Gregory Dickow - Sitting at the Feet of Jesus
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Welcome to the power to change today. You know, in any crisis, in any season, in anything we're facing, I'm so grateful that God turns everything that the enemy meant for evil into something good. So whatever crisis is happening in your life, including the crazy one that we've gone through over the last several weeks and months, I believe God's going to turn it around for your good. And in all that has been happening over the last several months, God's been speaking to me so clearly that he wants us to strip away the complicated and revive a simple, yet powerful relationship with him, not a religion.
Today, I want to show you something very special that God showed me over the last several weeks. I'm going to teach you from the well-known story of Mary and Martha. You know the story very well. Martha's been busy working and serving. In fact, Jesus actually said to Martha, "Martha, you're worried and bothered about so many things". He used the word "distracted". And I want to focus on that today because God's going to set you free today from the distractions. While Martha was distracted and worried, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, captivated by his beauty and by his love. There's something very powerful in that that I want to share with you today. So let's lean in. And at the end of this broadcast, I want to pray for you for a revival of your soul, a revival of simplicity and closeness to him as we learn to sit at the feet of Jesus. Check this out.
You know, back when I was younger, when we would buy a car, there was an option of regular seating or power seating, you know, regular seating and some jeeps and some cars still have that where you just got to, you kind of got to put your hand underneath the seat, and pull the lever and then, you know, push yourself forward or push yourself back, right? That's not power seating, that's manual seating, right? And then, though, they came out with these gadgets and they used to be like radio dials on the side of the door of your car. And you'd push it forward or you push it back or push it either way. And it would it would go up and down or, you know, come in and out. And that was called power seating back, you know, in the 70s and 80s. That was just new at that time. And and it was really a cool feature.
So it was so simple to just push a button and your seat. You have the power to move your seat. You have the power to control your seat. And so it kind of is a play off of words, because I want to talk to you about the power of where you're seated. And this story in Luke Chapter 10 is when Mary and Martha invited Jesus over to their house. You remember? I'll just take you over there, Luke chapter 10 in the verse, is verse 38. "Now, they were traveling along. He entered a certain village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who, moreover, was listening to the Lord's words seated at his feet". Boy, there's power in the seat at his feet, there is power in the seat. Sitting at his feet.
So I think we went on television many years ago for the first time, and I think that was the first series I preached on sitting at the feet of Jesus. In fact, we actually titled the television program that. It was actually called "Sitting at the Feet of Jesus with Gregory Dickow", or maybe does not even have my name, just "Sitting at the feet of Jesus", you know, just with a Middle Eastern guy. That's all anybody knew. Nobody saw me on TV before. I'd never been on TV before. And so we called the program "Sitting at the feet of Jesus" in the first several weeks, actually taught from this chapter several weeks. And I spoke about it on the radio, too, and somebody, there was Rick Tronto, a famous chef in America, a member of Life Changers Church.
And this is like 20 something years ago now. But he said he heard me talk about sitting at the feet of Jesus, he was listening on the radio, he pulled the car over, he listened to everything I said. He said he just started crying on the side of the road, and he got born again, and gave his life to Jesus right there on the side of the road, sitting at the feet of Jesus in his car. You know, there's power in the seat at the feet of Jesus, and that's what we're talking about together today. And I really want you to stay focused with me today because I really want you to hear from heaven, I want you to hear the voice of God through my voice, not that my voice is the voice of God in any stretch, but I want you to hear the voice of God through what I'm saying and what I'm sharing with you.
And I want you to know that God went to a lot of trouble, he didn't cause any of the problems that are happening in this world, but he went to a lot of trouble in the midst of all the problems in this world to get our attention. He went through a lot to get our attention, to learn how to take care of the elderly, how to care for our loved ones that are sick. How to treat our brothers and sisters with equality. Well, if you think about all the things that God has, all the good that has come out of this, and there have been some really bad things. The killing, the riots, not... obviously different than protesting, you know, the violence is not the way, but I know you guys understand the difference of those things, but the good that has come out of this, this relentlessness to make sure everybody experiences equality.
