Draft transcript prepared from the recording and edited for readability. Audio proofreading is still pending; please refer to the recording for the spoken wording.
You're listening to Revival Messages from the 2026 Asbury Revival. But Whit, thank you for inviting me. And before I get going, I want to recognize a couple of people. It was fun. I was sitting here talking to Whit, and I saw this tangerine, sherbet-y orange shirt coming up from the cars. And it was Pete Dennick. And Pete Dennick has known me since I was an associate pastor at Duluth First United Methodist Church many, many minutes ago. Right, Pete? And the fun thing about Pete is when I was in Pine Mountain and I served there, Pete popped by and saw me one Sunday morning right as I opened the doors of the church.
And it was fun to see Pete there. He seen me at Sugarloaf. He was a member of the church when I was there. And one day, even as he was going to visit his daughter in Aspen, he stopped by my church in Oklahoma City to see me. So I've seen a lot of Pete, and it's really great. And then I was looking, and then I see Ron and Nancy May, members from Sugarloaf Church are here. And I look up, and Matt and Amy Miller are here from Madison, Georgia.
And your own cousin didn't come, Brian Martin. And Whit is Brian's family. But Brian had to be on an airplane today. So we'll give him a little grace, just a little bit of grace. But I'm having a blast looking at the pulpit. I'm trying to think about how many people have preached behind this pulpit over the years. And this brings me back fond, fond memories of my very first church. My first year of seminary was almost over, and the district superintendent, Jimmy Thompson, called me for lunch.
He was at Shoney's off Pleasant Hill. You can tell the young people what Shoney's was all about. They'd be like, how dated is that guy? He's really old. So Jimmy said, Matthew, what are you going to do next year in your second year? I said, well, I'm going to go back to LaGrange College. I'm going to work for Stuart Gulley and David Rowe. And he listened to me ramble for a little while, and he looked at me and goes, you don't know what you're going to do, boy.
You're too young, and you're too dumb, and you have no clue about life yet. And I loved his honesty. I loved how brutal he was. He was just like, what you're going to do is you're going to go to Sardis. And I was driving up here tonight, and I was thinking about Sardis because I passed a Sardis road. And he goes, you're going to go there, and it's going to be an awful church. And I'm like, sweet. I didn't say that. And he goes, these people are going to hate you.
And I was like, he goes, but you're going to find out if you really are a preacher or not there. And he goes, in fact, I think every young pastor should have to go to a church. They're going to hate you right out of the gates. And I was like, a challenge? I just loved it. And so I went there, and there was a pulpit about this exact same size and stature. And I remember being in it, and I would put my hands like this, just like this.
And I'm pretty sure if you went to that church today, there are imprints of my fingernails. And so I'm having a little bit of fun there. But the question I have for you tonight is, what distracts you in church? What really distracts you? And one of the most distracting moments ever at that first church, I'm up there flying the pulpit, just holding on for dear life, just, you know, honestly hoping the service would end. And this little girl stands up in the third pew. And she was teeny tiny, and she was one of the only kids in that entire church.
And being one of the only kids in that church, she could commit murder. And they would have been like, would you like to be on trustees and finance? And so she stands up in the pew that day. And, I mean, she's just like the whole world. It's just like, oh, isn't she cute? At least we got one kid at the church. And, I mean, you know, like you could tell it was distracting folks somewhat. And what was so funny about the kid, I'm holding the pulpit like this.
I'm watching this. I'm trying to preach louder because she's just so much right there. And her dad was a big guy, and he's just dying. And the mom was there, and the mom was between the little girl and the father. And he went to reach for her, and she just sidestepped down the pew. And I'm like, that was actually pretty cool. Like, she handled that well. And then the dad, he just got redder and redder. And it was probably, if you were seated behind him, you could just see the red in the back of his hair, because he had a good haircut like me.
And he goes to look at her. And you can tell, you know, like, dad, we're saying like a novel worth of stuff. Nothing's coming out. And, you know, it's like everybody in the church. I mean, Jesus could have walked in the back doors. Nobody would have noticed. Like, everything was like, how's Matthew going to handle this? What's going to go on? I mean, it didn't matter what you said in church that day. And then he goes to reach for again, and she steps right down the pew a little bit further.
