0:01 [Music] Let's have a word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we praise and thank you for this evening when you we can gather together in your presence. We pray that you'll open your word to us Lord and 0:20 speak to each one of us. You know our need and we come humbly at your feet waiting for your word. Speak to each one of us. And we pray Lord that your name will be glorified in everything that we say and do today. We ask in Jesus name. 0:36 Amen. Good to see you all. Hope you all had a good summer break. And um I sometimes I think it'll be so good if we were living in the times of Jesus 0:54 when Jesus was on earth um in Israel and he met different women with different needs and all of them could freely come to him and tell them what they were going through and he he didn't send away anyone uh empty He met 1:14 their need and he spoke to them, comforted them, gave them some hope, gave them healing. Whatever was their need, he met their need. And we all, all of us have come from different backgrounds. Some from uh 1:31 Christian, some from non-Christian, some godly homes, some homes which are not so godly, lot of violence maybe, maybe broken homes, sorrow, maybe we were not treated well and we sometimes we suffer because of our 1:48 childhood memories and we we can come to the Lord and whatever state we are, whatever we've gone through, we can be sure we can come to the Lord. God and he'll meet our need. Um right now he's here in our in our midst and he can 2:05 speak to us and comfort us. I was um thinking of some of the women who came to Jesus when he was on earth. One um one of the studies earlier I had we were thinking of uh Martha. Today I 2:24 want us to meditate a little bit on Mary her sister. I mean the the story of two sisters. So Mary was very different from Martha. Imagine if we were that type of person 2:41 like Mary was growing under the shadow of a very dominant sister. a sister who's very efficient and good at everything, can plan things and invite people over, cook 2:58 meals, take care of everything. And Mary grew up under her shadow. Can you imagine? Some of us may be like that, having grown up under a strong mother or right now working for a strong boss or some strong relative is controlling 3:18 our lives. And Mary must have often felt like why am I here? What should I do? Must have felt dejected, must have felt like uh I'm treated so badly. How will ever anyone ever be able to understand me? 3:36 Where can I go and get comfort from? Living with such a dominant person has many challenges. Sometimes it's good to have a sister like Martha who will come and help us and support us and take the initiative. But sometimes we feel like 3:56 we are pushed down. We are dominated by somebody and Mary is a was a must have been a person like that and she must have been tempted to talk back or complain to somebody or go to some person and get some comfort from 4:14 someone, tempted to argue or get even get depressed. But Mary did the right thing. We know what she did when Jesus and his disciples came to visit their home in Bethany. Now, Bethany was just three 4:31 miles from Jerusalem. And Jesus and his disciples would often walk that way. And Martha took the initiative to invite Jesus. And when Jesus came, Mary thought, "This is the opportunity for me to sit and listen to what Jesus had to 4:48 say." And she sat down and listened. Sister Martha who said told even complained to Jesus and said tell her to come and help me. But you know when we are at in such a position like Mary and we are controlled by others and we have 5:06 nowhere else to go, we can be confident that Jesus will take up for us. And you know what Jesus said, Mary has chosen the best thing. She has chosen the right thing and that good thing will not be taken away from her. Dear sisters, that is the best thing we 5:25 can choose to spend time with Jesus to wait at his feet. Whatever our situation is, spend time with him and that will never be taken away from us. Jesus said, "If we value that sacred time which we want to spend at Jesus' feet, that will 5:43 never be taken away." And I wonder what Jesus must have even helped her with. Sometimes I think like there are words of wisdom Jesus can give. If you look at James 3:17, we read these words that the 6:03 wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good foods, good fruits, impartial, yet sincere. Jesus must have given us those words of wisdom and said 6:22 be gentle, be open to reason, be sincere, be full of mercy, forgive, you love somebody. Jesus must have given her such words. And even if he may not have said that, she got that in her spirit. 6:40 Doesn't matter how what I face in life or who I have to deal with. God will give the Lord will give us the wisdom to deal with every situation and he'll sustain us. Spending time with the Lord is worth it. Let not let 6:59 nothing rob us of the time we spend with the Lord. And the the word that we spend at Jesus' feet will be so precious. The the word that we hear from Jesus will be so precious. It will sustain us through every trial that comes. 