The Movie In My Mind

Summary

Podcast Summary: Elevation with Steven Furtick – "The Movie In My Mind"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Elevation with Steven Furtick
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Episode: The Movie In My Mind
• Release Date: August 1, 2025

Overview: In the episode titled "The Movie In My Mind," Pastor Steven Furtick delves into the profound lessons derived from Luke 10:38-42, exploring the dynamics between Mary and Martha. Through personal anecdotes, biblical insights, and practical applications, Furtick addresses the pervasive issue of mental distractions and the inner "movies" we often play that can lead to anxiety and misplaced priorities.

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1. Introduction: Life’s Unexpected Blessings

[00:00] Steven Furtick: The episode begins with Furtick emphasizing that God's greatest invitations often come through life's interruptions—moments unplanned yet deeply impactful. He shares relatable stories about how unexpected events, like meeting a spouse or serving in unforeseen capacities, can lead to significant blessings.

• “Some of God's greatest invitations will happen through life's interruptions.” [00:00]

2. The Story of Mary and Martha

[03:02] Holly Furtick: Holly briefly affirms the occurrence of such life events. [05:01] Steven Furtick: Furtick transitions into the core biblical passage from Luke 10:38-42, recounting the story of Jesus visiting the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. While Mary listens attentively to Jesus, Martha is preoccupied with preparations, leading her to express frustration that Mary isn’t helping.

• “Martha, Martha. Look at your neighbor.” [05:03]

Jesus responds by highlighting Martha's distractions, suggesting that though her efforts are commendable, Mary has chosen what is truly important.

3. The Concept of "The Movie in My Mind"

[06:00] Steven Furtick: Introducing his central theme, Furtick likens our internal thoughts and expectations to a movie script we’ve authored ourselves. This mental movie often includes repetitive, unproductive scenes that can hinder our spiritual and personal growth.

• “The Movie in my Mind is rated R for ridiculous and redundant.” [07:03]

He humorously relates this to everyday experiences, such as a DVD stuck on "Finding Nemo," illustrating how repetitive thoughts can be as bothersome as a malfunctioning player.

4. Contrasting Mary and Martha: Attitudes and Actions

[10:42] Steven Furtick: Furtick explores the deeper meanings behind Mary and Martha's behaviors. He challenges the common interpretation that Mary simply worships while Martha works, suggesting instead that both represent different internal states.

• “It's an attitude, it's a state of mind.” [12:19]

Holly and Steven engage in a light-hearted banter, personifying Martha as the diligent, organized one and Mary as the listener, highlighting relatable family dynamics.

5. The Five Components of Martha’s Distraction

[15:12] Steven Furtick: Furtick outlines five key traits contributing to Martha’s distraction:

1. Manipulation: Martha tries to control who does what, expecting others to prioritize her way.

   • “She was trying to control someone else's priorities.” [19:48]

2. Obligation: Viewing her service as a duty rather than a privilege.

   • “She was serving out of obligation, not out of privilege.” [27:02]

3. Victimization: Feeling overwhelmed and resentful for having to manage everything alone.

   • “She has a right to be mad, but being a victim doesn’t help.” [34:25]

4. Interpretation: Misunderstanding Jesus' actions as a lack of care.

   • “I interpret that to mean they don't care about me.” [37:32]

5. Expectation: Holding rigid expectations that can lead to frustration when reality doesn’t align.

   • “The movie in my mind is about my expectation.” [43:14]

6. Practical Applications: Breaking the Movie Script

[26:07] Steven Furtick: Furtick shares personal experiences where his own "movie in mind" caused distractions, such as balancing family responsibilities with preaching. He emphasizes the importance of aligning one’s expectations with God’s plan.

• “Do what you want to do, God. This is your story.” [43:14]

Holly suggests a reflective exercise to list daily tasks and recognize that many are unnecessary burdens we impose on ourselves.

7. Integrating Work and Worship

[42:47] Steven Furtick: Moving beyond the biblical narrative, Furtick encourages listeners to merge their daily tasks with worship, creating a seamless blend of work and spiritual practice.

• “We work like we worship and we worship like we work.” [42:47]

He shares examples from Elevation Church, where interns transitioned from serving to worshiping, demonstrating the fluidity between service and worship.

8. Conclusion: Trusting God’s Script

[48:46] Holly Furtick: Both hosts reiterate the importance of relinquishing control and trusting in God’s greater plan.

• “This is your story. This is your movie. I am your child.” [52:45]

[53:14] Steven Furtick: Furtick wraps up by encouraging listeners to let go of manipulative attitudes and align their inner narratives with God’s intentions, ensuring peace and focus on what truly matters.

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Key Takeaways:

• Recognize Internal Distractions: Identify the "movies" or repetitive thoughts that distract you from your faith and purpose.
• Balance Work and Worship: Strive to integrate daily responsibilities with spiritual practices, ensuring neither overwhelms the other.
• Let Go of Control: Trust in God’s plan and relinquish the need to manipulate situations or outcomes.
• Shift Expectations: Align your expectations with God's intentions rather than personal scripts, allowing for greater peace and fulfillment.

