Fighting For His Presence

All right, who is excited for the Word this morning? I am excited, because I feel like the Lord has something so precious and so special, and I think He’s already given us a glimpse of it this morning, of just being in His presence. We’ve been in a series called Kingdom Come, and we’re wrapping that series up today. We’re going to be moving into our Christmas series next week. But we’ve been in this scripture, Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, where Jesus says, “But seek first” — everybody say “first” — “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

We’ve been talking about some of the benefits of seeing His kingdom established in our lives, and really what it takes to see His kingdom flourish and grow wherever we go. And there are many benefits that happen when we prioritize His kingdom. But in order for us to see those kingdom benefits, it requires a transformed heart — a heart that truly desires to be with Him, to seek Him, and to see Him move in our lives.

If you were to ask people in church, “Do you want God to move in your life?” I think most people would say, “Absolutely,” without hesitation. But how many of you know, for His kingdom to be established and for His kingdom power to move in our lives, it requires our full attention. It requires self-sacrifice. And it requires us to refuse to be distracted by everything else that is going on in our lives, and to seek Him first. Amen.

And so we’re wrapping up this series, and today we’re talking about fighting for His presence. Fighting for His presence. Everybody’s like, “Oh man, it’s game on today.” Tell somebody next to you, “It’s game on.”

Two sisters, two responses

Luke chapter 10, and we’re going to start at verse 38. This is a story that probably many of you have heard before, but it gives such a beautiful picture of what Jesus is looking for. Luke chapter 10, starting at verse 38, says,

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted” — everybody say “distracted” — “Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Notice we see here the story of two sisters with two totally different encounters, two totally different experiences. And sometimes we read this story and we think Mary was the one that really loved Jesus, right? She was the super-Christian, and Martha, not so much. She was just kind of Christian or something like that. We read this and think, well, Jesus just didn’t have all of Martha’s heart. But how many of you know that’s not what we see here? In fact, it says Martha was the one that welcomed Jesus into her house. Martha was the one that was preparing a place. And it even says that Martha was also one who would sit at the feet of Jesus.

And so we see that this really isn’t about their heart or their love. But there was a choice that was made, and this is what I want us to notice today. This is what I believe the Lord is wanting to point out to each one of us. You see, Martha knew how to welcome Jesus into her presence, but Mary knew how to stay there. I’m going to say it again, because that was really good. Martha knew how to welcome Jesus’ presence, but Mary knew how to stay there.

And I think there’s something that Jesus wanted to point out in this moment, and there’s something that the Lord is inviting us into: to be people that not just experience the presence of God, but to be people that stay in His presence, that entertain His presence, that push aside all of the other distractions and fight for His presence. Because how many of you know there’s a fight? There’s a fight, because the cares of this world are heavy. They’re real. In fact, oftentimes the things that are going on around us seem like the most important thing.

But I want you to notice what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying, “Martha, Martha, you are distracted. You have good intentions. You welcomed Me into your house. But Mary knows how to stay in My presence, and she has chosen what cannot be taken from her.” Oh, that we would be people that don’t just come in and experience the presence of God, and then just go back out and live our lives like we always do, with our own plan and our own agenda. But that we would be people that entertain His presence wherever we go, because we give Him our first. We give Him our attention. We give Him the best part of our day, right? Why? Because our heart is His. It belongs to Him. Amen.

Martha, Martha

And so when we read this story, it’s not so much about who loved Jesus more. It’s really better to equate it to two people who are going to church. Both people can come to church and sit at the feet of Jesus. They both love the Lord. But they respond very differently to His presence. Verse 39 says, “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’”

Notice Martha thinks that her sister’s being irresponsible, right? Like, “Lord, I know this is important, and so I’ve got to make it happen. I’ve got to make things happen for You.” And we can get so consumed about all the other things around us that we miss who it’s really all about in the first place. You see, when Martha is saying that, she’s saying, “My sister is being irresponsible, because she’s only focused on You.” And I think if Martha really knew the way Jesus was going to respond, she wouldn’t have said it this way.