Kind of falls like I start to, but then she gains it, and she sticks the landing. And everybody's like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. The dad did not think so. Again, I'm flying the pulpit just like this, and I'm like, what do you do? Like, I'm 23 years old, first church you have. I mean, what saves this, right? So I just held the pulpit harder and tighter and made the indition even deeper. And on the third time, he was a big guy. So again, he kind of rocked left to go right.
So he kind of rolls this way, and he goes to reach for her. And this little girl, she steps even wider, but she didn't step down the pew. She kind of got out of kilter, and she stepped out of the pew and did an instant somersault and right into the hardwood floors. And her dad said the one word you cannot say in church. Remember Ralphie from A Christmas Story? Remember the word he got his mouth washed out with soap for? Right there, and it was right when I paused.
Right when I paused. There was a guy literally in the back of the church, and it wasn't as big as this. Back of the church, he woke up and he said, what did the preacher say? The little girl's crying. The mom is mortified. She picks the little girl up, and some genius in the life of the church, probably on the trustees in 1912, put a pew all the way against the back wall. So you couldn't walk out the side to get out of the church gracefully.
You had to come all the way in front of God, everybody, down that green shag carpet right out the center aisle. And again, right as I pause again, they get to the back door, and it's one of those just double doors that go both ways. And I paused, and the little girl goes, Mama, please don't kill me. And Miss Cora Duncan's in the front of the church, and she was jiggling like a bowl of jello. She was laughing so hard, and she goes, oh, she's dead.
I mean, we all have those stories about things that distract us in church, right? They're fun. We like to laugh at them. But let's be real. There's a lot of things in church that distract us that should not distract us. And can I get going now? Whit was telling me, you guys are in the middle of a building project. Matt, we just did that. Ooh, Amy's like, ooh. Yeah, Matt, it's my finance chair and all this. And, I mean, you're just looking at invoices coming in and out.
Guys, y'all are going to get distracted between now and Pentecost, and I want to warn you right now. Be careful. And turn to the book of Luke with me, the 10th chapter, and let's jump in. You brought your Bible, open it up, Luke chapter 10. If you have it on your device, pull it out. Pull out the Bible app if you have reception and see if you can pull it up. The book of Luke is wonderful. All the Gospels are amazing. But Luke chapter 10 is robust.
It's full. Let's lay the groundwork, and let's talk about what's going on. If you just look at the labels or the little labels for each of the pericopes or the sections in Luke chapter 10, one of the first things it says is Jesus sends out the 72. It's an exciting time. I mean, y'all go get to work. Y'all go do it. And tell me what happens when you come back. And then when Jesus sends them out, what's the next thing he does? He goes and he curses the unrepentant cities.
We're going to send you out to do work. And then the people that don't get it, I'm going to curse you. And Korazin. I mean, all these cities. I mean, so then he goes on a little bit. And then the return of the 72, and they get to celebrate. They have a party. I mean, I wonder what it was like. All the stories there. Jesus rejoices about the Father's will. And then Jesus really gets into this parable that so many of us have heard since we were teeny tiny.
The parable of the Good Samaritan. He's sending them out. He's doing work. He's calling sin a sin. He's calling those cities that are just not going to produce any fruit. You know, he calls them out. They celebrate, and he starts to teach the parable of the Good Samaritan. Because he knows all the places they're really going to go in the years ahead. And then at the end of the 10th chapter, you've got Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha. Church people. They do a lot of work.
Church people that do a lot of good things. That are busy. And one is lifted up. And one's kind of called out. And I hope for some of you in the room tonight, I lift you up. And I hope for some of you in the room, the Holy Spirit calls you out. Now the question is, are you willing to have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to know? That's between you and the Holy Spirit. Like, I can come in here, say a whole lot of things, drive an hour, it's only about an hour and a half.
Hour and a half, back to Madison. And you don't have to deal with me anymore. He's got to clean up the mess. Or is it the Holy Spirit? You didn't come out on a rainy night just to sing songs. You came out on a rainy night to experience God's holy power. And yes, put me way to the side. Forget what I say. But ask if the Holy Spirit can speak to you tonight about what you're distracted about. In Luke chapter 10, this is what it says, Mary and Martha.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. It sounds pretty good there. She's doing the right thing. Do you know who Martha is? Martha's the older sister. Martha has to do all the work. Martha's the one that out of the family expectation, she's the one that has to be the hostess. She's the one that has to prepare the house. She's the one that has to make sure the meal is ready. That is her role in ancient Israel in the time of Jesus.
