When Jesus Shows Himself — Teresa Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends.

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He never left this place. He has not left you. This place is like a cup of cold water. I'm gonna come back in to his presence and see you all. Thank you so much for praying for us. I can truly say, Professor Carter and I, we did have a deep rest.

We had a wonderful rest and I feel such a peace in my spirit. I feel that Jesus Christ is so on the throne and I feel I'm in my spirit and deep down inside of me. And I know there's so many of you here that every day is that growing realization every time we bend our knee.

He is King and he is ruling and he's reigning and he's taking us through all the places we need to go so that he can prove himself faithful to us. He's a God that doesn't keep count of our mistakes and our failings.

He's a God that says I am with you and I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. Hallelujah. And the days to come, those that know that down in their spirit and rely on him and draw on his life to be our life, we're going to make a difference.

We are going to make a difference. And all hell is astounded that you and I are going to make a difference. And all heaven is going to be astounded. But I thank God that when they look at Christ in his glory and his splendor, they see all things are possible.

And they're encouraging us, press into him, keep looking at him because all things are possible. With this God that we serve. And so I'm just excited in my spirit, I've had a good rest, but it's so wonderful to be home.

We went to Canada, the land of our birth, but we're home. We're back home. And you know, so many times we do pray for you and I have prayed for you. And I thank you for praying for us. And I look forward to the fall.

And I look forward to Jesus riding triumphantly before us. And doing miracles in us and through us. And I feel that's the kind of era, that time, that hour that we live in. And so I'm just so good to see you guys.

I'm glad to see we have a lower pulpit. We've got a new pulpit, that's great. And the message I have today is very simple. It's a very simple word. But I would like, if you would turn with me to Luke 10.

Mary and Martha: When Jesus Shows Himself

I want to talk about some very dear friends of mine in the Bible. And my message this afternoon is called, When Jesus Shows Himself. When Jesus Shows Himself. Would you pray with me? Father, I praise you today.

I thank you for the privilege, Lord, to lift you up. Holy Spirit, that you've been sent to reveal our Jesus. You've been sent, Lord, to reveal Him in a way that we need Him. And to see Him and to know Him in an ever deeper way.

And Lord, I just declare today that I have nothing except what you give. So Lord, I just give myself now to you, Holy Spirit. And I ask that you come and you would teach this. You would bring forth your truth, Lord.

Let them be shining truths that get worked into us. Lord, we give you the praise and glory, what you're going to do in our midst. We praise you for lifting Him up. And Lord, we praise you for the release and the deliverance you're going to bring among your people.

For that's our bread, because we are your children. And Lord, we give you all the praise and all the glory for it. In Jesus' precious name. Amen and Amen. Luke 10 and starting at verse 38. And I want to talk about Mary and Martha today.

You know, if you've been saved for any length of time, we're all very familiar with this story. About Jesus going to visit the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. But even though it's a very familiar story.

I believe that Lord is going to show us every time we come to something that He has written by His Spirit. It's like a well. There is a depth and a layer. And a refreshing to it. And we can go deeper and deeper into it.

And even though it's a simple word. And even though we may have heard about them many times. There's still something new. And in verse 38 it says. Now it came to pass as they went that He entered into a certain village.

And a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. And I love the way that this starts. Because it talks about a certain village. And a certain woman. This is saying. That God has these people hand packed for a reason.

That God made a very specific choice. Because He uses that word repeatedly. Certain. There was a certain woman. There is a certain house. There is a certain household. And I'm moving into that house. And I'm moving into these hearts.

And my presence in their life is for a purpose. And now He's sharing for all the generations to follow them. To look into their lives and their hearts and their home. Because Jesus hand picked them for a reason.

God knows our name. God knows where we live. God knows what we're facing. We are that certain people to Him. We are that certain woman. And I like the way it says that there was a woman named Martha. She was named Martha.

And Bible. Many of you know that that root word Martha is from the root word marrow. Which means bitter and angry. Vexed. It also means. In its most literal translation. It means trickle. And now here's this woman.