But notice what Jesus says in verse 41. Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.” Let me tell you, if Jesus has to say your name twice, you know something’s different, right? It’s like when you’re growing up and maybe you’re doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, and your mom uses both your first and your middle name. You know it’s important, right? There is weight to what is being said. Am I the only one that was getting in trouble, doing things that I wasn’t supposed to? When your mom used your first and your middle name, she had your attention. Amen.

And so here’s Jesus, and He’s saying, “Martha, Martha.” Now, sometimes I read that and I picture Him saying it like, “Martha, Martha,” shaking His head. But I actually wonder if it could have been more like, “Martha. Martha.” Sometimes we don’t hear what Jesus is really saying to us, because we’re so distracted. We get so busy about all the other things, we don’t hear Him calling. But how many of you remember Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”? The question is, are we hearing Him? Are we giving space to hear His voice, to hear what He is speaking to us?

Notification after notification

And so here’s Martha. She’s in the presence of the Lord, but she is distracted. Now, I was putting this together and I really wanted to bring this into current terms, and so I came up with just a little paraphrase of really what Jesus was saying. This is what Jesus was saying: “Martha, Martha, you’ve been distracted with all your emails. Here I am, I’m calling out, but you’re on your phone. And there are many things going on, but you keep texting over and over. And then when you’re done texting, you get on Facebook. Martha, you keep responding to everyone else but Me.”

We can get so easily distracted. How many of you would say you come to church and you’re like, “Man, I need to spend more time in the Word. I need to pray more often.” And you leave here feeling like, “I’m going to do it. I am going to be with the Lord and I’m going to spend time with Him.” And then you leave and you go out, and maybe you even sit down to do it, and then all of a sudden your phone vibrates, right? Anybody else know what I’m talking about? Maybe you forgot to put it on airplane mode, and now you check one thing, and then all of a sudden you’re checking five things, and it’s notification after notification.

How many of you know there are so many things that are after your time? I sometimes get to the end of the week and I’m like, “Where did the time even go?” I mean, so many things. Technology — how many of you are thankful for technology? But how many of you know you can spend a lot of your time troubleshooting technology? Isn’t that right? Especially if you’re a Windows user, right? If you have a PC, you can spend most of your time trying to just get the printer to work. So much time can go into those things.

Or things like entertainment, where we watch movie after movie, and we just get addicted. And right now it’s Christmastime, and so all the Christmas movies are on, and so I’m going to watch all the Christmas movies, and we just absorb ourselves and give ourselves over to that. Or maybe it’s social media, and we go to Facebook and we say, “Facebook, tell me what my life should look like.” Or we go to Instagram and we say, “Tell me who I really am.” And we spend all of our time going to these other avenues. And what we don’t recognize is that the time we spend is really our life. When you spend time, you spend life, and once you spend it, it’s spent.

You see, none of the things that we’re talking about are bad in and of themselves. Jesus wasn’t saying to Martha, “Martha, you really shouldn’t be cooking. That’s a sin. In fact, you shouldn’t cook; you shouldn’t eat.” How many of you know Jesus didn’t say that? Jesus isn’t saying that you can’t do these things. But Jesus was talking about a heart issue: that so oftentimes we give so little to the One who has given us everything. The One who gave everything just so He could be with us. The One who gave His life.

Think about this. God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to be with us here on earth. God Himself became human like you and me, and He lived a perfect life. And He gave His life, and was beaten, was tortured. His blood was shed, and He died on the cross. And on the third day He was raised to life. He overcame death so that we could have life with Him forever. And now the Bible says He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Think about that. Jesus loved us so much that He gave everything so that you and I can be in right standing with Almighty God, so that we can be with Him.

And we get distracted. We make it about the other things. We go about our to-dos. We go about our priorities, and we say, “I’ve got to get to this first.” But aren’t you thankful that’s not what Jesus did to us? He wants nothing more than to have people who would put Him first, because He puts us first. He loves us and He cares for us. And so none of these things are bad, but that time just goes away. It goes away.

Maybe you’ve been here before. I know I have. I’ll be sitting and I’ll be doing something meaningless, or just kind of letting my brain go to that numb place where I don’t have to think or feel anything. You guys know what I’m talking about, right? Where you’re just kind of in a zone. And something on the inside says — not guilt, but something on the inside says — “When’s the last time you heard from the Lord? When’s the last time I was in His presence just to receive from Him?”