She is the one that's supposed to do all this. So she goes out. She welcomes Jesus. She's excited. The Bible tells us that they're friends of God in a whole special way. And she's doing her part. And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary. And very quickly it gets to the heart of the matter. Who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teachings. 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 are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her. The Word of God for the great people of God. Thanks be to God. So let's really think about this today, especially in light of where you guys are in this building process. It's kind of exciting right now, isn't it? I mean, you got some good stuff happening this week at the site.
It was telling me that. I mean, it's going to be exciting. But very, very quickly, Matt, Amy, are they going to be distracted? And I didn't bring them just so they could be my yes people. Because if you don't know Matt, he is not a yes person. Is he, Amy? Not even close. Doctor, no. Doctor, no. You don't have a doctor. But it's okay. But it's one of those fun things that we really want to look at in the Scripture in light of. How does the Scripture speak to us?
You know, thousands of years later, and this word distraction is important for us. And as you go into this new season, you're going to be distracted by many, many things, potentially. There's going to be cost overruns. There's going to be change orders. There's going to be things like incandescent paint. Do any of you know what incandescent paint is? Incandescent paint is from the devil. And it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so what we did is, our church, before I was even there, I didn't get to be the founding pastor, but I'm the first pastor.
It's really unique. It's really special. But before we got there, as the pastoral family, the leaders of Madison, they bought 24 acres just outside of town. And they bought an old horse barn, or as one person likes to say, an equestrian estate. I'm allergic to horses. It's a horse barn. And in this, we had to do all this awesome stuff, and it's an amazing facility today. But the state fire marshal was not as excited about our building as we were. And we've sprayed in foam and did all this stuff, and he said, you have to put in incandescent paint.
Now, when you paint your house, you buy a five-gallon bucket of paint, right? Many of them. Five-gallon bucket of paint roughly covers 500 square feet. Incandescent paint covers 50 square feet. And it costs about 20 times as much. So we're going through all this. Everything's going along well. And then it's like, you've got to have incandescent paint in a 35,000 square foot building. And it's like, what in the world? Satan is going to come throughout this process that you're in and want to distract you from the work that is really at hand.
And as we look at the 10th chapter of the book of Luke, what is the real work at hand? It's not getting ready for the perfect party. It's not making sure that all the place settings are right, that the house is cleaned. No, no, no. The work that Jesus focuses in on is that of Mary sitting at His feet. Someone who just came and was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's here. I'll worry about the dishes later. I'll worry about the agenda later. I'll worry about all the things later.
Because Jesus is here. And one of the hopes and prayers I have for you is that as you're in this process and as you get closer and closer to that day of Pentecost, if you get to open on that day, that you don't become so busy with the stuff that you forget to recognize Jesus is here. And so the question is, are you going to be distracted? And do you know yourself well enough before you get into those final days and you start thinking about what's the order of service going to be?
Let Him handle that. Let Dana handle that. What songs? I mean, like I had people calling me and saying, well, Matthew, you have to sing this song on this day. He's like, I don't have to sing anything. Well, we sang it on the very first Sunday before you were ever here. And I was like, that's not a Jesus song. That's a me song. It's like the first day, and I had people upset about the song set on the very first day because they wanted it to be what they remembered.
I mean, some of you, you pull this out and you remember the song and you say, what's your favorite one? I mean, I loved it. I was sitting there next to Whit a minute ago and I was like, I don't know the words to that one. He goes, number five. I mean, you've been in these for a minute, haven't you, Whit? A little bit. That's right. And now we've got this whole new hymnal and I don't even know how to use it. But we can get distracted about a lot of things, whether it's the hymn book, the number, the version, the incandescent paint, where your seat's going to be, who's sitting in your seat.
I mean, but I really want to challenge you tonight because you know what's so beautiful about an eye like this? When it gets rainy, when it gets dark earlier than it should, when it gets nasty outside, the people that need to be here, come. And what really distracts you? I mean, Mary and Martha are there and it's just lifted up as, you know, Mary just sits at Jesus' feet and you're going to only get busier with it. Trustees, building committee, finance team, you're only going to get busier and you're going to be running around.
And what could happen is the opening of your building, you could actually find no joy in it. Because you're so worried about where the flowers are going to be on day one. Who cares? Are you going to be more worried about the flowers than you are the seats? In my very first church, we built a building and this is my first church after seminary really and we built a building and it was awesome and in the floyer, narthex, lobby, vestibule, gathering space, everybody called it something different.