7:18 So the first part the when I think of Mary I think of her three episodes in her life that we read of. The first episode is in Luke chapter 10 where she sat at Jesus' feet and she listened to the words of Jesus. That's the first episode and 7:38 that's what we need. We can learn from her and we need spend time with Jesus and listen to his word and let not our busy life or the things which we have to do and which are undone stop us from that precious time which we have we can 7:56 have at the feet of Jesus. The second episode which we um which I thought of sharing was again at the feet of Jesus but this time she wept at the feet of Jesus. 8:15 If you read that you can read the whole of Luke chapter 10 I mean John chapter 11 we read that something happened to that family. Um they there was sickness. They had a brother 8:32 uh Lazarus and he became sick. And they thought when somebody is sick they must have felt like all how we all feel the best thing we can do is call Jesus. Even if we are there's no doctor around we can call Jesus and ask him to help 8:52 us. And that's what these two sisters did. sent for Jesus. Jesus the one whom you love is sick. Please come. Please come. And they had they had many instances they had seen when Jesus came and he prayed or he touched the person 9:07 who was sick and healed them. So they were sure that Jesus would come running. He drop everything and come running to help them. But Jesus didn't come from we know that there was a purpose in that. But Mary and Martha didn't know. I 9:25 sometimes wonder which is more difficult facing sick when we are facing sickness or when we watch someone else take care of someone else who's sick. Which is more difficult? Which which is more brings more suffering to us? We suffer 9:42 when we are sick or when we see someone else go through that suffering. I think seeing someone suffer for me I think is greater suffering. I think it's hard for me to watch a loved one get sick. Sometimes I think I wish I could 10:00 get that sickness on myself and relieve my child of that suffering or my loved one of that suffering. And Martha and Mary must have felt like that. They watched Lazarus getting sick sink and get more and more sick and no sign of 10:16 Jesus. They must have been looking out. I'm sure why what happened? What? Why is Jesus not coming? Why isn't he answering our prayer? Every delay that the Lord gives to answer our prayer is has some purpose. 10:34 We should never doubt. Martha Mary must have felt discouraged and forsaken. And why isn't Jesus coming? Temptation to doubt must have come. But finally when Jesus came it was must looked as if it was too late. Lazarus 10:52 was dead and he was 4 days in the grave. That's when Jesus decided to come. And can you imagine what the sisters must have felt? Mary must have thought after all the time I uh spent at Jesus' feet 11:11 listening to his word and the me we prepared and gave for Jesus he doesn't come when we need him he comes when everything is over and Lazarus is dead when there looks like there's no hope 11:26 and Jesus when Jesus came Martha met him first but she came and told Mary the master has So she ran ran to Jesus and this time instead of sitting at his feet she fell down at his feet and wept 11:45 and Jesus understood her. He wept with her. When we are in some when we face some vague trial in our life and when we come to Jesus the place where he can find us is at his feet and when we weep he weeps 12:03 with us. He comforts us. He doesn't send us empty or scold us. No, no explanation. He comes to comfort us when all even her sister could not comfort her at that time. But Jesus comfort was there. If you read in Psalm 12:22 84, if you turn to that psalm, you can read these precious verses. Let me read that in Psalm 85. Psalm 84 verse 5. How blessed is the man 12:41 whose strength is in you. In whose heart are the highways of heaven. Passing through the valley of Baka they make it a spring. In the margin it says baka means weeping. When we go go through the valley of weeping and 13:01 we it's remember we are just passing through it. We are not going to live in that valley of weeping forever. It's good to remember we are just passing through that valley. And when we pass through that valley we make it a spring. 