Notable Quotes:

• “The Movie in my Mind is rated R for ridiculous and redundant.” — Steven Furtick [07:03]
• “Martha, Martha. Look at your neighbor.” — Steven Furtick [05:03]
• “Do what you want to do, God. This is your story.” — Steven Furtick [43:14]

Final Thoughts: In "The Movie In My Mind," Steven Furtick offers a compelling exploration of how our internal narratives can shape our spiritual lives. By drawing from biblical stories and personal experiences, he provides actionable insights to help listeners overcome anxiety and align their lives with divine purpose. This episode serves as a powerful reminder to focus on what truly matters, letting go of self-imposed scripts in favor of God’s grander plan.

Transcript

[Steven Furtick]

This is an I Heart podcast. Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you, hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message we're studying from Luke chapter 10, verses 38 through 42. Today we're going to talk a little bit about. It's going to be a very practical message. I think it would be a lot of fun too, if you participate. Sometimes you can help the preacher preach better and you don't even know it. So I just invite you to whatever you want to do. But I'm going to tell you this, the sooner you look like you get it, the sooner I can let you go. So you could speed this along today just by looking interested. Just shake your head like this. We get it. This is one of those little Bible passages that you can't quite figure out why this part got included in the Bible, because it seems pretty small, a little insignificant in the scope of the whole narrative of Jesus going to the cross and rising from the dead. And then little things like this get told in the Bible. I want to use this for the third installment of triggered taking back your mind in the age of anxiety. Look at somebody and say, you look less stressed than the last time I saw you. You know, it's always awkward because I tell people to say things to their neighbors. There's always one person who's independently minded and they're like, nuh. But then the person next to them is totally a rule follower and they'll turn to the other person and start to say it. And then like, oh, you're not actually doing it. You're a rebel and you're going to hell. This little passage is going to give us some practical insight today and help us get our minds focused and help us get a concentration on what matters. At least that's our prayer. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Even the first line has a little message in it as Jesus and his disciples were on their way. So something is about to happen while they're on the way somewhere else. Some of God's greatest invitations will happen through life's interruptions. It will be places we didn't plan on going, and it will be through conversations we didn't plan on having that sometimes God will give his greatest blessings. How many can testify to that? Maybe you met your wife not even trying to meet a woman. You were at the club trying to look like somebody who was worthy of a date, and your dance moves proved otherwise. You just happened to. I've met people here who signed up to serve on the parking team and ended up on a honeymoon in Turks and Caicos. So it happens, right? Did that happen?

[Holly Furtick]

Yeah, it happens.

[Steven Furtick]

I'm telling you, it just happened on the way. I pointed out because since we're talking about distractions today, and that's our central subject matter, we need to understand that not everything you didn't plan on is a distraction. Sometimes the distraction is the thing you planned to do that God didn't even want you to do. But you made up your mind what you were going to do before you even asked God what you were supposed to do. Amen. I am. I'm going to preach this. She said, preach that. Well, hey, I'm already halfway there. Study sometime in the Bible all the things that happen on the way or along the way. You'll be surprised as they were on their way to Jerusalem for a festival. Ultimately, Jesus was going to Jerusalem later in order to pay for our sins and die on the cross. That's what he came for. Since he knew what he came for, he could not be distracted by the preferences of people or the plans of others. That's why when Peter said, you can't go die, Jesus was able to say, get behind me, Satan. What you represent right now is in opposition to the will of my Father. So I have to keep moving toward Jerusalem. I have to keep moving toward Jerusalem. I have to keep moving toward Jerusalem. That's for somebody. You're on the right road, and there are a lot of things trying to get you off of it. But here's what happens in this passage. In a little village called Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary who. Listen to how spiritual this sounds. Sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he said. Aw. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?

[Holly Furtick]

Tell her to help me.

[Steven Furtick]

This is funny to me, and I've read it many, many times. Then I laugh because he says her name twice. Martha, Martha. Look at your neighbor. Say their first name twice. Martha, Martha. The Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. The scene ends with this we don't get to see how Martha responds. I'd love to know, but it doesn't say. It just ends right there. The movie just goes to the credits right there. I want to talk to you today about the Movie in My Mind. That's my title for this message. The Movie in My Mind. I wonder, do you have a similar movie? Have you ever bought a ticket to the theater of your own imagination only to demand your money back because that plot sucked? Seeing the same old things and the same old hurts and the same old memories. You know, sometimes the movie in my Mind, I edit together scenes that should have been deleted. And yet they're on repeat in my mind. One time, Finding Nemo got stuck in our DVD player in Holly's Yukon. We know every scene from Nemo because every time we got in the car. I feel like certain things in my life are like that. I'm like Dory, swimming around, just barely remembering Wallaby Way. And just swimming around the same memories. The Movie in My mind. I need to tell you. The movie in my Mind is rated R for ridiculous and redundant. I don't know about your taste in movies. Usually when I get to know somebody the way I get to know them, quickly I'll say, what kind of music do you like? And what's your favorite movie? I can tell whether they're worth talking to by the answer to that. If they go, well, I don't really like music. I'm done with you. You have no soul. Then I'd rather you not believe in God, but at least I can convert you. When we talk about movies, people act real funny. If they know I'm a pastor, they'll always say this Christian answer. Ben Hur, the Ten Commandments. Start listing every Christian movie. I want to stop them. They're facing giants.

