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00:00:07.510]
When I gave up pastoring, I had not a clue how to make money. Not a clue. Just like, man, help me, Jesus don’t want a job. I tried to get some jobs in London. I’ve been pastoring for 15 years. I’ve got like, 16 year old kids alongside me who knew ten times as much as me and were like, with kids. And I’m thinking, this ain’t happening. And then I found a scripture Deuteronomy that said, God has given my hand power to get wealth. And I thought, okay, I’ll have that one. That’s my one thing right now. But you know something? I needed to make a decision to learn how I knew some things I was good at, but I didn’t know how to monetize them. I didn’t know how to package them. I didn’t know how to turn them into a legitimate business. So I had to learn some things. The decision was not cut everything off, put myself in a stupid, bad situation where all I’ve got is prayer. My decision was, let’s keep open some avenues of income to the best of my ability. But in the meantime, let me learn some things that will take me where I want to go.

00:01:48.390]
We got to be real wise and real practical. Yeah, just real wise and real practical. There’s one thing, but a few things that are necessary. Yes. You know what they are. No one else can tell you what they are. You know, in your heart of heart, some of the things that God has designed and desired for you begin to make some decisions that will move you towards that. That may just be half an hour a day. That may just be an hour a day focused on that one thing. Do you understand what I’m saying? But as you do that, you’ll get to the place like, now. I started this publishing thing several years ago and made zero for too long with it. But I knew, man, this is my thing. I had words over my life about it. I had a sense in my heart that this is something that I really want. This is something I’m really good at. But it wasn’t just, oh, I make the decision. This is my one thing. Hallelujah. Monday. It was a lot of work to get to where I am now, but I’m going to reap the benefits of it, and I think you will as well.

00:03:03.870]
Now, I’m not saying money is not the measure, okay? There are lots of different things. It might be a prayer life. It might be your word life. You may want to be a preacher, whatever. May want to be a chef, learn to Cook, take some classes. You may want to be a teacher, go to University and do whatever is necessary for that. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching that word exhort let us exhort one another means to call near to invite or to call for? And I want to encourage you. It says, let us consider one another to provoke them to good works. I want to just put these things before you know this is we’re done. Encourage one another, help one another. Call for and invite your brothers and sisters to live up to their divine calling. Let’s not accept where we’re at. Let’s not just say, well, this is just the way it is. I’m stuck in this job or I’m stuck in this whatever.

00:04:57.470]
No way, no way. There’s a way. Let’s call it out and let’s call it forth in each other? So right now I just call forth. In fact, if it’s okay, if you want to stand up, if something has spoken to you, maybe you want to become my gym partner. I would make any one of you look cool. If anything has spoken to you, you know what it is? There’s been a lot that we’ve spoken about. Then let me just call forth and invite you to stand up and come and just line up here and we’ll pray with you this morning? And we’ll just believe for divine clarity? That’s really what for me that was something that I saw really quite fervently is just a fresh clarity as to who I am really identity in some respects it wasn’t what shall I do? It was man. I’m so at rock bottom here. I’m so cumbered? But I don’t even know who I am in the midst of all this anymore. Help me to recognise who I am? So I can do what I’m supposed to be doing? Tell me to stop judging, measuring and shaping myself by what I’m doing or what others think I should be doing?

00:06:34.200]
And help me to understand Lord who I am? Help me to come and sit at your feet? So you can speak to me? So I’m not running after everything anymore? Thank you, Jesus. You pray with us as well? Yeah. Come. Let’s believe for that clarity right now. In the name of Jesus?

00:06:59.290]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you. If it was do, please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book, faithful creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can check that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first. Everything else follows you.

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00:00:15.910]
The tyranny of the urgent. How true is this? How urgent things can crowd out the important things. See, what you’ve been called to do is important. Your one thing or your but a few things are really important because that bit in the machinery makes the whole thing work. Each of us are gifted differently. Each of us carry different graces. But we’re one body. And I’ll tell you, man, the body of Christ is going to kick the Devil’s butt in the last days. It’s going to rise up like the giant iron man in his big suit, not the little one. Your life is full of urgent things. And the important things, just like the Holy Ghost, are not going to demand that you give your time to them. They require you to make a choice. And if you’re a writer, write a musician, practise a schoolteacher, learn if there’s something that you know you want to do. You know, if you want to scuba dive, you’re not going to scuba dive. If you don’t go down to the pool and learn how or whatever it may be, Jimin. It’s so easy to just be so centric around our own life and our own experience.