13:15 There's a spring. There's a a pool there. Not a pool of tears, but a refreshing pool of freshness. The part the pool where there's water from the Holy Spirit pours upon us and refreshes us. That's what the Lord has 13:39 kept for us. Even in psalm there's another psalm psalm 23 which says when I go through the valley of shadow of death you are with me your rod and staff they comfort me. Many times when we go through 13:55 suffering, the Lord is with us and his comfort he his rod and his com staff comfort us. Instead of tears of sorrow, there'll be blessing springs from the Holy Spirit poured upon us. Praise God he doesn't leave us in 14:15 our time of suffering. I remember the words of Kit and Boom when not Corid and Boom her sister, you know, when they were in the concentration camp and they went through suffering after suffering and Betsy her sister was going through 14:33 very close to death through all the beatings and the hardship they faced in the concentration camp. Betsy told her sister and Corin was so discouraged and she wanted to give up and she want she was tempted to hate these people who are 14:50 persecuting them. But you know what Betsy said? Betsy said there is no pit so deep where God's love cannot reach it. There's no suffering, no pit so deep where God's love cannot reach us. Dear sisters, let us when we go through any 15:09 type of suffering, let us remember whatever, however deep that suffering is, there's no pit which is so deep where God's love cannot reach us. His love and his compassion, his goodness is there for us. Praise God. Suffering 15:28 doesn't last for always. But God has a plan for suffer for suffering in our lives. We read in first Peter that God allows suffering so that our faith will be tested. It's a it's a fiery testing. But when we come through that fire, our 15:47 faith is tested and we come out as gold. Remember the time we when we remember the time when Daniel's three friends were put in the fire. Who was with them? The Lord. and he sent an angel or he himself the son of god was with them when they went 16:04 through that fiery trial. So when we go through fire and testing and sorrow the lord himself comes with us. It's not that we are alone he someone is there. Sometimes when we go through this dark tunnel of suffering and we think lord is 16:23 there end is there no end to the suffering and it's all dark and we feel we are alone. Then we realize there is someone with us. The Lord Jesus, he's with her. And he says, "My child, I'm with you. Don't doubt. I'm here with 16:41 you. I have gone through this path before." That's the wonderful thing. I've gone ahead of you. I came to earth as a human being just like you. I came to earth and I went through this path of suffering. It's not that I was sitting 16:56 in heaven and and been sitting in heaven and as almighty God I can understand your suffering but more than that I came down to your level. I lived on this earth and went through suffering and I overcame and right now I'm with you and 17:16 you can overcome. You can overcome with the power of the Holy Spirit. the power, the resurrection power. Though I died, I overcame and I've got that resurrection power to give you and you too can overcome. What a comfort it is when we 17:33 think that Jesus, he doesn't leave us alone. He comes running to help us. He and we when we run to him, he's already there to help us and he makes intercession for us. He's there to pull us out. If you read those and we read 17:51 those wonderful words in Hebrews, Hebrews 4, if when you have time, you can go through those words. Hebrews 4 it says he was tempted like us and he sympathizes with us. He runs to help us. After every storm, the sun comes out. 18:09 Sure, not the storm is not going to be there forever. the sun will come out and then we can come out glorious and we say Lord when I went through the storm you were with me you led me through and you gave me words of comfort you sustain me 18:26 and when I and I come out of it those words I can use to comfort others praise God praise God that we can come to him and in Matthew 11 verse 28 it says come to me all You who labor and are heavy 18:44 laden, I'll give you rest. Learn of me. That's the rest that Mary learned when she was sitting at Jesus' feet. She came to him and she learned from him. And so in her time of trial, she could find that rest. Jesus had already prepared 19:01 her. You know what Jesus told her? This is for the glory of God. This trial, this suffering, even this death of Lazarus is for the glory of God. In many times when I have gone through some time of suffering, 19:20 ahead of that suffering, the Lord gave me some word to sustain me. Sometime back there was some intense suffering waiting for me and my family. And before that, the Lord gave me this word. This 19:37 is for the glory of God. If you believe, you will see the glory of God. And that when I read that word, I felt like this is not the ordinary word which I can just read. I felt this is a prophetic word for me. God going to lead me 19:54 through some some experience where he can say this is for the glory of God. Only believe like that. Dear sisters, when we go through some trial before that, if we are faithful like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, God will 20:11 give us some word. The Lord Jesus will give us some word and he'll say this is the word. Keep it. Keep it in your heart. Treasure it. One day you'll find need for this and that word will comfort us. It will sustain us. We don't have to 20:29 look to human beings for help. The word with God has given us in our heart, strengthen us and sustain us like the L like in our times of need sustain us and we get fortified. We get strengthened to go 20:47 through that trial. Praise