They were going to have a whole meeting on what it should be called and it was like, the room out there. And they had a chest of drawers and in the top of the chest of drawers was a calendar and you could go out there and you could sign up for when you were going to buy flowers or have flowers placed in the sanctuary for worship. You learn a lot about a church about the flowers. A lot. Maybe a little too much. I hope I'm stepping on toes right now.
Yeah, I'm wet, sorry. He didn't tell me to say any of this but I'm just going there. So in this church, I looked and there was a friend of mine in the church and you know what he would buy flowers for? Confederate President's Day. Yeah, you laugh because it's true and it's sad. And so I went out there one year, I put the calendar out there and I said, we're just going to do this in honor of the glory of God given anonymously. And I didn't have to stop there.
Matt knows me pretty well so I didn't stop there. And in Pine Mountain there were three florists. There was the one florist that everybody used and he was really expensive. And my wife and I are like, we can't afford his flowers. And then there was the other florists and those were the Southern Baptist couple that were just mean. And I just, two and two didn't make four and I'm like, definitely not using them. But in our little town there was Anthony McKee. And Anthony McKee was this awesome, awesome man.
And he had just lost his wife to cancer and he had two precious little girls and Anthony was this man and he was just full of life and he would come in and he did a number of things and he did flowers. And I went to Anthony and I said, Anthony, I need you to do flowers on Confederate presents today. And he goes, is that a thing? What I didn't tell you was Anthony's a very, very large African-American man. And I go, yeah, I need you to do it that day, bud.
And he goes, okay. He goes, I don't have a key. I've never been given a key. I've never done flowers at your church. See, in that little town, the white floors could have flowers to, I mean, or keys for flowers for the church but the black forest couldn't. And I said, hold on, in that little town you just run down to Ace Hardware and you just have a key made. And I walk over to Anthony and I was like, here's your key. You talk about distracting at church.
I mean, luckily for me, when I was there, the bishop said, you're only going to be there for four years. You're not going to stay more than four because I'm going to be moved at the end of that time and I'm going to move you before I move so somebody else doesn't get to later. And they had a whole trustees meeting about who gets keys to the church. And I had some old gentlemen in that church say to me, Matthew, you don't have the right to give a key to the church, to the florist.
And I said, actually I do because the discipline says, with all regards to worship, I have final say. And then I looked at that person and said, you're distracted about the wrong things. Our distractions show us our heart. Our distractions shows us what really we obsess over. What may have been important years ago that is no longer important. Now, again, before you get into that building, while you're in this beautiful old arbor, I love it, Matt said, we've got to have one of these. I looked at Amy and said, did he really say that?
But what distracts you shows you your heart. And while you're here in this place, before you get to that place, I want you to think about how you're going to be seated at the feet of Jesus on day one. And if there's something in there that's going to distract you, you know, if the light's not right, I mean, my wife sent me a text in worship today. I thought we weren't doing the lights like this anymore. And I was like, I don't have time for you right now.
I didn't say that. Don't y'all tell her I said that. She's got to be at the bank early in the morning. So she was like, I'm going to stay at home. But like, I'm like, really? I mean, we all have those distractions. I don't care who you are. If you've been preaching forever and a day, if you've been in church for more than a minute, there are things that distract us. And what is it showing us about our heart? And you didn't come out on a rainy night just to have your ears tickled.
Not especially in the work that you're about to do at Asbury. And when you start to build that building, and God starts building that kingdom even more so to you, there are going to be more distractions than ever. And here's one that's going to come. Air conditioning. Okay, you open up in Pentecost, it's going to be summer in Georgia, and you're going to have a whole group of people. They're going to tell you what the temperature should be. Let's think about who the whole group, I'm talking to him, not y'all.
All right? So this is what's going to happen, bro. You're going to have people that are going through menopause, and oh dear Lord, it's not cold enough. And then you're going to have older men, their skin's just getting thin, and they're on something, and you know what? It's just too cold in here. And you're going to hear about it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And for the first six weeks, that's all. Matt, you're laughing because you know it's true, and you know who it was.
Yeah, and that was Matt. He called me and goes, do you know what the bill was for the first month? And I said, I have no clue, please tell me. And I went, oh. I mean, but like, you're going to be so tempted to be distracted. And who wants to distract you? It isn't the Lord above. It's Satan himself. I'm not saying that Martha was wrapped up in Satan's hand by any means. Please know that. That is not what the text says. But it does show us where we're vulnerable.
