How was your day? That's a question mom might ask you after school. It's a question we ask our family members, our friends, maybe somebody in your fellowship group, how was your day? And a regular answer is, busy. That's how my day was. From the moment I left the house till the moment I came home, seems like it was nonstop activity. And then you might ask more questions. Well, where did you go? What did you do? Well, I drove over here. I went to this store on my way home. Well, how was that? Well, I was crowded. There are so many cars on the road, so many people in line. If we think we are busy and crowded, I would like to share with you a day in the life of Jesus. I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Mark, chapter 1, verses 29 to 39, as Mark gives us a detailed account of this day that Jesus spent in Capernaum. If you were here last week, Jesus taught in the synagogue, people were astonished at his teaching, because he spoke as one who had authority. And then a demon cried out in fear, “Have you come to destroy us, the Holy One of God?” And he cast the demon out of the man. And so, this was a powerful experience, but it turns out that the day just continues there in Capernaum. And in fact, there's much more for Jesus to do. And so, please open your Bible to Mark 1:29-39. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand up for the public reading of Scripture, and I hope today that you will be inspired by the example of Jesus that we're going to find here. Please follow along as I read starting in Mark 1:29 This is the Word of God.
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. If you get your bulletin out from the handout there. I'd love for you to take some notes, and we're going to see what happens in this day in the life of Jesus, even a day where it was busy and it was crowded. And so, our key word for the gospel of Mark is sometimes translated “immediately” or “at once” or “straight away. “It's this Greek word euthus, and you see it right there in verse 29. If you want to circle that word “immediately,” it's like as soon as we're done with this epic teaching in the synagogue. People are astonished at his authority. He's cast out a demon. That seems like a big deal. Capernaum has already got plenty to talk about for the rest of the day. Well now, bam, he goes over to Simon's house. And then notice the next “immediately,” right there, oh, bam, she has a fever. And there's like a real concern, isn't it awesome, in God's timing, that Jesus is going to heal Simon's mother-in-law on Mother's Day as we go through the Gospel of Mark here, right? And when somebody has a fever here in the Scripture, you‘ve got to get your mind in the first century context of ancient Israel and the little towns above the Sea of Galilee. It's not like somebody's just going to put a thermometer there and find out what her temperature is, and pop a couple of Advil about this fever. No, this fever, this high fever that Simon's mother-in-law has, that means that this is a symptom of who knows what kind of sickness she could have had. She's in her sick bed. They are concerned about her. Jesus gets in the house. Because they immediately start letting him know, hey, this is what's going on with Simon, and Simon is later going to be called, who, what? Who is he? Everybody. He's Peter. And so, Peter, then, if he's got a mother-in-law, that means that Peter is married. And 1 Corinthians 9:5 says that Peter is married. And it appears that Peter and his brother Andrew, share this house in Capernaum, and Peter's mother-in-law lives there with them. And so, there's this immediate need brought up to Jesus there in the house.
Now, if you ever go to Capernaum, and some of us have been there, they have this first century house that they have excavated, that they have dug up, and they will tell you, many people believe it is the actual house of Peter, because it seems like, over the years, this house was treated with a lot of respect. They built a church on top of it. So, people believe that you can see, when you go to Capernaum, here's where the synagogue was, and then very close by, here's where Simon's house was. And so, some of us have seen oh, yeah. So, he just went right over here, and quickly he's in the house, and quickly he's presented with this situation. So, this is all happening in a busy kind of a way. It's going to be a very crowded day, and Mark is trying to make you feel by the way he writes, how claustrophobic Jesus’ experience was in Capernaum, like he doesn't have a moment. He doesn't have space. It's all happening. So, look at the verses here, and I just want you to circle how many of the verses start with “And”; almost all of our verses, except for the one about Simon's mother-in-law being sick. There's one about it's evening time. There's one about while it's still dark, before the sun comes up. But all the other verses are like a busy day Jesus is having in Capernaum. And then, not only does it seem like there's a lot going on in Simon and Andrew’s house, but look, there's a moment where all who are sick are oppressed by demons, the whole city, in verse 33, the whole city shows up for dessert after supper at Simon's house that night, all of Capernaum. And notice, circle the word “many”. Twice in verse 34, many people sick, many people with demons. And then circle what it says in verse 37, when Simon and the disciples finally find Jesus from this desolate place he's gone off to to pray, they're like, what are you doing, Jesus? Don't you understand, everyone is searching for you? Everyone's on the lookout for you. You are the talk of the town. You are famous. You are the biggest thing that has ever happened in Capernaum, and you're out here by yourself praying where everybody's looking for you.