[Holly Furtick]

Fireproof.

[Steven Furtick]

I don't have the heart to tell them. I don't usually even like Christian movies. I appreciate good messages and wholesome family entertainment. It's just that sometimes I like gritty movies.

[Holly Furtick]

I don't know why.

[Steven Furtick]

Maybe I like comparing my life to somebody else's worse life. Maybe it's a relief to me that at least it's not that my idea of a good movie. Okay, if everybody in the movie doesn't end up dead, I'm disappointed.

[Holly Furtick]

By the end of it.

[Steven Furtick]

I want the villain dead, the hero.

[Holly Furtick]

Dead, the dog dead. I want the fish on the counter gasping for breath.

[Steven Furtick]

Blood everywhere. Blood of the lamb. Of course, for the church people, it's just a different kind of movie. One of Our campus pastor wives was telling me, when I go to the movies, I don't want anything that resembles my real life. I want happy endings. I want everything to go well. I get enough of the drama. In my real life, I'm a third grade teacher. I don't need drama. I need escape. Yet the worst movie I ever saw was in my own mind. The movies I make. I made one this week. I had something to do when I actually did it. I enjoyed it, but I had made a movie about it. What it was going to be like and how inconvenient it would be and how probably I wouldn't be able to find a parking space. And I probably would have done. By the time I got to the.

[Holly Furtick]

Event, I was tired from the movie.

[Steven Furtick]

Have you ever done this movie? In my mind. Here comes a scene in the Bible we just heard about the Good Samaritan who stopped in this kind of unexpected fashion to help someone in need in Jesus teaching. The next little inclusion here from Luke is about the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven.

[Holly Furtick]

Here's this weird little.

[Steven Furtick]

Movie, this little scene, at least with a really weak plot. Jesus came to a house and two women had a fight. I'm kind of glad it's in here because this is more like everyday life for most of us. Most of us, our life is not epic all the time. Most of us don't claim the promised land every Monday morning. Most of us sit in traffic. My Monday morning usually isn't this miraculous good verses, it's just snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze.

[Holly Furtick]

Okay, if I get up right now.

[Steven Furtick]

Maybe I won't be late. The most epic thing that might happen to me or any given week. Maybe I'll be able to bench press 10 more pounds than I did last week, but probably not because I'm almost.

[Holly Furtick]

40 and my shoulder is messed up. So I'm kind of glad they include these little everyday life things in the Bible where it's like Jesus came to.

[Steven Furtick]

A house and one woman and another woman got in a fight because one of them wasn't doing what the other one wanted them to do and they tried to get Jesus to help and he wouldn't. I like this story.

[Holly Furtick]

I have to tell you one more.

[Steven Furtick]

Thing, and you probably really won't like this because you already don't like that I don't like Christian movies. You're already considering leaving the church and going to a real church with a real man of God.

[Holly Furtick]

I wouldn't blame you for it. But my favorite character in this little scene is not the one Jesus commended, because Mary. Mary is the one Jesus took up for, but Martha is the one I relate to. I don't know if I should say this on YouTube and Facebook. I like Martha a lot more than I like Mary.

[Steven Furtick]

One person, he's dressed for work.

[Holly Furtick]

You can tell why he likes Martha because Martha is the one who pays the mortgage. Did you read the verse? Oh.

[Steven Furtick]

I've heard preachers annihilate Martha in the pulpit. And Martha was too busy. And Martha was running around.

[Holly Furtick]

You know what? Martha is the one who pays the taxes. And Mary is the one with a gofundme. And Mary is the one who gets fired. And Martha is the one who pays the light bill. Let's have a shout for Martha. She's not so bad. Martha is in E kids. Mary was 20 minutes late and complaining because she's in overflow. I like Martha. I like her. She gets crap done. I want her on my staff.

[Steven Furtick]

I told my assistant when I hired her, I said, she's been with me like eight and a half years now. I said, I need you to be kind of saved, but I'm not hiring you to extend the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to everybody who wants to meet with me. I need you to keep a little bit of flesh.

[Holly Furtick]

Come on. We need a little bit of Martha. It's Martha's house. The Bible said a woman named Martha opened her home. If it was just Mary in the passage, Jesus would have had to eat at the soup kitchen. Mary doesn't pay bills.