Here's the older sister. She's doing her duty. I mean, it's Matt's duty to call me and say, do you realize what the air conditioning was? Whew. But sometimes we've got to make sure as tight as we're looking at things, we're spending time at the feet of Jesus. And that is what's going to come. That same first church, things that distract people, that same gentleman who would put the flowers in for Confederate President's Day and thought it was hysterical. we were in a trustees meeting one time and we were talking about redoing the whole church and he started talking about the color of carpet.
And I'm like, man, we have a classic building that's over 100 years old, we should have red carpet. Do any of y'all agree? I mean, just don't care. That's where you need to be. All right? You don't care. Well, back then I kind of did. And I was like, man, this is a beautiful sanctuary, beautiful building, we should have red carpet, the blood of Christ, all that kind of stuff, all the metaphor that's there. And I had one lady on the trustee, she was a handful, she distracted me a lot.
And she said, if you put red carpet in there, that will remind me of the church I grew up in. I hate that church. I'll never come back. I got a phone call that night from the guy that does the flowers and said, I'll pay for every stitch of carpet in the church if you make it that color. And I might even give a bigger donation than that. And I looked at him and I said, you know, I love you and because you said that though, we can never put that color of carpet in because somebody always thinks that that was a possibility.
There's going to be things he has to deal with in this building, friends, that you will never know about and you don't need to know about. Grace upon grace. Because it's an opportunity, but it's just nothing more than a tool. If you can have church here, you can have church there. I mean, when we were in our wilderness season at Madison Methodist Church, we worshiped in a wedding venue, a high school auditorium, a big arbor out at Farmview, and we're two and more gathered. He's with us.
And think about what Martha missed out on. I mean, all these people, all this work, all this ministry, all this good stuff. Jesus is sending out the 72. They're coming back. They're sharing stories. I mean, Jesus had just cursed three cities. And she's worried about the work that has to be done. I mean, it's all the little stuff that happens in church. You know, is it fabuloso or something else? I mean, because somebody, I don't like that smell. Oh, yeah, there you go. Yeah. But do you know what's going to distract you?
It's time now before you're even there to begin to deal with it. So you can encounter Jesus the next time He comes back. Because I think Martha does. When we read the fullness of Scripture, if you study her story, if you get into it this week, that's one of my challenges for you, is to get into the story of Martha and Mary and see how she wrestles with what Jesus says. I mean, Jesus loves her enough to look at her and says, girl, stop. I mean, will you let Whit look at you and say, stop?
Will you have another leader in your church look at you and just say, stop? You're distracted about the wrong things? I hope so. If you get there sooner, your grand opening will be even better. Even better. For the glory of God. God. Because you know what? You're only going to get those first opportunities one time. Your first Sunday. And it's coming. It'll be here quicker than you ever thought. And you only get a chance to do it once. And as Whit was telling me, everything that's going to happen this week and all those exciting things, and you're going to start to see movement at that old Ace hardware, and it's going to become your church home, and you're going to say, why is it taking so long?
And all those kinds of things. You've got an opportunity right now to really spend some time asking what's going to distract you. And ask yourself, why? Why would that distract me? Because often it's our distractions that show us our heart, that lead us away from God, that take us on a path that we don't need to go. Even when we're doing the best of things. And that's what happens on an night like this. You get the people that are working, you get the people that are parking cars, you get the people that are making desserts, people putting up the tent, doing all this work, sweeping up, putting out hay, doing all that.
This group right here tonight, this is the group that quickly becomes Martha, not Mary. Because you're so busy, you forget to sit or kneel at the cross. And I'm not saying you've got to come down here in a little bit during singing the last song, but maybe you just spend some time in your pew tonight. But maybe you do come down here and say, Lord, don't let me have a distracted heart. Don't let me be a distraction like Martha. Because have you ever looked at that in the Scripture?
But Martha was distracted and she became a distraction. While Jesus is doing all this stuff, Jesus has to take his precious time. He's only here for so long and he has to deal with Martha. I mean, maybe what you have to say is, you know, one of your church slogans in the beginning is, don't be a Martha. I hate there's a Martha here. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. We've already ruined it for Karen. But as you come into this week and you get another preacher tomorrow and you get wit later, I really want you to kind of start off right now thinking about the exciting things you have coming.