So, this day that Jesus spends in Capernaum, it is busy, and it is crowded. The whole city shows up at the door. Everyone's looking for him the next day. And I want you to see three things that Jesus does in a very busy and crowded day. And we have here in verse 31 our first healing of that we've looked at in the Gospel of Mark we have here. And I want you to pay attention to the language here in this verse, “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.” And then notice, as soon as Jesus touches her, and as soon as he lifts her, her fever left her whatever that sickness was, it's gone. And then it makes this point, she began to serve them. So, this isn't like, oh, she's now begun to recover, or, oh, she started feeling better, maybe around that time. This is an instantaneous, miraculous, one hundred percent recovery from whatever sickness she had, to the point where she's feeling so great, I'd like to serve a supper right now. That's what happens here. And this is the first healing we get some detail about. And we are going to see many people get healed, not just here in Capernaum, but throughout the entire Gospel of Mark.
And we want to pay attention to how this works. Jesus, it's like, he takes people by the hand, that's one regular thing he does, and then he lifts the person up. Or he'll even say to the person, “Arise”. It's that in the word for in Greek, it's like, rise up, arise. Let me show you a couple of examples of this. Go over to Mark 5:41, let's talk about Jairus’ 12 year old daughter. You remember this man, Jairus? If you've read this before he comes, he wants to get Jesus to come and heal his daughter. While Jesus is on the way, there's a woman who touches him, and she gets healed on the way. And then by the time they get to the place where Jairus lives, where his daughter is. They're all saying that his daughter has already died. And Jesus says she's not dead, she's asleep. And they actually laugh at Jesus, like he doesn't know what he's talking about. And so, then it says in verse 41, Mark 54:1, when Jesus gets to where this child was, where she's laying there. Notice the thing here. “Taking her by the hand, he said to her, ‘Talitha Kumi,’ which means little girl, I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age, and they were immediately overcome with amazement,” like, bam, all of a sudden, the girl's up, bam. Everybody's like, how did that happen? Just because he took her by the hand, and this time, he just said to her, “Arise,” and she gets up. They think she's dead, and she's up walking around.
How about Mark, chapter 9? Mark, chapter 9. There's a father who has a demon-possessed son, and this demon was brutal to his son, convulsing him, putting him in very dangerous, physically dangerous situations where it feels like this guy is he going to make it? And when Jesus cast the demon out of this son of the father here, when he commands this mute and deaf spirit to come out to never enter him again. It says in Mark 9:26, that “After crying out,” this demon is crying out and convulsing him terribly. “The demon came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said he is dead,.” Like the demon leaves, but it looks like the boy has died, verse 27, “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up,” raised him up, “and he arose.”
Okay. So, you see this powerful, caring work that Jesus can do just by touch. He can heal. And then he's calling these people to arise. So, some of the passages we'll see that he might just touch the person, some of the times he might just speak to them, “Arise”. But this is the power that Jesus possesses and some of these healings that he does, it's not like they just got sick. We're talking about people who have never seen, people who have never walked, people who are dead. Jesus has power like he is the creator of all living things, like he is the sustainer of our every breath, like he fashioned and formed us, and knows intimately how we work. Jesus, he can create things in people's bodies that have never existed before. The Healing Power of Jesus is something to behold. And it's not just that he has the ability to do it, it's that he cares about these people. That's what we're going to see. Jesus is the most important person in the room, Jesus, everybody wants to talk to him. They're all pressing around him. And Jesus, he's on his way, and the whole crowd is following him. And he's like, hey, stop, somebody touched me. Hey, who was it that touched me? And they're like, Jesus, we don't have time for who touched you. We're in this massive crowd. We’ve got to keep moving. And Jesus is like, no, I don't have to keep moving. I came here for the people. Who touched me? See, there's a blind guy on the side of the road, and he's crying out, son of David. Son of David. And they're like, hey, be quiet. Jesus is important. He's on his way to do his business. Like, hey, be quiet, blind guy. And Jesus, he's like, everybody stop. Hey, let's bring that blind man over here, because I want to talk to him. When you get busy, when life gets crowded for you, do you get tunnel vision, where I just got to get done. What's on my schedule? I’ve just got to keep my calendar. I’ve just got to make it through the day. Because Jesus is busy, Jesus is crowded, and he stops everything for this person right here, who is in need, even when Jesus was busy and crowded.