God that he gives us strength for our every trial when we go through. There is no uh sorrow. There is no pit where God allows us to go through. There's no 21:05 tunnel where God allows us to go through. No darkness, no dark room where feel we are locked in. Where God's presence is not there. God's love is not there. There's no room like that. Everywhere we every trial, every dark 21:22 day, God's presence, God's love is with us. We can only hear him if we open our ears and we doubt we don't doubt him anymore and we trust. He says I let you trials will come. We all have to go through trial for some in some way or 21:41 other but different ways for each one of us. We go through the trial but he'll sustain us and we'll come out purified like God. Praise God for that. We don't have to be discouraged. We don't have to be surprised. Oh, what's this terrible 21:57 thing happening to me? Say Lord, this is planned by you. You, this plan which you've given me, this trial is just like a wrapping paper. Is your present to me. I open the trial and I go through it and open this wrapping paper. There's 22:16 godliness. There's virtue. There's goodness for me. There's a great gift of me gift for me that I'm going to be like Jesus. That is the present. But this trial is just the wrapping paper. Dear sisters, let's not be taken up with the wrapping paper. 22:33 Sometimes it looks ugly. Sometimes it's just um brown paper. It looks so unattractive. Sometimes it's full of thorns. Sometimes it's shiny. But whatever it is, it's just a wrapping paper this time. When we 22:51 go through it and we unwrap it, there's something valuable. The presence of Jesus, the glory of Jesus, the nature of Jesus which he's going to give us, that's the gift he's going to give us. So when we go through any 23:07 trial, even if it's death, but we are surely all of us are going to go through death. Cory Tenboom's uh when she was a child she asked her father, "Dad, what is it to die? How how is it to die?" 23:25 But then her father told her, "When you when you go when you are going to some when you're going to some place, you buy a railway ticket or a ticket and you get into it." Just like that, when we face some trial, the Lord will give you 23:41 grace. Even if it's death, he'll take care of it. He'll give you some grace to go through that. So, let's not be discouraged. In this in this case, in Mary's case, um Mary and Martha expected a healing. But God gave something more 23:59 wonderful. He he made a miracle. He raised Lazarus from the dead. And that was the testimony. Everybody around it saw this is the living Jesus. And before that miracle, Jesus taught them some wonderful things. He taught them about 24:16 resurrection. I am the resurrection and the life. If you believe in me, even if you die, you live. Lived. Those were words we don't find anywhere else but in what Jesus told those two sisters, believe in me. Even if you die, you 24:31 live. You live with me forever and ever. And he he shared with them the trial and he comforted them. He showed his glory. He said this is not this is only for the glory of God. Believe in me. He taught them to have faith. Believe in me. Never 24:50 doubt. You know after that experience of Lazarus being raised from the dead. Do you think Mary and Martha would have been say would have been the same? Even Lazarus. Lazarus of course he had that experience coming back to life. Do you 25:06 think how do you think Mary would have been the same after such an experience? She wouldn't have bothered of any being taken up with anything in this world. She thought what is more wonderful that I have come to see the value the 25:23 spiritual value of Jesus eternity. I had a taste of eternity. I had a glimpse of eternity when my brother was raised from the dead. Mary must have been quite a different person after that experience. And that's what brings me to the third 25:42 episode of Mary. the third episode of Mary's when we read that in um John chapter 12 where we find they had a celebration for Jesus a thanksgiving when when Jesus did something so 26:01 wonderful even if he Lazarus was healed they would have had a celebration but in this case Lazarus is brought from the dead they had such a wonderful celebration And here Martha was serving and Mary planned something it something so 26:19 wonderful. She she had they had already spent so much money at the death of Lazarus. You know in in Israel if somebody dies they they prepare the for the funeral the burial they buy a lot of 26:37 expensive spices and they pack the body with the spices and they put linen around it wrapped linen cloth around it that's how they prepared for burial so they must have spent a lot of money preparing for that burial of Lazarus and 26:54 put him in the grave like that all those spice and all that and um all their money must have been over but I don't know from where Mary got that all her savings must be she must have taken it and bought this expensive 27:13 rare ointment spikenard sweet smelling ointment and she planned she said I'm going to