And she has a name. And she's been named. And many times that's a little window. God's saying this is the personality I'm dealing with. And this is a person. I've come into her house. She's received me.

She's being hospitable. She wants to honor me. And she wants to be. She's invited me in. But her name is Martha. And she's got a trickle of life. She's got a trickle of understanding. And the life in her is shut down to a trickle.

And what I'm trying to say to her. And what I want to do in her and through her. She's almost shut off to it. Her name is trickle. And so she received him into her house. And I love just a few simple words.

But this speaks to me of a lady very much inviting Jesus into her world. Very much coming into a place that she's the boss. She issued the invitation. But he came. And then it says that she had a sister.

Verse 39. Called Mary. Which also sat at Jesus' feet. And heard his word. Now here's a sister called Mary. And Mary is from the same root word as Martha. And it also means bitter. But it's more on the sad side.

The root word of that name. Mary. Sad and bitter. And here's these women sharing very similar circumstances. Here is these women. But one is named Martha and one is called. And when you look at that word called.

It means chosen out and separate for a purpose. And there's such a picture of the church. There's such a picture of the choices that you and I absolutely have. Of what our life is going to be like when Jesus gets invited to the home.

And here's this lady called Mary. She's been called out. She's been separated. And even though her circumstances are not the best. You and I know from a simple biblical study. That women in those days without husband, without family.

Did not share the same prestige. Did not share the same respect as married women. The longing for family. Only the longing for children would be as strong in them as it is for most women. And yet the scripture tells us it was two sisters and a brother that lived together.

And their circumstances and what went on in the depth of their heart. The sorrows there. The disappointments there. They shared. These women faced the same disappointments. And the same heartache. And the same heaviness.

But one's going to be named and one's going to be called. And Jesus says in the middle of that circumstance you have a choice. Do you want to be called out and into something? Or do you want that to be the name you label for the rest of your life?

Even though in spite of. I've been invited into your home. And Jesus chose them. And the scripture tells us clearly that Jesus loved them. In John 11 he says now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

And that's why he enters our lives. Because he loves us. And it says in verse 39 that Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet. Also sat. My first question was did Martha sit at his feet? It said Mary sat also.

So did Martha sit there? When Jesus came into the home was there a time that Jesus came? They offered him the courtesy. They welcomed him. They sat down and they sat with him. And did both these women sat there?

But I love as the scripture so clearly says that Mary heard him. And so it says that we can sit at his feet and not hear him. We sit at his feet. We sit at his presence. We invite him into our lives. And beloved it's such a picture of the choice we have to make.

Now in this scripture in this parable it's not talking about times that we come into his presence and we're distracted. We have a hard time being focused. There's many things pressing in on our mind. This is talking now about a root that is in these women.

The presence of Christ is a light. And it's coming down. And through this story he's shining right into their heart. Right into their minds. Right into the center of their being. And they have different reactions.

And I believe that Martha sat there too but she never heard anything. But the scripture says that Mary heard him. And that means that his words that he spoke had meaning to her. They had meaning to her.

She understood what he was saying. And when she began to understand what he was saying she was getting a new perspective on things. She was being lifted out and lifted up. Up of circumstances. And a hard attitude.

And a mind and a spirit that were locked sometimes down into hard places. And she was being lifted up and she was seeing things. Because she heard him. And when we begin to get an understanding we get a desire for truth.

Because we're beginning to feel the benefit of truth. We're beginning, if we respond to it, to be set free. And here is this woman and she's hearing him. I started to think, Lord, here's a lady. What's she hearing?

Learning of Jesus and Finding Rest

And a scripture came immediately to mind. And it said that she was learning of me. Not learning about me but learning of me. And I thought of that scripture that says, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.

And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest for your souls. Because my yoke is easy. And my burden is light. And you know, we will never hear that.

And we would never know the truth of that except we heard it from God Almighty Himself. Because as human beings we get so laden down and we get so heavy that in our spirit and the messages we get from the world and the devil, what they do, they operate ultimately to shut us down.

To keep us under. To not let us know there is a greater truth and a higher reality that humans were created for. That God put His very breath into humanity for a purpose. And we would never think these thoughts and we would never know that God says unto me, Come unto me, ye who labor and heavy laden.