Let's get this down for number one: “…He was available to meet the needs of others.” He was available to meet the needs of others. Jesus, he's not like, I’ve got more important things to do. Jesus is like, you are important to me. That's the impression he gives to people around him. In fact, go back now to Mark, chapter 1, and not only is Simon's mother-in-law immediately healed, so that she to the point where she can now just come and serve them the food, right? But notice what it says in verse 32, “That evening, at sundown, they brought to him everyone in Capernaum who is sick or has a demon,” everyone. And it says “the whole city was gathered together at the door.” Now, the reason they came at sundown was you’ve got to just think in the context of the Jewish people. Their day begins at sundown. And what day was Jesus preaching in the synagogue? He was preaching on the Sabbath. And so, it's still the Sabbath all the way until sundown. And so as soon as the sun goes down, and now the Sabbath is over, and now the next day has begun, the word has spread through the whole town. Wow. This guy, he's casting out demons in the synagogue. And so there they all are. I just have this picture of the door of Simon's house creaking open, and right there is the whole emergency room lobby, and right there is everybody from the mental ward, all gathered together right there, waiting to see what Jesus will do, just hoping that Jesus will come and touch them, or cast out the demon and or heal them of their disease. Like, can you imagine this scene, like Jesus is just staying at Simon's house. He's just having supper. They're ready to maybe call it a day, but the whole city shows up, and it says, and notice the emphasis that Mark gives here in verse 34, “with the many people,” and don't misread that “many”. Like, oh, I guess he didn't heal all of them. No, he healed all of them. He cast out all the demons. But Mark wants you to think this through. It was many people, many people that he went and maybe took them by the hand and lifted them up, many people where he went and spoke to them and cast out the demon. And at this point, he's keeping the demons on mute. Now he's not even allowing the demons to say who he is anymore, like the demon cried out in the synagogue. No, the demons now are silenced and they're cast out. And he's going through and doing this many healings, many demons being cast out.
And so, if this is starting at sundown, how late into the night is Jesus going taking care of people? Now it seems like Mark really wants us to understand that this happened when it was dark, and then, while it was still dark, before the sun even came back up, Jesus was already gone, looking for a place to pray. So, Mark's trying to highlight something there, but here's Jesus just at the end of the day. He's already preached, he's already cast out a demon. He's already done an amazing healing. But now everyone in the town. See, I wonder, when you're going through your day, are other people an interruption in your day, or are they an opportunity for your day? I wonder, are those other people on the road in your way, or are they the reason you're going out there today? Are the other people in the line in front of you slowing you down? Or are they a part of the purpose of why we are here? See, when I get busy, when I get crowded, one thing I can do. Oh, so and so emailed me, or oh, so and so texted me, and I cannot just stop and really hear what so and so is saying. And then sometimes I go back, and I read those emails, I read those text messages, and I realize, in my busyness and my crowdedness, I missed the point that they were hurting. They were having a hard time. They were in need of help, and here was me, kind of too busy, going on my way to really stop and see what was going on with someone else. Are you just doing your own thing or are you available when other people have needs you want to meet them. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, I can't go and heal people like Jesus can. And I don't know what you think about healing. Maybe you think you can heal people. Maybe you're like, I definitely know I can't heal people. One thing I hope we can all agree is nobody's healing. People like Jesus is healing. This is amazing that the whole city, that all the disease could be healed in Capernaum, that all the demons could be cast out. And we're not talking about like, oh, I feel a little better, or, oh, I start to improve. We're talking about complete, full healing, just from a touch, just from a word. If anybody was doing healing like this today, I definitely have not heard about it. And if somebody came and said, I can heal like Jesus did in Capernaum, I'd be like, bro, let's get in my car right now, because we’ve got some work to do. Have you heard of this place called Hogue? How come you haven't been there, right? So, nobody's doing healings like this. I mean, this would take over the news. This would be like anybody's talking about when people can say, I'll heal you if you send me money. I probably wouldn't believe those people, because it seems to me like Jesus is healing everybody, and he's doing it for free, just because he cares about these people.