anoint the feet of Jesus here we see again Mary at the feet of Jesus But this time she anointed the feet of 27:31 Jesus. This time it was worship. This time it was sacrifice at the feet of Jesus. Thanksgiving. And God appreciated it. This this act with Jesus with Mary did must have been 27:48 prophetic. Jesus understood. Even the disciples couldn't understand what is this waste of so much of money. And Jesus who came from heaven, money doesn't matter anything. He he would have se Peter would have seen the 28:06 disciples would have seen in no time they had plenty of fish to sell and then needs were met. Jesus could could money was no problem for them. But yet, and Jesus had told them, I am I'm going to 28:23 die for the sins of people of of human race. I'm going to be raised from the dead. They had been warned that Jesus is going to die. But yet, they were so taken up with money. They they couldn't understand this lady, she's offering something as a 28:42 act of thanksgiving. Instead of uh appreciating that they scolded her and they said what a waste of money this is. But Jesus understood. Jesus understood the spirit with which Martha Mary had done that. She again she 29:00 said she has done a good thing. Just like in the first case he said leave her alone. She has done a good thing. She has chosen the best path. Here again Jesus told leave her alone. She has done something. It is going to be remembered 29:16 for all generations because he she has done something which no one else could do. Anoint me. But you know it was not just the act of anointing. It was a sacrifice which Jesus saw in Mary 29:34 that remind me of what Abraham did. That same spirit Abraham had when Abraham, he had just one son whom he loved. And God so told Abraham, we read that in Genesis 22, Abraham, you love your son so much. 29:53 He's an idol in your life. I want you to take that son, your only son whom you love, and take him and sacrifice him, slay him on the altar. I'll show you which place. And he said, "And Abraham obeyed. He he though it was such a 30:12 costly sacrifice. He put took Isaac and put him on the altar and was about to slay him. Then God said,"Abraham, now I know that you love me. You're prepared to sacrifice everything. Your love is so great. You love me more than your son. 30:29 You love me more than anything else. Because of that, Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you, your family, your children, your descendants. There's no limit to which I'm going to bless you. There's no limit to the 30:44 blessing I'm going to be because God saw that sacrificial sacrificial heart of Abraham. God Jesus saw that sacrificial heart of Mary and that's why she did something which no one else could do and 31:02 Jesus appreciated it. That remind me of that verse where which familiar verse which uh God which David said if you read in 1 Chronicles chapter 24 David said uh 1 Chronicles 21:4 31:20 when David said when he was going to offer make an offering to God he told on when he said on said take everything free David said I will not offer the Lord that which cost me nothing. In Abraham's case also, God saw previously 31:39 Abraham was willing to give up the best land to Lot. Abraham had that spirit of uh sacrifice giving up, giving up, giving up. And that's why God blessed Abraham and through him we are all blessed. And 31:58 uh Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice when he suffered for us on the cross and gave up gave his own life for us so that we who are scattered and lost in skin sin can be brought into the family of 32:13 God and become part of his kingdom. Now Jesus told God told me Abraham, now I know that you love me supremely. Now I know that your love is so great. And that's what the Lord saw, Jesus saw 32:33 in in Mary also. Now I know that you love me. And what Mary did was something so remarkable. me think, "Oh, I wish I would do I could do something like that." What Mary did, I had if I had a chance to do something which blessed the 32:52 whole um room the everybody in the room got a that part of that perfume on their bodies. I was and Mary was praised in front of everybody. We would think I wish we could be in Mary's place. But Mary did that just 33:09 once one time she could uh make that sacrificial um sacrifice and anoint Jesus' feet. But you know dear sisters we can do something more than what Mary did. I'll 33:25 tell you what in if you read in R in Romans 12 verse one it says I beseech you brothers I beseech you sisters offer your body daily as a sacrifice. What a privilege it is. Mary got a chance to do 33:43 just once. But we dear sisters, we have a chance to do every day something off for ourselves, offer our will, offer our bodies. The Lord looks at us and says, "My child, you love this so much. Are you ready to 34:02 give that up for me? this pleasure that you get, this hobby that you have, this thing which you love so much, are you willing to give that up for me? The Lord asks us and we say yes Lord, I'll gladly give it 34:19 up. That's nothing for compared to