Because I'm going to give you rest. He says if you learn of me, not learn about me, but you learn of me. You learn who I am and then you begin to say, God, I want to be like that. I want to be like you.

He says you're going to find a rest in that prayer. You're going to find a release in that hard attitude. I'm going to bring you into something and teach you things that you never could have learned outside of that prayer or that truth.

Learn of me, for I am meek and lonely in heart. You will find me, Jesus says, meek and lonely in heart. That means when we failed Him, He won't turn us away. That means when we forgot Him for days on end, He doesn't keep score and say, that's it, you've crossed a line.

He's meek and lowly in heart. That means that in spite of knowing who we are, He does not despise us or despise our struggles. It means that when we play the fool, it means when we act so proud, it means when we get deceived in our thinking and warped in our thinking, He says, I'm going to still reach out.

I'm going to extend my hand. And whosoever will, will grasp when they get a ray of light, if they will reach back, I'm there. Because I'm meek and I'm lonely in heart. And He's saying, now I'm going to give you a key.

If you want to find rest for your souls, if you want to learn how to live above your circumstance, if we want to go out on these streets and we want to have another spirit upon us with a different understanding, He says, you're going to be meek and lowly of heart too.

But I'm going to teach it to you. He says, there's another kind of life I have for you. I've prepared for you. He says, I'm going to lift you out of your own sadness and bitterness and narrowness and meanness.

And He says, learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. He says that the Lord was beginning to minister to me. He says, Teresa, if you'll follow me down this path of learning of me, that I, God Almighty, that I, Jesus Christ, Creator of Heaven and Earth, have decided for this period, this dispensation, I'm going to be revealed as meek and lowly.

Not a conquering king. But to those that start to seek truth and start to seek me, they're going to find me meek. That's power with restraint. When I could crush you, I won't. When I could keep a list, I don't.

When I could turn away from you, I don't. I'm meek and lowly in heart. He said, I'm going to give you a key that when you go down before me asking for that kind of heart, I'm going to lift you up. The humble shall bow before me and then I'm going to lift them up because the humble hearted before me are the ones that know me, are the ones that find rest, are the ones that have a peace and a joy.

He says, there is a peace and a joy and a rest for your souls you don't find any other way except when you learn of me. When you learn of me that I'm meek and humble. You know, the humble are the most powerful in God's kingdom.

They're the most powerful because there is a deep understanding that God can still use us. You see, we get a true picture of us in our humility of ourselves. But then we get an unclouded picture of God and we begin to see that if we've asked Jesus into our heart, the absolute miracle of blessed is he whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is not imputed to them.

The absolute realization of that begins to flood us and we begin to see that it's my privilege to walk cleansed and forgiven. And when we have to keep availing ourselves of that, confessing a sin, knowing that we are forgiven and asking for the power to turn away from it because we are forgiven.

Because every day we have a new beginning and every day we have a new hope because God said it. He said, that's the way I'm going to operate. And he said, you will never reap the benefit of it to your humble and heart till we keep admitting who we are.

And then he said, but they get the eyes of faith that a mighty God uses flawed people. But keep pressing into me because in spite of getting a real revelation of who we are, if we keep crying out, God, I want to learn of you to be meek and humble in heart.

He says, you get powerful. Because with that kind of revelation of who we are, we get a faith to learn to look away from ourselves and keep focused on Christ. And beloved, I have found that humility is the cure for so many troubles.

You know, humility goes to the root of things. Humility goes to the root of things. That's why it brings a rest. Things really happen. You know, when we get to the bottom of things, when God begins to have to say things to us and we agree with him, when he begins to show us how things really are and what's really in our mind and our heart, we really begin to deal with that because we've got a humble heart saying, God, whatever you have to speak, you give me the grace to hear.

And you give me the grace to change. Not my strength, but yours. And beloved, then, with that understanding, the strength he gives us starts to get reserved for the real battle. We're not frittering away our strength on a sidetrack issue.