And really that's only guaranteed with Jesus. He's the one that lifts us all up and sets us with him in heavenly places. And that's where you really going to get your biblical equality the way God intended is take your seat with Christ in heavenly places. That's the power seat. You've got the power siting. So I want you to locate yourself. "Martha was distracted", it says here in verse 40, "Distracted with all the preparations", distracted with all the worry, all the things she had to do. Look at what it says. "She was distracted with all her preparations. And she came up to him and she said, 'Lord, don't you care? Don't you care that my sister has left me to do all of this work myself? Don't you care? Don't you care?'"
Boy, when you start asking God and start challenging Jesus about whether he cares, you're really in the flesh, you know. I don't mean Hulk Hogan in the flesh. I don't mean in the flesh, baby. I don't mean that in the flesh. I mean, you're in the flesh where you are out of. You're not walking in the spirit. You're not you're not listening and surrendering to love and surrendering to the voice of God and surrendering to the Spirit of God like this. She's like, you don't care. Like if you really. We're listening to the truth, you would know that he cares, you would know the Bible says casting all our cares on him for he cares for us. There are some things I want to say about that, but I want you to connect sitting at the feet of Jesus with sitting at the table as a disciple of Jesus.
And I want you to associate that with being seated with Christ in heavenly places, so from the time we're born, I mean, from the time we're born, we understand where our seat assignment is. When you're a baby, you're in the baby seat. When you're in the car, you're in the car seat. When you're a little kid, when you are eating, you're in the what do you call it? What do you guys what do we call the the booster seat? Some of you come on with my short brothers and sisters need a booster seat. God, just playing with you. But and then you get to school and what do they get? You get your seat assignment. You know, they show you the seat assignment. You don't go to school. Nobody goes to first grade and just sits wherever they want. They sit where, you know, where we sit, where we're told, you know, there's a seating chart, you know, and and then on a plane, you have a seat assignment at a concert.
Anybody ever heard of one of those? You have a seat assignment, an athletic event at a sporting event. What do you have? You have a you have a ticket with a seat assigned. And where do you go when you get to that? When you arrive to the destination, what do you do? You find your seat. And so the only time we're not looking for our seat is when we somehow when we become Christians and we go to church and we don't realize that God has a seat for us at his table, seated with him in heavenly places. And we sit at his feet to listen and to learn from him. But make no mistake about it, the seat at his feet is, above all, principalities and power. The seat at his feet, you might think, oh, sitting at his feet, that's sort of on the ground. We got to remember where he is. He's in heaven.
So sitting at his feet is, above all, principalities and all powers and over every name that is named. You're seated above that with Christ in heavenly places. So we need to get a hold of the seating chart, spiritually speaking, and realize, whoa, we're seated above the devil. We're seated above all the demons. We're seated above. The principalities and powers were seated above all the world crises were seeded above, sickness and disease were seeded above all power, it says in Ephesians chapter one, verse twenty one, through the end of the chapter in Ephesians, chapter two, verse six. We are seated with him in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and over every name that is named.
Wow. Take your seat. It doesn't mean take your seat in the back. It means take your seat next to Jesus, where you're seated with him in heavenly places. But I want you to right now locate yourself, because I'm talking about closeness with God and I'm talking about power seating. You know, I want to I didn't get to this, but I wanted you to see remember in John thirteen twenty three. And I want to remind you this verse again, John. Thirteen twenty three. Remember, it says there was reclining on Jesus bosom. One of his disciples whom Jesus loved, that's John. That's Mary, right, that's also Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and but I want you to see this phrase. Reclining at Jesus bosom.
And then I want you to go over to John, chapter one, verse 18, and I want you to see something no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, Jesus, that is, who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained it, so Jesus is in the bosom of the Father. He doesn't say he was. He says he is. He says no one has seen God at any time on Earth at that time. And it says the only begotten. No one had seen him yet. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father. He's in the bosom of the Father. This is what explains Jesus. This is what explains him. It says this is what explains him. What explains him. Love explains him. Jesus extends to John and John G, 13 23. John reclines on Jesus bosom, the one whom Jesus loved.