what you have done for me. I'll give it up, Lord. Let that be our response. The Lord looks in our hearts and he shows us something, some which we love more than 34:35 him. Some habit that we have. Maybe some pastime, maybe some entertainment, some relaxing, some food, some clothing, something. But the Lord says, "You love that more than you love me. Are you willing to 34:53 give that up?" And our response is, "Yes, Lord. anything, anything I give up because you love me so much. And the Lord says in in if you read in Matthew 16 24- 26 we read if you want to follow me 35:11 and my be my disciple are you ready to be my disciple and you want to follow me you have to deny yourself every day you have to take up the cross you have to say no to your own will just like I did I did every day of my life I said not my 35:29 will father but let your will be done in my life. That's what Jesus did. And he's asking us to follow him and says, are you ready to give up your will and die to yourself? Deny yourself and follow me. I think of discipleship with all the 35:48 D's in it. Are you willing to deny yourself? Are you willing to dish yourself? Are you willing to do it daily? Not just once in a way on Sundays or on some special occasion when we hear a moving ser 36:05 sermon every day daily I willing to do then you can be my disciple that's the searching heart that's the word the lord gives us uh something which we can do more than what Mary did praise god 36:21 praise god for that he doesn't leave us and he doesn't leave us in wretched state. Even when we are uh in the depth of sorrow, in the depth of suffering, there's a answer for us. There's deliverance for us and there's a 36:39 blessing which will follow. And our response is, Lord, I'll give up everything for you. I want to be your disciple. I want to please you. And Mary got what Mary did was written in the Gospel of John. What we do daily in our 36:57 lives may not be written in any book. We may not we need not even give a testimony of it because it's in secret. It's in our hidden life and nobody can see it. Nobody need to see it or know about it. But you know it'll be written 37:13 somewhere in the lamb's book of life. And Jesus who who allowed it to be written there one day he reward us for every sacrifice that we did every self-denial everything that we did for him it's going to be recorded in the 37:31 lamb's book of life and when he comes he'll he'll say to us well done my child well done my daughter I'm so happy with you all those deeds of self-denial those secret sacrifices and hidden life where you didn't grumble 37:48 or complain. I didn't look to human help but you got strength from me. I'll reward you now. Praise God for such a such a wonderful calling we have such a wonderful life we can live such a life of victory and joy in the midst of our 38:06 sufferings whose sufferings are trivial is momentary. Paul says light momentary light affliction but the reward is eternal eternal weight of glory. Praise God. Our time is up but I thought I'll just suff summarize what we have just a 38:26 few things the when we sit the importance of sitting at the lord's feet and listening to his word and the times of intimate fellowship to the lord that's a good thing it should not be taken away don't let anything take that away from us 38:46 value and that sacred time of fellowship with Jesus every day, many times a day, at least once a day, spend time with Jesus. Guard it. Don't let anything take it away. Don't let anything rob us of that time with the Lord. Second, 39:05 when we are in trouble, weep. Fall at the feet of Jesus and weep. And he weeps with us. He sympathizes with us. He is with us. He will not let that sorrow overwhelm us. He will learn some vessel in some precious lesson through that and we'll 39:23 come out of it like pure gold. He runs to help us even as we are running to him to help. So when we face trials let us remember it's only momentary and anytime we face trial that let us be found at the feet 39:42 of Jesus. Then thirdly, the value of true worship at the feet of Jesus. I will not give him some I will not give that which cost me nothing. My daily sacrifice Lord it's costly for me daily. I'm going to die to 40:02 myself. I'm going to be a devoted disciple of yours and all that is done in secret Lord and you're going to see it and you're going to be happy with my life. Praise God. Shall we close in prayer? Our heavenly father, we praise and thank you for the 40:22 wonderful calling that is ours as sisters. Thank you for the good examples you've given in your word. Lord, we want to be your disciples, Lord. We want to follow you. We want to be serious about our Christian life. We do don't want to 40:36 be taken up to this wrapping paper of our trials but we want to value that gold thing golden thing which is inside us Lord the divine nature which you want to give us. Please help us to be true and faithful and look to you Lord and be 40:53 worthy of being your disciple. We ask these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. [Music]