And I believe this is what the Lord is inviting us into: that we would fight for His presence the way He fought for us. That we would maybe just re-evaluate some things. And maybe rather than making Him the last part of our day, maybe we say, “No, Lord, You get the first part of my day. I’m going to make sure that You get my first, that You get my best, because You deserve it, because You gave it all for me.” That we would just begin to re-evaluate, and make it such a priority that we would say, “God, without Your presence I have nothing. Without time in Your presence, it’s all meaningless. I can’t function the way that I’ve been created to function. I can’t do the things that You’ve called me to do if I’m not spending time with You.”

You see, how many of you know that when you are born again, the Spirit of God comes on the inside? And not only has He given you a new spirit, He’s also given you something to give to other people. He has empowered you to speak words into the lives of others, to preach the gospel to others, to pray over others, and to see miracles happen — to see heaven come down in a moment and change someone’s life forever. How many of you know that if you are born again, that is accessible to you? God wants to use you to touch other people, to encourage people, to love on people, to speak a timely word.

But if we don’t spend time in the presence of the Lord, how many of you know we’re running on empty? If we’re not spending time receiving from Him, and we just keep sucking in all of the world’s counsel, all of the world’s advice, or maybe we just spend all of our time consuming the world’s entertainment and pleasures and comfort — when times come when somebody needs a touch from Jesus, what do we have to give? The same thing that the world has to give. The same advice as the world. But we’ve been given something more. I said, we’ve been given something more. And so this is something that is accessible to us.

So here is Martha. Jesus comes into her house, and she feels the most important thing that she can do isn’t to just be with Him. “The most important thing I can do is to serve Him.” That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? But how many of you know you can spend a lot of time doing ministry but not actually being with Him? You can spend a lot of your life trying to do things for God rather than being a child of God. And really what Jesus is after is the latter. He’s saying, “No, no. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek Me. Be with Me. Spend time in My presence. Spend time sitting at My feet, bringing worship and praise to Me.” And what does He say? “And all these things shall be added to you.”

How many of you know God knows exactly what you need? You may think you know what you need, but God really knows what you actually need. And when we put Him first, He says all these things will be added to you.

A spiritual battle

Jesus is coming to Martha, and He’s saying, “Martha, you are distracted with a lot of things.” We’re talking about fighting for His presence. How many of you know it’s a spiritual battle to be in the presence of the Lord? Amen. You wake up early in the morning, and all of a sudden it’s just like, “Well, I can seek the Lord lying down.” That’s a mistake. And then two hours later, “Oh, I’m late for work.” Right?

It’s a spiritual battle, because there is a real adversary that is focused on not allowing you to be in His presence. He wants to keep you from His presence, wants to keep you out of His Word, from receiving His Word and hearing it and believing it and having it in your heart. Why? Because the enemy knows that if he can keep His Word out of your heart, then you’re just like everybody else. But if you get the Word in your heart, how many of you know you can overcome anything the adversary throws at you?

And so there is a spiritual battle taking place in the heavens to keep you from coming to church, from being in His Word, from spending time in prayer, from falling on your knees and giving Him worship, from pouring out that adoration, that praise that He is worthy of. I don’t know about you, but when we were in that time of worship, that was refreshing to me. When we spend time worshiping and praising with a sincere heart, in spirit and in truth, He’s filling us up, and it’s giving me what I really need. I don’t know about you, but sometimes my body says, “You just need to lie down.” But what I really need is to spend time in His presence. And so if we can get the Word in our heart, the enemy can’t handle you.

So Jesus comes to Martha’s house to minister to her, but she is distracted by serving Him and others. And look at what Jesus says in verse 41. It says, “And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.’” And notice what Jesus says: “But one thing is needed.” One. Just one.

One thing is needed

I was watching some football yesterday. I love football — no, I don’t love it; I like it a lot. Okay, but I really like it. Sometimes in the fourth quarter they’ll hold up four fingers, right? They all do it together to say, “This is it. This is the end. This is our stand.” The Badgers did not do that very well yesterday. Okay. But Jesus is here in this moment, and He’s saying, “Listen, just one thing is needed. You’re distracted with a lot of things that you think are important, and you’re trying to solve them the way that you think is best.”