Okay, so maybe you're thinking, well, I don't know how this applies to me, because I don't have this awesome power, creative power to heal like Jesus does. Well, I think that there's a lot that you and I can do to meet the needs of others, if we're praying about it and we're paying attention to it and we're not too busy and crowded ourselves. Go with me to James 5. Here's something we want to do at our church that the scripture instructs us to do, particularly about people who are sick. And I just want to say to our whole church, on behalf of the elders of our church, we are ready to do what James 5:14-15 says. And we want to make sure everybody here knows about it, because James here gives some practical instruction. When people get sick, here's something we can do in the Church of Jesus Christ. And it says in James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith.” So, if you're sick and you're like, I don't know what's going on, this doesn't look good. Well, you call for the elders of the church, the elders of the church, they come. And this prayer, this is now referring to this prayer of the elders for the sick person. Verse 15, “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will,” same word in Mark, the Lord will what? Raise him up, okay? And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So yeah, James isn't saying the elders of the church can touch you or speak to you and you'll instantly be healed, but he's saying the elders of the church can pray for you, and there's a prayer of faith that leads to healing. And that is a beautiful thing. When God raises up those who are sick, when God forgives those who have sin. So, if you have a sickness, please call on the elders. It would be our pleasure to come and pray this prayer of faith for you.
But I also want to encourage you, if you know someone who is sick, even if you're not one of the elders of the church, you can pray for your brothers and sisters who are sick. And sometimes, when we've gathered together as a church and we've prayed for somebody who is sick, we have seen people get healed in a way that the doctors can't really explain. And in fact, sometimes people have come to the elders, and we've really prayed for them with faith that God is able and willing to heal this person. And then the person comes back to us, and they'll be like, you won't believe it, but this whole thing I was diagnosed with is no longer in my body at all, and we'll all be like, praise the Lord. Sometimes I wonder if it was just a bad diagnosis from the beginning, if it was just medical malpractice, but then sometimes it seems like a miracle just took place, and we're giving glory to God. Okay? God is able to heal people, and we can pray for them. We don't need to have the gift of healing to ask the healer to help his people. But see, there's more that it's very clear, if you know somebody who's sick, so sick that they're going to the hospital. What should you do if you really know somebody and they're sick in the hospital? What should you do? You should call them and ask them if it's okay for you to visit them. Is that what you should do if you call somebody who's sick and you want to visit them when they're in the hospital and you want to visit them? If you ask them, can I visit you, what are they most likely to say to you? Please don't ask. Just show up, because when you call, they say, no. Now is not a good time. But when you show up, they say, I'm so glad that you came. And even if you can't see them, it means so much that you stopped whatever you were doing and you're busy and crowded life, and you were available for them. I have gone to the hospital to try to see people that I was not even allowed to see, and yet it still mattered to them that I cared. We have to show those in need that we care. We have to change our schedule. We need to all be thinking that part of what's going to happen today is other people are going to need help. Someone's going to need a conversation, someone's going to need a meal. They're recovering from a surgery. They just had this a big event where maybe they just were blessed with a child at their house, and they're losing sleep, and they're trying to figure it out, and you could just bring them a meal, and that would be a great blessing to that family. In fact, you could invite your whole fellowship group, or a whole bunch of people who know them, to start a meal train and to bless them with food. There are many things that we can do for other people if we are aware enough of what is happening with them if we're ready to see what their needs are. But maybe we're just too busy and our day is too crowded to really care that anybody else needs help. You can't be more busy and crowded. Let's stop everything. Let's go talk to this one woman. Oh, over here, let's go talk to this one blind man over here, because people are the reason Jesus came. He came for our souls, and so he's not too busy doing something else, because people are the reason that we're here.
And so, are you available to meet the needs of other people? That's something we see that Jesus did, and the whole city of Capernaum was blessed. I've heard it said that Jesus, while he was on earth in that northern part of Galilee, he banished disease from that area, because they kept bringing him all of the sick. He cast out all the demons in that area, like the whole city. Can you imagine living in a town where nobody's sick, nobody's demon possessed. Everybody's been brought to a healthy place in their body, a right way of thinking, all because Jesus came through and he cared about each person.
