you and they want to serve you, then in turn you want to serve them. That's just the natural response. And I think that's the whole point of this little portion. Is that Mary, the part that Mary chose, the Lord said was the good part because she was sitting there at the Lord's feet listening to his words. He was ministering to her. Later on in this book in the.
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2nd chapter The Lord asks this question in verse 27. He says, Whither is great weather is greater, He that sitteth or meet or he that serveth? And then he says, is not he that serveth?
Is not he that sitteth at me greater? But then he goes on to say, but I am among you as one that serveth. And so I think it's it's been really helpful to me to see this order here that before our service for the Lord comes, we have to let him serve us. Now how do we do that?
How do we do that? Well, this is this is what's beautiful to me about this. This is something that you don't do for anyone else's eye. You know, we, we go out in service for the Lord and people see us and so on. And people make comments and they say, isn't that nice? And did you hear about so and so he's he's doing this for the Lord. And did you hear about this sister and what she's doing for the Lord? I'm not.
Criticizing that, I'm not downplaying that, but.
What is is beautiful about this here is that to allow the Lord to serve us. It's not for anyone elses eye. It's it's something that you in private do with the Lord and you know you may you may we talked today about.
We'll look at, you know, what is so and so look at what so and so is doing. And I wish I could maybe do something like that. But like I said.
Service is something that.
It's done, and then the Lord is going to evaluate in the end what was for him and what was not for him.
And we can be sure, and I've heard it said and I believe it's true, that in everything that we do for the Lord, there's probably something that the Lord has to, as it were, set aside. Just like when he was going to use Gideon and Gideon wanted to give him a sacrifice and the Lord, the Angel of the Lord, told him to pour out the broth. Well, I think there's something in our service and all of our service for the Lord that maybe be maybe as imperfect because we're imperfect beings, but this that.
Where the Lord serves us, that's done in private that no one else sees in your life.
No one else sees in my life that is something that's not going to be taken away and that's that's what's so.
Beautiful at the end of this chapter is the Lord says to Martha, He says, one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the good part, and look, look what it says, The very last words that the Lord says, which shall not be taken away from her. In other words, that time that I.
You spend in the Lord's presence quietly, alone that no one else even sees, in your bedroom wherever it might be, where you allow the Lord to minister to your heart through His word. That time that you spend in quiet that is not going to be taken away, that is eternal, your laborers for Him that you might do. The Lord is going to keep what He can, and the rest will be.
Put aside, if you will, there's always going to be something of of self in it. So I've just really enjoyed this here that.
This good part that Mary chooses that will not be taken away from her. So we might sum it up like this that Mary or Martha is is cumbered about it says with much serving. So Martha is occupied with what she can do for the Lord Jesus and Mary is occupied with the Lord Jesus himself. And that that to me is the difference between the Lord.
Serving us, and us serving the Lord.
Martha here is serving the Lord and she's cumbered about it. And Mary is just enjoying the Lord himself. And that's what he really longs for in each of our lives is he wants that fellowship with us individually and.
And that's something that someone doesn't see and no one's going to be able to say, well, you know, evaluate that, if you will.
Your service for the Lord will be evaluated by your brethren. Don't let that scare you or deter you from doing it, but you're it will be evaluated This that you enjoy with the Lord is between you and him alone. And like I said, I'll just repeat myself again. It has to come first before your service for him. So what we had today was beautiful and all but.
I just wanted to add this this component to it is that we have to allow the Lord to serve us.
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And to enjoy that fellowship of him ministering to our hearts before we are going to be in a condition and a a right attitude to serve him. So that's that's my message this evening is I know that we all want to serve the Lord and I I hope we do anyway. I know that it's it's something that we we're constantly.
Have to be before the Lord about as to what, what would he have me to do and so on. But don't don't neglect the the.
Good part that the Lord says, or we can say the better part, and that is.
Letting him serve us, let's not forget that he wants to serve us. He wants to serve each one of us by ministering to us. So I, I think that's so important in our lives. All right, we'll just close with prayer and then I'll also give thanks for I heard there was some refreshments so.
Our loving God and our Father, we do just thank Thee for these little touches in Thy word, and we pray that each one of us would seek that good part that cannot be taken away from us to enjoy fellowship one-on-one, as it were with our Savior, the Lord Jesus. To just let Him minister to our hearts to through His precious word, that we would not neglect it in our lives and that we might as a result of that being.
A right attitude and place to serve him in some capacity. We just pray for thy help.
We give thanks for each one of the young people here. We pray for their encouragement. Thou knowest.
What each one is going through in their own individual lives and he struggles, temptations, whatever it might be, decisions that they're faced with. Our Father, we just pray that thou would come in and undertake for them and give them knowledge and wisdom as we spoke of that today as well. We just thank thee too for the refreshments that we.
By nature, enjoy these things that Thou has provided. We just pray for nourishment for our bodies. We commit ourselves to Thee for the rest of the evening and for a night of rest as well. We ask for it in the precious and worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.