And that new building, and that new ministry, and that new place, and all the new people. One of the things that's been so exciting for us in Madison is since we have opened, the amount of visitors that are coming in a county that only has 23,000 people. In a county with only 23,000 people in a town like Madison that is gossip central, because it's a small southern town, it is so much fun when people walk in and be like, I don't even know who these people are.
I'm like, how long have you been here forever? God's doing great things. I mean, a few weeks ago we had 11 new, two weeks ago we had 11 new children in children's ministry on Sunday morning. And what we got to figure out is how do we do even more? I mean, it's an awesome season, but it's hard because even I get distracted. Even the preacher's wife worries about the lights. What's the temperature of the coffee? Where's my Sunday school class going to be? What time's the service?
When we opened our new building, we didn't name them Sunday school classes. It's just classroom one, two, three, and four. And people said, can we bring furniture? What are you talking about? I've got an upright piano that's been in my family since the day after the ark landed. It would look great. No, it's out of tune. It should be burned. We're not going to take it. I'll go talk to the trustees about that. Please do. They're loaded for bear also. You know, the one this morning, I told you this one, Matt, this morning, Matthew, I made this quilt.
It's a Christmas quilt. And I looked at this person and I love her and she knows I love her. I go, I do not want Hobby Lobby to vomit in my church. Our first Christmas. I lived in Oklahoma. That's where the Green family's from. That's Hobby Lobby. I mean, you got all that fun stuff to work out, bro. Your first Christmas is coming. They're going to get distracted. Stay out of that fire. But what distracts you? And are you ready to wrestle with it now? So when that great day of new beginning comes, you're going to go from this to that new home.
And don't be Martha. The only way you get there is by spending enough time in preparation and doing the deep look inside saying, yep, this is where I'm the problem. And don't be Martha on day one. All this good stuff. I mean, the 72 go out, they come back and they are praising God. And it said like, this is what it says in verse 17 of Luke 10. The 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I have given you, sorry, I have given you all authority to tend on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. I think Martha's name is written in heaven. But even in the midst of hearing all this, Jesus had to deal with her one on one and let her know she was distracted and she was missing the point.
Guys, you're going to have so much fun in the next year. You got to get ready for all the people you don't even know who they are and why they showed up. You got to get ready for them to come in and be like, how did you even find out about us? And you get ready for that. And know you got a lot of work to do before you get there. But before you can get to the work on the carpet and the classrooms and the time of the service, you got to ask what distracts you.
Because when you're distracted, it's hard to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ, is it not? So as we get ready, I want to pray for you. And I really want to ask you to think about what it is that distracts you tonight. And if you want to come spend some time at this altar and pray over you, do it. Maybe even confess, you know, this is what distracts me. When, you know, worship goes a little long, when it's a little short, when the song isn't what I want, you know, there's all those things.
Do the hard work. Build that foundation now so when you move into that new building, it's a day of rejoicing. A day of great rejoicing in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And if you spend the time now at His feet, it will be even better than you could have expected. Let us pray. Gracious and loving Lord, we thank you for this time together. We thank you for a beautiful ride up. And Lord, we ask for safe journeys home wherever we go tonight. But Lord, if we are a distracted people, do not allow us to leave this arbor in this sacred space where people have been coming for generation upon generation upon generation.
Before the state of Oklahoma was ever even thought about, people were worshiping in this space. Preachers were standing at a pulpit in this area, calling people to the altar. Some of them were saved. Some of them were born again. Some of them recommitted their life. But what if tonight, if there's any amongst us that need that, then come on down. But if there's any amongst us that we want to admit that, you know what, we're distracted? distracted? Or we're easily distracted? And that could hurt the opening of the new building and the ministry of Asbury Church?
Lord, let's go ahead and leave it here so that when we go out, we can do the work that you have us do. Martha was doing her duty. But sometimes when we do our duty, we get distracted too. Because we're not doing it from a place of joy and love, we're doing it from a place of duty. And that's not always good. So Lord, hear every heart that cries out to you. Hear every prayer that is uttered. Yes, Lord. Look deep within us. Shake us and stir us.
And pour us out. So that when that day of opening that new facility comes, we're not distracted, but we're ready for the blessing and the new beginning that you bring to a very special people and a very special place. And all of God's people say, Amen.