But Jesus is saying one thing is needed. And notice what He says: “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” What did Mary choose? To be with Him. To sit at His feet. To receive from Him. To hear His word, hanging on every breath, because His breath is life. In His presence is fullness of joy. One thing is needed.

We need to be people who don’t just welcome His presence and then go back, but people who entertain Him — not by performing tricks or having to prove our worth. He’s already made us worthy. The way that we spend time with Him is we choose Him. We choose Him. Notice what it says: Mary has chosen. Everybody say “chosen.” Think how many times throughout our day we don’t choose Him. I’m not trying to make us feel guilty. I’m just trying to really help us understand our rhythms, our patterns, and what the Lord is inviting us into. And He’s saying, “Will you just be people who choose Me?”

That He would be your source. That He would be your ultimate. That when you’re going through things, you wouldn’t look to your friends, you wouldn’t look to your family for advice, you wouldn’t just go to your boss or your coworkers. That you wouldn’t go to Reddit — that’s a forum for advice and topics and all these other things. That you wouldn’t go to Google. Let’s say that one; everybody knows what Google is. That you wouldn’t go to Google, but that we would be people that go to Him. Amen.

We must choose that good part, which will not be taken away. You want to know what’s important? It’s this. You want to know how to see His kingdom rule and reign established in your life? It’s this right here. You want to know how to see His power released in your life, to see the supernatural happen? You want to know how people can go to people and encourage them and pray over them and God moves wherever they go — like the Spirit of the Lord is upon them? You want to know how that happens? It’s this: that we would be people that sit at the feet of Jesus, because He really is the answer.

All the inadequacies that you feel, all of the problems that you face, the voices that you hear that say you’re not good enough, that you won’t measure up — every single thing, Jesus is saying, “Will you just look to Me and choose that one thing that matters most?” Amen.

We’re coming up on a new year, and my wife, in her infinite wisdom, said, “I don’t want to wait till New Year’s to make a change in my life. I want to hit the new year running. I want to hit the ground running, and I want to make the change now.” And we are approaching this new year rather quickly, and it would be a dream for me that we would all choose to be people who sit at the feet of Jesus. To be people who want nothing more than just to be in His presence. That, yeah, maybe church is going to go a little long, but I don’t care, because I just need to be in His presence. I need to spend time in worship. I need to spend time acknowledging who He is, reminding myself of what He’s done. That when I’m singing songs, I’m not just going through the motions; I’m declaring His goodness in my life.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of that, but sometimes we just need to say it again. Why? Because He’s worthy. Amen. That we would be a people that sit at the feet of Jesus. That we would be people that would make the tough decisions, that when opportunities arise to do other things, to be distracted, we wouldn’t be distracted, but we would choose to sit at the feet of Jesus, because He is everything. He is everything. That this would be a time that we would fight for His presence. Amen.

Choked by the cares of this world

I’m going to close with this, but I’m going to invite you to turn there if you have your Bibles: Mark chapter 4. This is the parable where Jesus is talking about the sower. You guys know what I’m talking about. Some seed is thrown on good ground, some on rocky ground, some among thorns. And this is really a representation of the different ways people receive His word.

But I want you to notice what Jesus says in Mark chapter 4, verse 14. Jesus says, “The sower sows the word” — the word that was received, the word that was spoken, the truth. “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

I want you to notice — and this is just a full disclaimer on this whole parable — Jesus never even refers to people that never heard the word. Because Jesus is saying, listen, if you’re not receiving the word, then you don’t have a chance. But He is saying, if you receive the word, you’ve got to watch out for this. I love how the Lord has given us the enemy’s playbook here. Because how many of you have ever gone to church, and on the way home you get in a fight with your spouse or your children, and you forget everything that the Lord just said? Anybody else? Or is this just me? This is just me. Okay. “Oh Jesus, I need more time right here.” Okay.