For example, if we begin to say, Jesus, I want to learn of you meek and humble of heart, we're not going to get drawn into the ego battle. We're not going to get sidetracked by the wounded pride battle.

We're not going to get the poor, what about me, trap one more time around our leg and spirit. Because when we're humble in heart, we don't get sidetracked about those issues. When the wounded pride and the ego issue and all that come and go, Lord, I thank you, your light surfacing what's happening in my heart.

And we begin to say, Lord, these feelings, if we choose, get resolved, get forgiven, we get cleansed, when we experience the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ for us at that moment. And we move on.

And we look away from ourselves. And then, in this incredible place, our strength gets reserved for the real battle. We're not frittering it away on our own little petty battles. God says, look, I'm going to deal, I'll deal with your heart, I'll give you the strength, turn away, and a freedom comes into our spirit.

We're not chained to ourselves anymore. We say, God, I'm going to lay that down, that ego, that pride thing, that thing, I'm going to lay it down. God, you're going to look after me. God, you're going to take care of the pain of my heart right now, and I'm going to look to you.

And we get free. We don't get sidetracked. And Jesus says, learn of me. Because he says, those that will learn of me, he says, I'm going to manifest myself to them. He says, I'm going to reveal myself and make myself known to them.

The Promise of Christ’s Self-Revelation

And beloved, in John 14, 21, it says clearly, if a person desires to love me and wants to do the things my way, he says, I will manifest myself, I will show myself, I will make myself known to that one.

And then, one of his disciples, Judas Not Ascariot, says to him, Lord, how is it that you will show yourself to us, and you're not going to show yourself to the world, or the worldly? Lord, if I hear you right, you're saying that there are those that desire to love you and do it your way, the humble in heart, and you say you're going to show yourself to them.

But he says, the world, they're not going to know a thing about you. The world, they're not going to understand the secrets that you have laid out that you want to reveal. Those that are walking high-minded, or those that say they know you, they're going to be shot out of a reality that's powerful, that sets us free, that gives us a testimony in the world that we're not chained to ourselves anymore, and we start to have a desire, Lord, to walk in this world to please you.

It doesn't matter what you've called me to do, or where I am. God, you're giving me a heart to please you in all things, and I'm being transformed. And that's the testimony of the body of Christ. And, beloved, that's the children's bread.

He says, I'm going to reveal myself to you. I'm going to make myself known to those that say, Lord, I have a desire to love you and walk your way. He says, I'm going to manifest myself to those. And those that have no revelation and can't tell you something fresh about Jesus Christ, God says, no, that's my sign of a worldly heart.

That's my sign that someone belongs to the world. There's no fresh revelation about me. They can't tell you one thing new. They can tell you rote. They can tell you the phrases. They can tell you the standard fare.

But when it comes to sharing something as burning in their spirit, to light the spirits of those around them, they cannot. He says, because I manifest myself to those that want to love me and do it my way.

And he says, if there's no fresh revelation, if there's not something new, if there's not something that lights your spirit, if there's not something that you can't share with someone, and it is light and it is warm, he says, that's my plumb line.

There's something worldly going on there. And Jesus does that because he's making a separation. Beloved, I want to tell you today, there is a season for every Christian where we're called to live next door to heaven.

There is a season in every Christian's life that we climb the mountain with Christ and we get a new view. We get a new view of our life and we get a new view of what he does for us. We get a new view of the families around us.

We get a new view of the heart he's given us. There's got to be a time in every Christian's life that the joy and the peace that Christ brings passes understanding and he takes us to a place we've never been before.

And we know in our knower that God is real. And we know that he loves us and we know we are forgiven. And we know that the release that comes and the comfort that comes is real and no man takes it from us.

Hard times can't separate us from us. And those that come against us cannot rob us of this knowledge when he has taken us to the mountain. He's revealed himself there. And we're called to live next door to heaven for seasons in our life.

Now, beloved, if you've never experienced that, I'm not condemning you. But I say that if you belong to Jesus Christ, that's the children's bread. That's your right and that's my right. That's my privilege.