[Steven Furtick]

It made my job harder to get this sermon ready because I kind of wanted to take Mark to side. That's right, Get Mary off the floor in there. It's Jesus. And 12 dudes just rolled up in the house and Mary's over in the.

[Holly Furtick]

Corner talking about, here I am to worship.

[Steven Furtick]

Here I am to praise ribbons.

[Holly Furtick]

Bow down. Here I am to. Martha said, I am in the kitchen. Get in here and help me. This meal isn't gonna cook itself.

[Steven Furtick]

I like that one actor. I saw him on Twitter. He said something. He said, if you're not yelling at your kids regularly, you're not with them enough. You know how Mary can be. She's so sweet. I never yell at my kids. I never yell at my kids. You're not paying attention, sweethear. You're going to be visiting them in prison, sweetheart. If you never yell at your kids, you notice the people who never complain. I don't complain. I bless the Lord at All times. You're not paying attention.

[Holly Furtick]

You're not engaged.

[Steven Furtick]

That's why you're not complaining now that I totally messed up the sermon. Let's make five points. What the Lord showed me from my own heart and my own life, is that it wasn't what Martha was doing. It's how she was doing. Wasn't her actions he found fault with and corrected. It was her attitude. It was the movie in her mind. I'll show you these five components. I hope you'll write them down so you can throw them in your husband's face when he starts acting like Martha this week. Come on. Don't you want some ammunition? Write this down. Martha is operating in a spirit of number one, manipulation. When Jesus said, you're distracted or worried and upset. The Hebrew word for anxious is split or divided. So there seems to be some sense of divide happening in my mind all the time where I am distracted. The literal meaning of the word distracted, by the way, is pulled apart. It's not always being pulled in a good direction and a bad direction. It's not always the decision to whether, should I cook meth or read my Bible? What is wrong with y' all today? It has to be done. It had to be done. Jesus came to Martha's house because it had excellent ratings on Airbnb. He liked this place in Bethany. He probably liked it because it was clean and orderly. And that was Martha's gift in operation. She was good at that. We praise God for her. But the fault in her logic is that what is important to me ought to be important to everybody else. It wasn't operating in her calling or functioning in her ability. That Jesus corrected it was that she expected others to function according to her priorities. Then she crosses the line from management to manipulation. Managing the situation, which God wants you to do, stewarding what God has put in your life, which is your responsibility. Your hands need to be on the wheel. Jesus will not take it. If you wait for Jesus to take the wheel, you will see him real soon. Martha is now trying to steer somebody else's car. I wonder, are you trying to control someone else's priorities as a cover up to the fact that you don't really have yours straight? Because sometimes in my life, I cross over and it's subtle and I don't do it intentionally, and it's almost subconscious, but I find myself moving from something I care about and I'm concerned about. And then without even knowing it, I start trying to control it because I care about it. I care about it. So much that I begin to try to control it. Then I ruin the thing I love. I ruin the relationship I love because I get confused about where my responsibility ends in God's sovereignty begins. Then I start manipulating. It's my nature to manipulate because I'm Martha. Martha means master. It's her house. She's the one making the payments. Sometimes when you're making the payments, you want to set the priorities to a degree. It's right. But watch what she does. You can hear it in her language. And often our. Our language is an indicator of the leaky places in our life. We can see where we're losing our energy, our focus and our peace. Through evaluating our language, she says, what verse was it? 40. Lord, tell her to help me. That's called passive aggressive.

[Holly Furtick]

Tell her.

[Steven Furtick]

She's not even saying Mary's name. She's that mad. This is like Holly, tell. Tell your children. They'll do this to us. They'll try to manipulate us. Dad, could you please tell mom that we need more time on Fortnite?

[Holly Furtick]

No, as a matter of fact, I.

[Steven Furtick]

Can'T tell mom that, and I won't tell mom that. Because we are united, whether it's Fortnite.

[Holly Furtick]

Or whether it's homework or whether it's vegetables.

[Steven Furtick]

You are not going to play me against your mom because I was with her first.

[Holly Furtick]

I get more pleasure out of my relationship with her than I do out of my. I can French kiss her, and I'm not about to lose points with her. Tell her to help me.

[Steven Furtick]

Jesus is manipulative. It's manipulative. It's trying to get you to do. Here's what she's doing.

[Holly Furtick]

She's saying, jesus, I wrote a script for how this visit is supposed to go. In my script, Mary is here in the kitchen with me. In my script, my husband comes home at 5:30. In my script, my wife acts like his wife acts. In my script, my kids are like their kids. In my script, I. I'm married at age 23. In my script, say, you have your script, but Jesus didn't come to read.

[Steven Furtick]

The lines off of your script.

[Holly Furtick]

He's the author.