Now, listen, we're going somewhere with this where we go and we're going to the other side. I want you to hear God's. Abundantly. Using this season in the world to get our attention so that we will focus on what's most necessary in life. And it starts. With closeness with God. Intimacy. In the bosom of Jesus. He's reclining, look at Jesus is about to be betrayed. He's about to dismiss Judas, to go and betray him. He's about to be denied. He's about to be beaten. He's about to be his flesh ripped apart. He's about to be crucified. And what do we find him doing, reclining at the table? And letting John rest his head upon his bosom.
That's you, that's me, the bosom of the Father, the bosom of Jesus, you're going through a tough time right now. It doesn't matter what it is, it matters, but it doesn't matter what it is to God, he has one remedy. Learn to locate yourself. Where? In the bosom of the Father. In the bosom of Jesus. I want to read a scripture to you and Song of Solomon, chapter eight, verse five. Who is this? Coming up from the wilderness. Doing what leaning? What was Jesus doing leaning in the bosom of the Father? What was John doing, leaning in the bosom of Jesus? What is. This girl doing that represents the church. This woman in Song of Solomon, Chapter eight. This is the church, the bride of Christ.
Who is this coming up from the wilderness? You ready to come up from your wilderness of sickness? You ready to come up from your wilderness of darkness? You ready to come up from your wilderness of depression? You ready to come up from your wilderness of financial burdens? You ready to come up from your wilderness of anxiety? Ready to come up from your wilderness of fear? Are you ready to come up from your wilderness of relationship problems? Are you willing to come up from your wilderness of loneliness? Are you willing to come up from your wilderness of anxiety and fear, worry. Are you ready to come up from your wilderness of distractions and unnecessary things.
Well, who is the one he asks the question? It's a rhetorical question because he's the answer is within the question. He says, who is the one? Who is this coming up from the wilderness, who's the one coming up from the wilderness, the one leaning. On her beloved. The one leaning. In the bosom of Jesus, the one leaning into hearing. The voice of God's love, the one leaning into closeness with God and the devil. Has been shaming Christians. Into this deception and this lie. That God is far from you. And you're far from him. Oh, you just blew it, you just went you took one step forward, you just took five steps back. That's a lie from the pit of hell. You are not five steps further away, the Lord is not anywhere further from you than he's always been, the nearness of God is with you in his bosom and in yours. You, he in you and you in him, I in them and they in me.
Jesus said to the Father, he said, I and thou in me, me and you. Them in me, me and them. Them in you. This closeness, this intimacy, this you want to come up out of the wilderness. Here's how it works. It's not a bunch of yelling at the wilderness and screaming at the wilderness and crying in the wilderness. You want to come up from the wilderness. Leave. Into the bosom of the one who loves you. Become. The disciple. Who, Poulenc's? And understands. What God is trying to say. You know. If you look at Mary back and look Mary, in verse 39, I was listening to the Lord's word, you know, when we listen to God, Mary Lycett. Martha was worried. Look at what it says and look for 10, 41 inches, Martha, Martha, you're worried No. One she was worried no to. You're bothered. In verse 40, it says, if you go back to verse 40, it says she was distracted. So she's worried, she's bothered. And she's distracted.
So when you lean into the bosom of Jesus, you're going to stop worrying when you lean into your beloved, I mean, leaning into the love aspect of your relationship with God, not leaning in to say, OK, what am I supposed to do? What does God want me to do? What does God want me to do? It's he wants you to be seated. Sit with him. Sit, sit with him, speaks of rest. Sit with him, speaks of refreshing, sit with him, speaks of listening, sit with him, speaks of. Giving thanks, sit with him, speaks of eating, communing, fellowshipping. Mary was sitting, she was getting all the food she needed at the feet of Jesus. She didn't need Martha to come with that fruit tray.
You understand? Understand what I'm saying? She didn't need Martha to come with those nachos. A, I like him as much as anybody. But, man, Mary was Mary was good. Hey, I'm good. You want a ginger? I'm good. I'm good. Can I get you? You know, how about I'll throw in a pizza. I'm good. Mary's like, I'm good, Martha. Just relax. So listen. Leaning into love, leaning into the love of God, leaning into the love of God, leaning into the love God has for you. That's what Mary was doing. She was sitting there to receive the love. She was sitting there to be loved. She was seated there to be loved. She wasn't sitting there to tell God all that was hurting. I'm not saying there's not a time for that. Let him love you. Let him love you. Let him love you.