When does the enemy come? Immediately, when you hear the Word. There is a strategy from the adversary to get the Word, the good news of the gospel of Jesus, out of your heart immediately. And notice what He says here in verse 18: “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world” — and this is what we’re talking about here today — “the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Let me tell you, if we allow our time with the Lord to be choked, we become unfruitful. And there is no reason any believer in the body of Christ should ever be unfruitful, because He is life. He says, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” That means if we spend time in His presence, then we too will overcome the world. But how many of you know we’ve got to get our priorities in order? There is never a time where we should be unfruitful as believers, because the Word says that when we are planted in Him, when we spend time in His presence, we become like a tree planted by rivers of living water, which bears fruit in its season. Every believer is to bear fruit. The Word of God works for everyone.

And I want us to go back, because Mary understood something. She had the computer going off in the background. Jesus is welcomed in, and all of a sudden her phone vibrates. The computer goes off and says, “You’ve got mail.” People in the corner are talking about what’s happening on their Twitter feed or their fantasy football team, and all these other things are going on around her. But notice, Mary understood something in that moment. She made a choice to spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus.

And so verse 19 says, “The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” This word “cares” in verse 19 is related to the Greek word for “divided.” It means when we get consumed about things other than what God has put in front of us — the Word that we have received — we have a divided mind. You may be saying, “I need to go to church more often. I need to get in the Word. I need to pray. I need to worship. I’m feeling down; I need to look to Him. I need to lift my head to Jesus and spend time at His feet.” And you’re saying all these things, but then all of a sudden that divided part of you comes in and says, “Yeah, but you’ve got to go to that game, though.” Or, “You had dinner plans with so-and-so.” Or, “You’re supposed to spend time with friends right now.”

See, none of those things are bad. But this is saying that when we allow ourselves to get distracted by cares or worries, the Word of God gets choked and you become unfruitful. I don’t know about you, but I want to be a fruitful believer in Christ Jesus — one who has been empowered by the Spirit, who has a heart that’s been transformed by God, who has been renewed and is becoming more and more like Jesus every day. Anybody else? And so we can’t come in here, receive, feel good, and just go back to normal. We need to protect the Word we’ve been given. We need to protect it. We need to receive it. And the best way we do that is spending time with Him. Let Him remind us. Turn to Him. Look to Him. Spend time in His presence. You see, one thing is needed. One thing is needed. His name is Jesus.

The psalmist says in Psalm 27, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Verse 8 says, “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’” Oh man, that inspires me. When God calls and says, “Hey, I want you to spend some time with Me. I know what’s coming into your life. I know what’s on the horizon. I know what you’ve been through.” Jesus is calling. He’s saying, “Would you just come and spend time with Me?”

I know all reason, all logic would say you don’t have the time, you don’t have the energy. But when Jesus calls and says, “Would you just come and spend some time alone with Me?” — that we would be people who, when He says, “Come seek My face,” say, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

And sometimes we can’t even go to church without being distracted. We sit in church and we’re distracted, we’re scrolling on our phones, we’re not receiving the Word. And it’s as though sitting in a seat and clocking in is what matters, and it’s not really about hearing the Spirit of God. I don’t know about you, but we come into His presence to hear what no one else can tell us. We come into His presence to hear words where the Spirit speaks to us in real time. Because how many of you know these aren’t just words that were written in a book two thousand years ago? The Holy Spirit is speaking to us right now. And as I’m speaking, you’re hearing my words, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. And He might be showing you things — things that He’s promised, dreams that He’s put in you, adjustments that need to be made.

And that we would be people that say, “Lord, I hear You. And Lord, I pray that it wouldn’t just be rocky, thorny ground. I’m not going to get it choked. I’m not going to get distracted. But I’m going to spend time continuing to give You thanks and being at Your feet, receiving what You have given me.” Amen.

Spiritual warfare is verbal warfare

Second Corinthians — and I’m going to close with this, I promise. Second Corinthians chapter 10 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments.

What are arguments? “Oh, you’ve got to see this real quick.” “I know I’m coming to the Lord. I know I’m going to church. I know I’m sitting and I’m hearing these things, but I just got to check this out real quick.” How many of you know the enemy’s going to try to keep you from receiving His Word, from giving it the proper attention that it deserves? And the way that we confront the adversary isn’t just with, “I can do this, I can do this.” How many of you know spiritual warfare is verbal warfare? And the Book of James says that your body follows your tongue.