And if there are times that we don't know that abandonment and that times we say, Lord, I need you to show me now. I need something sealed in my spirit where you're God without a doubt and you love me and you brought me to a place that the world can't touch and the devil can't lie it away from me.

It's a place many times, beloved, the Christians that find themselves there living next door to heaven for a season in their life. They're the people who have been much in duty and much suffering. They find themselves there.

There are people who find themselves there. They've been much downcast. They've been much bewildered. There are times they don't understand what's going on and Jesus Christ reveals himself in an instant.

And the comfort he brings is so powerful and so deep. You say, Lord, I'd go all through that suffering seven times over to have you reveal yourself like that to me again. Because he's worth it. Beloved, have you ever known that?

Have you ever been allowed to be brought to the place where there seems to be no hope and all you can see is the end of the world and Christ comes up on your horizon and suddenly everything is made new and you live in the heavenlies with Christ?

Beloved, we're called for a season to live next door to heaven. And the humble-hearted know what pure religion means. And that's it. That Jesus Christ is real. And that he loves us. He walks with us.

And he's making us new. Now, beloved, I believe that Mary's sitting at his feet by the creative word that Jesus Christ was speaking and piercing her darkness and piercing her confusion and giving her hope in a place where she has never felt hope before, where she has felt love, where she's never been loved before and all of a sudden she wants to live the life he's offering and she's sitting there and she's experiencing this word.

He's manifesting himself through his word to her and all of a sudden, her sister Martha comes crashing in on the scene. And Martha comes in and she's sidetracked and she's bitter and she's resentful and she's accusing and she's out of touch with what Jesus is saying and she's untouched because she's out of touch.

And she's left his feet and she's gone to that busy religious kitchen. And the scripture says in verse 40 that Martha was encumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

Bid her therefore that she help me. And this woman comes in and the scripture says, encumbered about. That means to drag around. Encumbered about means to drag around. And this woman comes into this room and she is full of anger and resentment and accusing.

And she's had it because in her mind, she's the only one doing anything. And she's come in now totally oblivious to reality. Totally oblivious to this Jesus that she's invited into her home. To the life he is offering and what he is doing.

Except it moves her to envy, I believe. Seeing the look on her sister's face and still sitting there. And she's shut out. And she comes in and she's accusing and she's dragging around every sorrowful thing, every injustice, everything that's ever been done to her at that moment.

Because I'll tell you something, when Jesus Christ is in your home, there are no halfway things. His very presence in our home drives things up that we're shocked at. Because we are his, he doesn't deal in halfway measures.

And his very presence, he is absolute truth and he is absolute light. And in his presence is this kind of light that drives everything up. You know, I believe she went back in the kitchen absolutely shocked.

Saying, Lord, don't you care? Tell her to come to me. Tell her to come back to me. Tell her to get up and help me. Lord, acknowledge that I'm alone out there doing something for you and where is everybody else?

Tell her to come back. I'll tell you something, one thing I do know about my Jesus, those that come to him, he never sends them back there. He delivers them from that mindset. He delivers them from that kind of busy, empty religion that leaves us accusatory, bittered in our soul.

He delivers us from that. She never went back. He would never send her there. Now, Jesus knows that Martha has not heard a word, but he loves her. He loves her. And so Jesus gives her a very direct word.

Jesus gives her a word that is going to sift her if she can hear him. Jesus is going to liberate her, that's his desire, with an answer to her that will sift right through her confusion and her anger and her resentment and that trickling little bit of life in her.

He's reaching out a hand with his word. He wants to reveal something to her if she can hear him. And so he sends this word to her. And he says in verse 41, he says, Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful.

One thing is needful. And Mary, which has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Now, if the Lord ever wanted to get a Martha's attention, he would say, one thing is needful. This is a woman that is consumed with doing.

This is a doer. This is the type of personality that walks in the room and sees everything to be done. This is the kind of woman that has a job for everybody. To her, Mary, Mary, describe her to it. You are troubled.

You are anxious. You are dragging around. You are discontent. You are in anger. But one thing, at this moment in your life, is needful. And it's not the pots. One thing is needful. And Mary has chosen it.