00:02:19.250]
That’s one of the problems with a preacher thing. That often preachers preach from a preacher’s perspective. Do you know what I’m saying, Jimin? And yes, we get it. But, man, you’re 24/7. Of course you can do all of that stuff. Pray 3 hours a day, read the Bible 5 hours a day. I’ve got four kids, and my rent is enough to make your toes curl. Yeah, but there are things that God is asking of you, calling you to requiring of you dreaming over you, spoken over you. You know what they are. And yet, how often do you spill all of your time and put all of your focus on energy on the urgent things that demand your attention? Instead of saying, how can I carve out time? How can I carve out finance or whatever it may be to accomplish and move forward in my warranty? You got to let go of some stuff. Seriously. Every one of us, whether it’s internal, some bucket loads of unforgiveness, we need to just let go of that bitterness. Let go of it. Disappointment. Anyone here ever been disappointed? I could fill an ocean with my disappointments. Now it’s just last year.

00:04:12.480]
No. We live in reality. We abide in perfection, but we live in reality. And you know something? Sometimes things just do not work out the way you hope and the way you want and the way you dream and the way you desire. When I gave up pestering as much as I couldn’t stand doing it, when I was doing it, I never give up. I wept for days. I felt like such a failure that I could hardly drag myself off the floor. I had no plan B. But God sometimes allows us to go through things to bring us to the place where we finally discover. Oh, wow. This is okay. Actually. Jesus, I found something here in being forced to consider a little more carefully the direction that I was going in. It brought me to that Mary place where I needed to hear what Daddy was saying. And so sometimes you’ve got to let go of some stuff. You can’t be everything. You can’t be everywhere. You can’t do everything. Just swallow it. Get used to it. It’s all good. It’s better that way. You need other people. So the very word decision means an act of separating or cutting off an incision a decision.

00:06:12.640]
It means to cut something off. It means that a division or a detachment of a part every decision you make will mean you have to let go of something. And I want to put just forward to you today that there may be some decisions that need to be made in this room. I would just put it to you today that there are some people, more than a few, who are presently walking a path and going in a direction that they don’t want to go in, that they’re unhappy in, that they feel ill equipped for, that they feel out of their depths in that they know is just not their thing. Decision, decision, decision. Make a decision. Not a stupid one, but make a series of decisions that will move the vehicle in the direction that you do want to go in.

00:07:50.590]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you. If it was do please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book, faithful creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can check that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the Promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first. Everything else follows you.

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00:00:04.870]
See in the culture that we live in. Some people wear business, especially here in London. They wear business like it’s the badge of honour. I mean, I’m certainly guilty of this. How are you? I’m busy. Oh, busy, busy, busy, busy. Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing much necessarily. You’ve got to be busy with the right things. And that’s why it’s so important for us to begin to Hone down. And sometimes the more we need is less. What we need is less. We need less things pulling for our attention. We need less things demanding our money. We need less things demanding our emotional input. We need less things plaguing our brain with triviality. Because the measure of success is not the measure that the world is putting before you. It’s not the measure that London is placing before you. It’s not. And we can be so driven by that old saying, you know, be careful if you’re climbing the ladder, because when you get to the top, you might find it’s leaning against the wrong wall. And that doesn’t mean we should cease from ambitious plans. I have very ambitious plans for 2016 and 2015.

00:02:14.120]
We’ve still got a few months yet. Come on. And I’m seeing the fruition of some of those plans. And one of my one things is publishing books. I’ve published 40 books in the last three months. Christian fiction. I’ve never published fiction in my life. I can’t even write. I write other books. I’m good at writing, teaching and stuff like that. I come up with stories. I pay other people to write them for me, I publish them. And within 90 days, I’ve gone from zero to $9,000 this month. Just for this month. I got another eight books ready to go, six next week. But that’s my one thing. That’s not your one thing. Don’t go try. Do it unless it really is. And then I’ll help you. Do you understand one thing? But if I didn’t have a focus on what I’ve discovered, I’m actually quite good at this. I’ve actually got a bit of a clue. I’m never going to run a gym. I know what is not my thing, but when you begin to discover what your thing is, don’t try and be and do everything else as well. Find that one thing and give your heart, give your passion, give your focus to it, and you’ll begin to see great fruit.