[Steven Furtick]

And he will not be manipulated. He's like, no, Mary, don't move. I think there's a Mary and a Martha living inside every heart. The more I reflect on this passage, I see a contrast not just of two women, but two tendencies in me. Not only do Mary and Martha live in the same house, they live in the same heart. Part of me is Martha. Thank God, because that puts Food on the table. Part of me is Mary and needs to know what's important. I'm really sorry, by the way, for all of the manipulative preaching that I sometimes, I'm sure, quite often have been guilty of and others who stand here because we try to make you do the right thing, but we sometimes go about it in the wrong way and we need to do better. And in the same breath, a preacher will thank the tithers in the church but then get mad if the tither has to miss a week for a trip to work so he could go make some money and feed the family and tithe. It's kind of confusing. There are always cliches we can use about priorities. I heard this one, one time. Nobody ever said, this is a voice I go into when I'm.

[Holly Furtick]

Nobody ever said on their deathbed. I wish I had spent more time at work.

[Steven Furtick]

That's fine. I'm not on my deathbed right now. Right now my kids need braces. For my kids to get braces, I'm going to have to bring home some money. So before I get to my deathbed, I have different things pulling on me. I have different things pulling on me. Notice Martha was distracted. Not by Candy Crush. She was distracted by something that was important, just not important in that moment. It says she got into a manipulative state of mind. Tell her to help me. The reason she did is because she herself was being manipulated. She herself was being pulled. There was something guilty in her. There was some perfectionist tendency. Enneagram 1. Holly is doing this new personality thing. Well, it's not a personality thing. It's a witchcraft or horoscope or something. No, it's really actually good. She said the tendency of my personality is it could always be better. It could always be better. Perfectionist. Perfectionist. So I feel Martha because there's something pulling on her to make it nice. Because she respects her guest and somebody has to do it. But it gets out of order. You can see it in her language. You can see it in her language. Tell her to help me. Then you can see it in the language of the text. It says she was distracted. Give me that same verse again. I think it's the same one. By all the preparations that had to be made. Here's the phrase that had to be made. Now she's operating not out of a sense of privilege, but to get to do it. But out of a spirit of obligation, I have to do it. The preparations that have to be made. Obligation. Sometimes you will pray and ask God to give you an opportunity, and then you will praise God when he does it, and then give it a year, and your prayer request will be the same thing. That was a praise report a year ago. Because what starts out as an opportunity, hey, let's have Jesus over now, becomes an obligation. So you find yourself like me. I was walking out the door a few years ago to preach on a Saturday night, and I guess I wasn't in the best frame of mind. The movie in my mind was probably really busy. A lot's going on. The kids are pulling me, and this is pulling me. And maybe I didn't have my message right like I wanted to. Saturday night is interesting because a lot of times I'm still trying to get it exactly right. So I'm divided and I'm thinking about this, and the kids are doing that. The kids were the distraction. Even though they're the priority. In that moment, I had somewhere to be that I needed to be. I looked at them and I said something we've all said thousands of times, and I still say it all the time. But it was the way I said it.

[Holly Furtick]

I said, get off me. I have to go preach.

[Steven Furtick]

The spirit of God spoke so clearly in my heart. No, you don't gotta. I know it's bad grammar and God probably uses correct English, but this is how he spoke to me. You don't have to do any of. Kind of stopped me in my tracks. I start playing it out. Well, if I don't show up, who's going to preach? Somebody. That's true, isn't it? If I don't want to do it, somebody else does. Huh? Okay, kids, not right now. I get to go preach for the glory of God to shepherd the flock over.

[Holly Furtick]

I didn't say that. I wish I was that spiritual. It takes me longer than that. Here's a good exercise to do if.

[Steven Furtick]

You'Ve been distracted, pulled apart. Go home if you have time tonight. Martha, I know you're busy, but before.

[Holly Furtick]

The day is over, sit down and make a list of all the things.

[Steven Furtick]

In your life you have to do.

[Holly Furtick]

Dishes and phone calls and bills and appointments and messages and all of it. And then go back through the list.

[Steven Furtick]

And cross every one of them out because you don't have to do any of it.

[Holly Furtick]

That is horrible grammar and great theology. Tell somebody I don't have to do none of it. None of it.

[Steven Furtick]

None of it.

[Holly Furtick]

Well, I have to go to work. No, you don't.

[Steven Furtick]

Don't go.

[Holly Furtick]

But I have to pay the bills. No, you don't. You don't have to live indoors either. You don't have to do any of it. Hold on, let me make a quick announcement. This is probably really bad for church growth. You don't have to come to church. No, don't come here because you have to. Come here because I owe him the glory and God has been so good to me. I can't wait to give him the praise I owe my life. Let everything that had breath praise the Lord. High five your neighbors. Say you don't have to. And if they don't high five you back, say, you don't have to. You don't have to. You don't have to do any of it. You don't have to study for your test this year. You don't have to pass your class. You don't have to get a job or ever be employed or have any money with which to enjoy your life. You don't have to. I get to.