And so when those times come, and that distraction is creeping in, or you have those random thoughts and you want to go take care of some business just real quick and then you’re going to come back — how many of you know we can just lift our heads, and we can lift our hands, and we can say, “Jesus, I need to hear from You today. Jesus, I’m looking to You today.” I don’t know about you, but when I lift my hands and I worship, everything else starts to become irrelevant. All the things that I came in concerned with are no longer as big of a problem.

That we would look to Him. This is what Jesus is inviting us to. This is where Jesus wants us to be — not as a legalistic expectation, but as an endless invitation of possibilities of His kingdom established in our lives. Thank you. It was good. Everybody else was like, “Well, it wasn’t that good.” No, listen.

How many of you know temptation is not always a sinful temptation? Temptation from the adversary is just to get you off track, to keep you from receiving the things that God has for you, to keep you from being the person that God has created you to be. You see, temptation is not always a sinful temptation. It’s whatever the enemy can do to keep you from actually receiving the Word and being in His presence. But how many of you know today the Lord is speaking to us, and He’s exposing things in our hearts? And He’s showing us that we don’t need to settle for anything less, and that the place that we need to be is right here — to be at the feet of Jesus, receiving from Him, allowing Him to bring healing to your life, looking to Him as the answer.

And let me tell you, Jesus is so good that when you spend time at His feet, He begins to speak things to you. Some of you might be like, “Man, I’ve never heard God speak to me.” I would say you need to choose Him first. You need to choose to not be distracted. You need to choose to be at His feet. Just spend time in His presence and allow that soothing to come. Allow that life to be poured in.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I treat God like a commander, and I just go, “God, what do You want me to do?” And then I just want to go do it. But how many know He’s not concerned about what I can do? He’s just concerned about me, and He wants to give life when we come into His presence. You guys tracking with me today? This is His heart. My heart is that every time you come and hear the Word here, you wouldn’t hear me, but you would always see Jesus. And I believe He’s given us such a clear picture of what He wants more than anything. One thing is needed. Oh, that we would choose Him. Oh, if we just choose Him.

We choose You

In fact, can we do this right now? Let’s close our eyes and let’s just fix our eyes on the Lord. And just tell Him right now, maybe under your breath or in your own words, say, “Jesus, I choose You today. I refuse to be distracted anymore. I refuse to be caught up in my agendas, in my to-dos. I don’t want my time with You to be choked anymore, but I want to be someone who chooses You and who sits at Your feet.” We choose You, Jesus. You are the way, You’re the truth, You are the life. We give You thanks.

We’re talking about fighting for His presence, and it’s not a fight with anybody. It’s a choice. And I pray that we would choose Him. Amen.

Can we stand together this morning? I’m just going to pray over you. We’re going to continue to respond to the Lord, but can we just do this? Can we just look to Him and just again say, “Lord, I’m seeking You. Lord, I hear Your voice speaking to me. Lord, You’re saying to seek Your face, and Lord, I am saying, ‘Your face I will seek.’ Lord, I will be a person that chooses You, that chooses to be in Your presence, that chooses to entertain You. Lord, I don’t just want to welcome You and be done with You. No, I want to entertain You. I want You to be with me wherever I go.

“And so, God, I don’t look to myself. I don’t look to my friends. I don’t look to my family. I don’t look to my career for my fulfillment. Jesus, You are the only thing that will satisfy. You are what we need. You are the one thing that we need. And so, Lord, we side with that today. We stand on that today, and we say: You are my source. You are my Lord. You are the one that I follow — my Master, my decision-maker, the one that I need to be with every day. We love You. We choose You.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How many of you are thankful for His Word? Amen. Let’s choose the Lord. This is the busiest time of year. Let’s choose the Lord, and let’s just watch how He moves in our lives, how He uses us to impact the lives of others, how He fills us. When people are looking at us and they’re like, “How are you getting through all of this?” we say, “Well, I have Jesus.” Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.