00:03:58.980]
I really believe that this is really interesting. When was the last time you read the Book of Ecclesiastes? Really? Homework if you want. Read the Book of Ecclesiastes. What an incredibly insightful book that is. And in the Amplified Bible, Ecclesiastes four, four says. Then I saw all the painful effort in Labour and all skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbour, Let the Holy Ghost dig in and get down to some of the motives behind why you do what you do. Let them get down there in the deep affections of your heart and find out if maybe those affections are attached to things that are dragging you back and dragging you down instead of being attached to something that’s moving towards life, I beseech you. Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world. Don’t be conformed. Don’t be squeezed into its mould. Don’t think that the pressure that the world is putting up on you to look a certain way, drive a certain car, speak a certain way, whatever it may be.

00:05:45.640]
I don’t know, Jimmy. We’ve all got our things that we’re susceptible to, but don’t be duped. You can run after those things for your entire life and come to the end of your life and think, what have I spent my life chasing? We have an opportunity now to just David, David, you are cumbered about many things. Come sit at my feet and let me talk to you about some of the things that I have prepared for you. The way we close the door on the world. Go this, wear this, drive this be like this. Do this, go there. There was no Prophet died and went to heaven came back again to tell the story he said he was standing in a queue And Jesus was up ahead and as they went down the queue Jesus would just ask one question and the question was simply this. Did you learn to love? I fall so far short in this matter Jesus is not going to go. Did you preach a really cool sermon when Rod was in America? Did you impress everyone? He’s not going to ask that. There are a lot of the questions and a lot of the things that we put our confidence in are not the things that Jesus is going to be asking about.

00:07:56.210]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you. If it was do, please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book, Faithful Creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can cheque that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the Promo Code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first. Everything else follows.

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00:00:05.830]
What’s the one thing or the few things that I need to tend to right now, Lord? Because if I try and do everything right now, I’m going to be welcome. Cumber man. See, Jesus knew what he was about. Twelve years old in the temple. Mom and dad are freaking out. I mean he really did deserve a smack backside. I don’t care what anyone says. Jesus. I bet he got a hiding, wouldn’t you? If you were Mary or Joseph, would you have given Jesus a hiding mate for running off and not telling you where it gone? I don’t mean to be rude, but if my kids did that, son of God or not. But he said, how is it that you what’s up? Why are you looking for me? Don’t you know I need to be about my Father’s business? He knew what he needed to do. He knew who he was and what he should be doing. I want to just put before you that God has things that he wants you to do. He doesn’t want me to do them. He wants you to do them. And he doesn’t want us all doing the same thing.

00:01:31.510]
The one thing for me may be very different to the one thing for you. And if you got any doubt about what the one thing is, take some advice from Mary. Go sit until you hear. And then when he says this is the one thing right now, then do it. Jesus said in John chapter 17, in that incredible prayer that he prayed, he said, I finished the work which you gave me to do. And sometimes we can look at this and we can think, yeah, his work was the Salvation of all the universe and the Salvation of mankind. But Jesus was very clear what work he was referring to here as to what he knew he was here to accomplish during his time on Earth. We’re not talking about the work of redemption. That’s not what he’s talking about here. He said, I have manifested my name to the man which you gave me out of the world. I’ve done that. I’ve completed that mission. I knew what I had to do and I’ve done it. I’ve manifested your name not to a multitude. How many men did the Father give him out of the world?