[Steven Furtick]

I want to.

[Holly Furtick]

I want to get a want to.

[Steven Furtick]

Back in our worship.

[Holly Furtick]

You know what I'm saying? Where the worship leaders don't have to work so hard and play your song. That's my jam. I just love that song. I want you to be able to throw up your hands to anything they sing that mentions the name of the one who sets you free. And if you're singing about Jesus, I don't care if I'm watching on a screen, on an iPhone or in Rock Hill. I'm not praising him because the preacher told me to. I watched. Want to give him praise. I want to give him glory. If you want to. There was a girl who came here from church, from Danville.

[Steven Furtick]

Where is Danville?

[Holly Furtick]

I don't know. They said it was like an eight hour drive. She drove eight hours. Somebody else wouldn't drive eight minutes. But that's all right. God will always have somebody who wants to waiting to take the place of somebody who wants to complain. This is starting to hurt about what I have to do. I want to raise my kids. I don't always feel like it, but what does feeling like it have to do with it? I want to kill this lion. I want to kill this bear. I want a shot at Goliath. I want to sit at his feet.

[Steven Furtick]

It's a privilege. You have to fight Martha. Martha will make you miserable. No, I'm going and I want to go. I want to. I want to.

[Holly Furtick]

Man.

[Steven Furtick]

There'S nothing worse than having somebody doing something for you because they ought to. It doesn't feel right. It makes me nervous when Somebody is doing something because they should. I don't want your should, love. I don't think God does either. The worst word we use is ought. I ought to. That's worse than I've got to. Because now you're obligated and you're not even doing it. So now you have all the burden of obligation with none of the efficiency of commitment. Buck is so funny now. You've never heard him make jokes, but he is hilarious. You just got to give him the right thing. We were working out one day a few years ago. He made me a workout. I went in and went, ugh. I looked at the workout. It was some legs, some burpees. I said, ugh. He says something he respects me in, and I pay his salary, but he said, it's so cool. He said, what kind of workout do you like? I heard him. I heard what he was saying. You make that same noise every time you walk in here, no matter what I write on the board. Can you hear Martha in the kitchen? You know, she's making all kinds of noise in the kitchen. She's making sure Mary and Jesus can hear banging pots together. What's really weird about the passage is Martha is simultaneously the judge who is telling Mary what she needs to do and the victim. This is the third attitude that causes us to be distracted. Remember, distracted is not an action. It's an attitude. It's a state of mind. Now she's in the third element that makes a really bad movie in your mind, stresses you out, keeps you. Keeps you from really entering into the joy of the Lord. And that is victimization. It's taking on the victim mentality. Lord, she left me to do all the work by myself. On the surface, this is sensible, but being mad at Mary doesn't make your life any easier. Like, maybe Mary should help. But that's not your place. You can't make Mary do anything. So she's judging one minute and she's a victim the next. That's why the Bible says you don't want to get in this habit of judging, because you, too will be judged. You will become the victim of your own judgments. When you don't let other people operate in their grace, you will find very little grace for yourself when you need it. You start scrolling, and for a few pictures, you're okay. It's like, oh, their baby is kind of cute. The real stuff you don't say to them, kind of cute? No, they're on vacation again. They know they can't afford to be on two vacations in six years, Martha is getting mad. Madder and madder and madder with every flick of the finger. Oh, must be nice. Does she think she looks good in that?

[Holly Furtick]

Somebody needs to tell her.

[Steven Furtick]

Tell her, Jesus.

[Holly Furtick]

Tell her that's too tight.

[Steven Furtick]

Tell her that dress fit her in a previous lifetime. Y' all should come to the 9:30. That's when I'm fresh, alert and guarded. So Martha is mad and in a sense, she has a right to be. But remember something now. It's in verse 38 where it says not only was it Martha's home, her name was on the D, but it was Martha's idea to begin with. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. Touch the person next to you and say, this was your idea.

[Holly Furtick]

Come on now. You're the one who wanted to have Peter and Bartholomew and Judas. It was your idea to let all these former fishermen up in our house. Don't get mad at me because you wanted to have a party, but now.

[Steven Furtick]

You want me to panic because you overcommitted.

[Holly Furtick]

Don't move, Mary. Don't let people who over commit drag down your priorities into the chaos of their urgency because they made bad decisions. And don't do it to yourself either. Don't make yourself the victim. Everything I'm stressed about today is something I committed to yesterday. I'm mad about a schedule I made.

[Steven Furtick]

I have to take these kids to the game.

[Holly Furtick]

No, you don't. Parents. Since when did we get in this prison of having to be at everything okay this side? Holy Spirit just left that part of the church. Some of y' all need to drop your kids off at soccer and go out on a date with your wife because your kid is an average soccer player and they're not going to score anyway.