Now, beloved, I would have loved all my Christian life to know what that one thing needful was. I would like somebody, when I was two months saved, to get up and preach one thing needful and say, here it is.

Here's the one thing needful for your whole Christian walk. I would have loved that. So would you. You see, the one thing needful is, at that moment in our life, when Jesus Christ, if He can even get a trickle of our attention and a trickle of our anxiousness and get a hold of us, and He's going to say something that's going to speak right to the root, right to the problem, right to the contention, our lack of peace, and our off course, when we are off course because of it.

What He has to say at that moment is the one thing needful. Because He does not speak in vain. And He sees that woman walking in a wrong direction. He sees that woman and He sees her beginning from the end.

And in His great love, He wants to turn her. And she's got an example before her. She's got a flesh and blood example of a sister that's moving into a life she doesn't have. But He speaks a word to her.

And, beloved, that's what He does to us today. He gives us flesh and blood examples, but He speaks a word. You know, one time there was a parable and a man went to hell. And he said, Oh, let me go back and testify that there is a hell to my brothers who are still alive so they'll never come here.

And Jesus says, They have the prophets and they have Moses. They have a word. Let them hear that. What that man in hell knew. That for so many, when Jesus speaks, they can't hear. And everything depends on their hearing and our hearing.

And so Jesus says to her, One thing is needful. And that's the one phrase that would get her attention. That's the one thing that when she went to bed at night lying there going, One thing is needful.

One thing is needful. What is needful? What is needful? Why would He say that to you? What is one thing needful? But you know, beloved, when we go all through this woman's life, if she asks that question, she never asked it long enough.

She never considered it deep enough. She never took those words and laid it to heart. She never said, Jesus, what are you saying to me? Why didn't you answer me? Why didn't you answer my question? Back into the kitchen.

Why all of a sudden is it my problem here when all I'm trying to do, Jesus, is serve you? Why all of a sudden is the spotlight on me and you tell me one thing is needful? And Jesus was saying to her, partly, He was saying many things, but I think one thing He was saying to her is all your service to me, Mary, is rooted in yourself.

You can't hear what I'm saying. You don't know what I'm trying to reveal to you. The mysteries and the glories and unspeakable things that will never be thought of by a human mind. I'm trying to give you a vision that humanity cannot have apart from me and is only given to me to those that say, Jesus, I desire to love you and I want to follow you.

And Martha, though you have all the words and you have the testimony, you are not following me. Your service is your own. You've manufactured it. You've designed it. You like what you do. You get to direct it.

You get to choose the time and place. You get to stay in charge. I have to speak to you about something fearful, about something that may move you out of your comfort zone, of laying something down that I may give you my life.

Nope. Service your way. And it's bearing the bitter fruit of the religious self-directed life, self-directed service. I'm not showing myself to you, Martha. You don't have any secrets. You don't know what I'm trying to say.

You're deaf. And beloved, if we can hear Him, if we can hear Him, we're going to hear Him say that true service is not what you do for me, but true service is who am I to you? Will you lay down your preconceived ideas of what it is to follow me and to serve me?

Lay down your fears. Lay down your resistance. Lay down your failures. And let me speak a word into your body. I know how many times you've failed me, but He says, I'm still speaking life to you. I'm saying if you will turn to me, He said, what you've known is repeated failure.

I will turn it about because I am God. Your service to me is rooted by turning to me because I'm going to speak a life-giving word. If you can hear it, yes, even to you, and yes, even to me. But we can't hear those thoughts apart from His Spirit.

And many times, our whole idea of service is locked into our performance. And when we have performed, we think He's well pleased. Beloved, it's about the heart. We can perform and be so far from Him. What do we do when truth comes to us?

What do we do when truth visits us? Are we going to be Mary or are we going to be Martha? When God begins to say something in the midst of our confusion, our pain, and we don't understand, or in the midst of our apathy, in the midst of the battle for our spiritual life, and the great temptation to give up, that it's proved to be just one unending battle, and it just looks so easy just to loosen up and I'll say, Jesus, I love you with the best of them, and I'll go to service, and I will give lip service to prayer, but God knows, and you know, that there's a slipping away.