00:02:47.300]
How many men? Twelve men. Everything else was about this. Everything he did, everywhere he went, every miracle that took place was to train these twelve men. I believe that now that makes things much clearer and much more focused. I’ve got twelve men. The Father has commissioned me to manifest his name unto them. I got to train up these men and then by golly, I’m out of here. Praise the Lord and he completed that work. And sometimes again we can fall into the trap of thinking we have to be and do everything. When I first got saved, I got saved out of a really hippy background and I finally got a job and they said what do they call those things? Pensions. Do you want a pension? And of course I said no. I said by the time I’m 60 we’ll be long gone. Why should I waste money in a pension plan? I’m not suggesting that that was wisdom but the way I figured it man, I’m saved. Now this world is going to be ready to go anytime soon. Move over Apostle Paul. And as I’ve grown older and wiser. Hey look, the Salvation of the entire planet is not your responsibility, okay?

00:04:44.440]
Let me just release you from that one. Yeah, you’ve got a part to play but only one or, but a few things are necessary. If you’ll fulfil your one, if you’ll feel your but a few then we might just get there. This chap, he honours me. I will honour. When I run I feel his pleasure. For Eric Little one of the one things was running. What? Not praying, not preaching, not leading, worship, not doing the sound. Running. One of the one things for my daughter is rhythmic gymnastics. She knows her one thing man and I tell you it consumes her. When I run I feel his pleasure. That was definitely Eric Little. That was not David Martin. This is one thing that needs to change in my life. The last time I went to the gym it was a long time ago because I’m embarrassed to go back. I put my earphones on, I’m on one of those running machine things, put my earphones on and there’s this great album called Wide Wide World by what’s the guy? I can’t even remember the guy’s name but it’s like just one of those songs that just makes you just feel like a Superman.

00:06:36.710]
And so I put this song on, I’m like man, so I’m turning up speed on this machine like oh man, I’m going to take the world. I’m just so awesome. The problem was I got so excited running that my ipod jumped out of the little thing, hit the thing and of course without thinking my eyes followed the ipod and then I followed it and I was thrown about six foot six. I mean I tell you I was like doing 500 kilometres an hour on this thing. Six foot like right across me and everyone else is in the gym. What do you do? How do you save your ego in that kind of situation? It’s actually impossible, okay? You cannot. You’re a twist whether you like it or not. And there’s no coming back. Of course I got back up and just got back on the machine, pretended nothing happened and everyone else there must have been British because they pretended nothing happened as well. Thankfully the only problem was when I got back home. Oh no, that was another stupid thing I did. No, anyways I need to get back in the gym. That was Eric Little’s thing what’s your thing?

00:08:25.930]
What is it that you do that when you do it you feel God’s pleasure. That is definitely one of the ways that you can begin to pinpoint the one thing. This is what I’m born for. This is what I’m here for.

00:08:46.610]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you if it was do please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book Faithful Creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can cheque that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the Promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first everything else follows.

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00:00:09.610]
The message that I’m going to share this week here on the podcast actually comes from something that I preached several years ago in the Commonwealth Church where I was fellowshipping at the time. Wonderful, wonderful, powerful group of people. So creative, so vibrant, so full of the Holy Ghost. And I shared a message about all you need is less. And it was really something at the beginning, at the very early stages of a journey that I’ve taken, thinking around the concepts and the ideas and the principles of minimalism, but much more so in the context of hearing God, not being pushed from pillar to post, not being pushed around in every direction, like being caught up in the confusion that can sometimes occur in the crazy world that we now live in. So I’m going to be cutting that message down into bite size chunks for your enjoyment over this week. All You Need is less.

00:01:22.670]
What I want to share today is something that’s happening in me, happening in my life. But I’ve left the departure lounge, but I certainly haven’t come to the arrival lounge. Okay? So I’m on the journey. Just work with me. But I know that in it there’s something worth hearing and there’s something of God in what I want to share. See if we can put the PowerPoint on, if that’s okay. And the first question, I quite like interaction, if that’s all right. I’m not much of a pulpit here. I prefer to just be in it. If we’re going to have a message, let’s be in it together. Okay. This is for all the hippies in the house. I want to ask this question, okay. All you need is love. Okay. Love. Anything else, Jesus? Okay. Anything else? Money. What was that? Money? Yeah. Okay. And all you need is patience. What you need patience. Or she does double portion. They just got married. Imagine what it’s like for Larna and I. She needs like triple patience. All you need is and we can say different things, can’t we? Can say all you need is love. We could say all you need is Jesus.