[Steven Furtick]

Soccer.

[Holly Furtick]

So go to Bonefish. Not every game. Go to some games. But God, my God, every once in a while it's good for our kids to get the message. The world does not revolve around you and your dance recital. If you want to dance, baby girl, I'll be there. It's wonderful. And I'll show up when I can, but I might not be there every time. And I'm not going to beam any place places at once. So I have to be where I.

[Steven Furtick]

Am and be okay with that.

[Holly Furtick]

I feel freedom breaking out in the church right now.

[Steven Furtick]

Now go to the next game. Don't let Martha, who comes to every game, make you feel bad because you couldn't make that one.

[Holly Furtick]

It's okay.

[Steven Furtick]

This is therapeutic. This is $150 an hour work right here, trying to keep you off that expensive couch and just give you this teaching from the word of God. Because when you live in that place of manipulation, obligation, victimization, the next thing that happens is interpretation. The skill of interpretation is so important. It's like your life is a. Is a foreign film. What God has planned for you, the events that happen to you, you don't always know what it really means. When you're under pressure and when you play the movie in your mind where you remember different ways you were offended, which I do so often, and what I've got to do and how it's not fair and how others don't, how others should. And all these things I can tend to dwell on, like Martha. Martha, in all of our minds will start to come to this conclusion. This is the interpretation. Jesus will not do what Martha wants him to do, and Mary won't do what Martha wants Mary to do. And nobody is saying their lines like Martha wrote them in her mind. So here's what she says next. Lord, all this is in verse 40. Lord, don't you care? You see it. Since she can't control everybody, she thinks nobody cares about her. Since she can't control the situation, she interprets the situation. Lord, don't you care? Jesus is like, no, not really. I care about you, but I don't care about what you're cooking in there right now. I came to be with you since I can't accept the fact that God loves me more than he loves what I can do for Him. I interpret the fact that he's not doing exactly what I want him to do and others aren't doing exactly what I want them to do. I interpret that to mean that they don't care about me. I imagined it so many different ways.

[Holly Furtick]

Martha. Martha.

[Steven Furtick]

Because he said it twice.

[Holly Furtick]

Martha.

[Steven Furtick]

She didn't listen the first time.

[Holly Furtick]

Martha.

[Steven Furtick]

Or like this. Martha. Martha. I've been hearing it more tenderly lately. Martha. Martha. I always thought this passage was about work and worship. I thought Martha was working, Mary was worshiping, and that worshiping was better than working. But really, you can't make that case if you read the Bible in context. Because Paul said, to live your life as a sacrifice is your spiritual act of worship. That has nothing to do with a song. That has nothing to do with Sunday morning. So if he's not contrasting work and worship, maybe he's advocating that the two should become one, that there should be A way I try to live my life by the grace of God and move into that is more like Mary. Not to kick Martha out of the house because it's her house. Not to stop being busy or start feeling bad about how you've been spread so thin, but to blur the line between work and worship. A few weeks ago, we were having a staff event and our interns were serving our staff. On this particular day, they had put in a very long day. But at the end of the day, we were having a worship service with our staff. It was so strong, what was happening in the auditorium that the interns, on their way to tear down chairs and tables and clean the floors and do the work, got caught up in a spirit of worship. There was a TV in a room. One of our interns, Ellie, pulled out her phone and she caught this moment when they stopped working for a moment and started worshiping. See how Martha can become married? Mary needs Martha. You see that girl on her knees right there? Do you see that girl head banging right there? See that white guy clapping off rhythm right there? All of that is worship. But then what they did in video is when they stopped singing and started serving, they took that same spirit with a mop and a broom. My goal in worship today is not just that we have a moment in the presence of God, but that when we leave and we grab our mop and our job and our kids and our responsibilities and yes, our tests and.

[Holly Furtick]

Yes, our books and yes, the things we have to do that we work like we worship and we worship like we work. And we find ourselves with extraordinary joy in the congregation and extraordinary joy in the kitchen and extraordinary joy that spills over and overflows and this becomes a way of life.

[Steven Furtick]

I know you have to go. I'm almost done. The fifth thing I want to discuss with you is the most important of all and its expectation. More than anything else, this movie in my mind is about my expectation. When the movie in my mind doesn't match the scene in my life, there is a tendency for me to begin to think that maybe God is not the author of my story. Bring my chair real quick. This is the way I saw the movie in my mind. I saw Martha, who saw herself as a director. I saw how Jesus wanted her to be an extra. Now she's acting extra because she's trying to direct a movie in her mind that was not hers to script. I wonder if you've been sitting in the wrong seat and God gave me this message so you could switch positions and sit like Mary for a little while at his feet and say, God, this is your movie. These are your gifts. This is your temple, my body. This is your assignment. Do you know why Mary was so good at interpreting what Jesus was doing? Because she did something Martha didn't do. She listened. Martha is too busy giving directions. It took a little while to learn this. It takes a while to learn that this is not your place. Everybody who said amen just now is over 50. It takes that long. I'm telling you, you don't want this seat. You'll get it one way in your mind, how it needs to be, how it should be. Now you're miserable like Martha. Didn't the universe get my script? Didn't my future husband get my script?

[Holly Furtick]

Where is he.

[Steven Furtick]

Future wife? Whatever everybody say. Why do you always put it on the women? You're such a sexist. I'm not a sexist. I'm an equal opportunity offender.

[Holly Furtick]

I try to make everybody mad in.

[Steven Furtick]

The sermon, but this is not my place. See, it makes sense that this scene, this weird little scene, now that we've spelled movie, we understand how this works. But to really understand the scene, you have to put it in context of the whole story, don't you? Don't you? You can't understand the movie just by one scene. The reason this simple little introduction to Mary and Martha is made here in Luke 10 is because of what the Bible records in John 11. That's where their brother Lazarus gets sick unexpectedly and they send for Jesus to come heal him. So go get that rabbi that stayed at our house, that rabbi who ate my Brussels sprouts, and tell him to come heal my brother. Jesus doesn't show up for his casting call. Martha has it all scripted out. Oh, Lazarus is sick and Jesus is going to come heal him. Lights, camera, Jesus. Jesus doesn't show up until after Lazarus died. Mary, the director of the movie, now has to reconcile what happened in her life with the way she planned it in the movie. In her mind, she's frustrated and angry. In fact, you're going to laugh at this verse in John 11. After Lazarus died and Jesus shows up late. Mary, this is funny. Can I read you this? You have a few more seconds, Martha. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming. Oh, yeah, there, look. She went out to meet him. She's waiting at the road when he arrives. She has her hand on her hip. And Mary stayed home. Mary has her head on her pillow. They're both playing their role. Mary's like, he's dead. There's nothing to Do Martha's like, it's about time.

[Holly Furtick]

Did you not get the script? You were supposed to say, be healed.

[Steven Furtick]

And he was supposed to be well, and you did it. Jesus didn't come to read your script. He came to flip the script and to show you something you never could have expected. A movie you didn't know to write immeasurably more than you ask or imagine.

[Holly Furtick]

I feel the spirit of God on.

[Steven Furtick]

This message right now. I know you wanted me to show up and heal him. I didn't come to heal him. I came to show you something greater. One time, God showed me that the reason he can't meet all of our expectations is because if he always met my expectations, he would never have the opportunity to exceed my expectations. He's making this movie, not you. He has written this script, not me. Martha is like, you should have been here. This is not the way I wrote the movie. This is not the way I imagined it. She's waiting at the row. But even if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. You see, you're getting out of the director's chair a little bit. She's still working. Jesus, by the way, I know you can still do it. Come on. Women do this to men all the time. How do you carry all those groceries, you big, strong man? I know you still do. Didn't go the way I wanted. Jesus said, your brother will rise again. She still has her script. I know he'll rise again on the resurrection, at the last day. I know Jesus said, no, no, no. I came not just to read my lines in the script you wrote for your life, but I came to change your expectation for something greater than you even knew to ask for. Jesus said to her, watch, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? That's the question. Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are not the one making this movie? That this is not my place? This is. This is my place. Let's take a moment in God's presence today and just consider that maybe it's not our life that's making us anxious. Maybe it's the movie in our mind, what we wanted it to be, what we always imagined it would be, what we think we have to be. The saddest thing about Martha is that she's frustrated, trying to meet an expectation. Jesus did not even have of her. Jesus never even asked her for all this. Jesus came into her house to be be with her. Are you frustrated with yourself because you're expecting something of yourself that God never even put on you to begin with? I came today to break the spirit of manipulation, to break the spirit of obligation, to break the victim mentality, and to let you know that just because God isn't doing it like you want him to do it, doesn't mean he stopped caring about you. I'm really thankful for one thing. It says that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, which Mary never would have put in her movie. She didn't know it was possible. When you let him sit in this seat, what he has for you is.

[Holly Furtick]

So much better than what you have for you. I'm telling you by faith what I know by experience.

[Steven Furtick]

Watch this. Stand up like you're in a hurry because it will pressure me to finish this. I could talk to you all day. I love this stuff. In John 12:1 it says that a little bit later on, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Now watch verse 2. This is going to bless you. Here. A dinner was given in Jesus honor. Martha served. See, she finally got it. She's not talking. She's not manipulating. She's not serving out of obligation and guilt anymore. She's serving because she has seen God.

[Holly Furtick]

Do what only God could do. And I am here at your service, God. What you want me to be, I'm ready to be that now. So I throw off the expectations of others. I throw off the expectations of self.

[Steven Furtick]

Do what you want to do, God. This is your story. This is your movie. I am your child. I am at your feet and I trust you in this season of my life. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us evationchurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an Iheart podcast.