00:03:27.950]
But the truth is, even Jesus didn’t believe that. Even Jesus, in the sermon on the mound when he was speaking to the people, I said, look, we know that you have need of all these things. Houses, clothes, food, friendship. We know you have need of all these things. And so in what I want to share this morning, I really want you to kind of understand that it is in context. But I want to just put this to you. All you need is less. And what I’m going to share this morning is going to just build on this idea, okay? And we’re going to just Hone in on some things and we’re going to just help bring some context to it. Now, I realise you probably can’t read that because I put it all on one slide, but who’s familiar with the story of Mary and Martha. Yeah, many of us have probably read it. It came to pass as they went. Jesus entered a certain village and there was this lady called Martha, and she received him into our house. And she had a sister called Mary. And Mary sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.

00:05:16.930]
But Martha, I love this. I’m a bit of an old King James guy. I love some of the wording in the old Martha was cumbered about much serving. Anyone here feel cumbered? Sometimes I feel cumbered. Sometimes four kids, the demands of fatherhood, the demands of business, the demands of life, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes I feel cumbered. And I’m sure that all of us do to one degree or another. And here is Martha cumbered about much serving. And she came to him and she said loud, do you not care that my sister is sat there at your feet? And I’m slaving away in the kitchen, tell her to come help. She’s left me to serve alone. Bid her, therefore, that she helped me. And Jesus answered and said, Martha, Martha, you can imagine the tone she comes in. Hair all bad hair day, sweating from doing all the stuff in the kitchen, sweating doubly because she’s absolutely mad at her sister. Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary has chosen that good part, and it shall not be taken from her. I love the Amplified.

00:07:20.280]
It says, there’s need of only one or but a few things. There’s need of only one or but a few things and circumstances in our lives. Recently, Larna and I kind of forced me into a corner to consider this. I felt cumbered inwardly and outwardly. Walking around like that, I thought, well, what’s the answer to this? Is it for me to become a super? Invincible? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But what if Jesus wasn’t requiring me to do all things? What if Jesus was saying, David, David, there’s need of only one or but a few things? Chill out, man. And we live in a culture that lifts up the invincible, lifts up the Avengers, lifts up slash the Green Arrow, Wolverine. But let me just come into this secret place. You are not a Superman or a superwoman. It’s not required of you. You are not required to be more than you were made to be. That’s a huge relief was a huge relief to me, to be able to sit down in my office at 330 in the morning because it’s the only time I get peace and quiet and say, God help me.

00:09:43.710]
And for him to say, there’s only one or but a few things that are necessary right now. You don’t have to do it all now. And you know, the funny thing is, Mary chose the better part. But let me just put this to you as well, sometimes that one thing isn’t necessarily sitting at the seat of Jesus. If you’re cumbered because your taxes are late, get your taxes done. Don’t sit at the feet of Jesus. Stop praying. Call the accountant. You will be much less cumbered and your prayers will be much more efficient afterwards. I promise you the one or the but a few things can change. Jesus wasn’t saying Mary has chosen the best thing and she never has to serve ever again. She never has to do the dishes ever again. She never has to clean house ever again. She never has to help you, Martha, ever again. He was saying, right now I’m only here for a short time. She’s made a good choice. Come on, sit down. I’m going to go. I really don’t care. Just put some 1 minute noodles in the microwave. I don’t want a three course dinner.

00:11:28.930]
Come on, just give me a pot. Noodle, that will do a blackjack an energy bar can of Coke. But he was talking about that time, that moment. And he said the one thing right now, Martha, come and sit because I’m only here for a short while and I came to visit you. I didn’t come to sample your cooking. But, you know, the following day, Jesus may have said, Mary, get up, make my dinner. I’m hungry. And sometimes we have this kind of weird way of taking a scripture completely out of its context and trying to just lay it generally over a whole life. Instead of understanding that everything takes place in a moment. Everything. See, I walk with God is not kind of one time he says something and then we live the rest of our lives never hearing again. It’s like, man, I hear something. I take a step. What next? What’s the one thing right now?

00:13:01.030]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you. If it was do, please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book, Faithful Creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can check that out at faithfulcreativebook.com. And if you choose to pick it up, use the Promo Code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first. Everything else follows.