Go back with me to Mark, chapter 1, and let's see here that, not only does he take time to care for all these people, and there were many healings, many demons cast out. So, this goes late into the night, but then notice verse 35. You’ve got to see the intentional contrast in the timeline of this twenty-four-hour period in Capernaum, because it wasn't till after dark that the door was opened and the whole city was there, and Jesus did many healings and many exorcisms. Okay? Well now notice in verse 35, “very early in the morning,” how early? “While it was still dark.” So, Jesus didn't even sleep long enough, and who knows how late he went into the night with all these people, I would imagine that was a very emotional and he was giving out a lot of power. People were very joyous. They were going from very concerned to overjoyed, like, could you imagine all that they experienced in that night? And I don't know how much sleep Jesus gets, but before anybody else is even stirring, he's already leaving Capernaum. It says, he's going out into a desolate place. And what is the purpose of Jesus getting out of the city, getting away from everybody, going back out into the wilderness? Why? Because he wants to pray. And you can see that Mark is drawing our attention to the fact that after such an action-packed day in Capernaum, this is what Jesus does right away, he goes and he spends time out there just him and the Father in prayer. Now the word here for desolate place. Go back to Mark 1:12, it's the same word that is translated here “wilderness”. It says in 1:12, “The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days.” In fact, back in Mark 1:4, John appeared baptizing in the wilderness, and that was down there in the Judean wilderness down by Jerusalem. Well, this is now up north in Galilee. We're getting out of the towns, out of the villages. We're getting out to where people are not living. That's the idea. And so, Jesus now he's gone far away. Just like I've been blessed to go to Capernaum to see the synagogue, to see Simon and Andrew’s house. Perhaps I've also been blessed to get out on the hillside there in north of the Sea of Galilee. And I remember, some of us, we were out there hiking with our guide, Shafiq, and we start hiking through people's fields. We start walking through people's nurseries. I'm like, this feels like this is not a part of the tour. I'm like, Shafiq, are we allowed to be out here? He's like, we're way outside of bounds right now. And I'm like, yes, Shafiq, where are we going? Shafiq, man, if this is the guy you want to lead you in Israel, used to work at the US Embassy. He feels like he's a soldier. But then he'll open the Bible and start reading you the Scriptures right where they happen. And he's like, come with me. And I'm like, where are we going? We're going down this hill. We're going over here. We're walking through all this stuff way off the beaten path, and then, all of a sudden, in this one little place, there's this little cave right under a tree. And he's like, this is the desolate place. This is where we think Jesus went and where he prayed when he wanted to get away from everyone. It was right here in this cave, and you're like, whoa, this could be the place that Jesus is praying to the Father way out here. Oh yeah. I mean, there's still nobody living around that place. To this very day, you're like, oh, this would be a great place to get away and pray. I can see why people think Jesus might have prayed there. And so, in the dark, Jesus is out walking to find a place where he can talk to the Father.
What is the number one reason that people say they don't have time to pray because they are too what? Too busy. Somebody should have told that to Jesus, because Jesus didn't think he was too busy to pray. Wow. Let's get that down for number two: “…He made prayer a priority.” He made prayer a priority. This is the Son of God talking to his Father. He thinks it's very important to set the tone for his day is to pray. Wow. I think Mark's really teaching us something here now. Now the point mark is making is not the content of what Jesus prayed, but the priority that he did go and pray. In fact, Mark makes this point. Other times, go over to chapter 6, verse 45. Look at Mark 6:45 because right this is right after the feeding of the five thousand. So eventually, the crowds get so big that Jesus can't go into the towns and villages anymore. Jesus has to stay out in the wilderness because everything's so crowded, and the crowds follow him way out into the wilderness. And so, it comes to the end of the day, and there are thousands of people following Jesus, and they're out there in the middle of nowhere, and Jesus is like, let's get these guys something to eat. It's been a long day out here. And they're like, how could we feed all these people? And he's like, well, what have we got? We’ve just got a little bit of bread, a little bit of fish. And Jesus is like, no, we're going to feed everybody. And so, this amazing miracle, “five thousand men, not counting the women and children.” I mean, a lot of people get fed in this miraculous way. And then Jesus does this. He says to the disciples, you guys get on the boat and go over here. And then he says to the crowd, okay, we fed you. Now you’ve got to go back to your towns and villages. Now you’ve got to go home. And when Jesus sends the crowd away over here, and he sends his disciples away over here. Look at what it says here in verse 45 of Mark 6, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to what, everybody? Like, this is like the height of his popularity. This is like such a busy moment. This is right in between feeding the five thousand and he's going to catch up with the disciples later on by walking on water, and in between that, what does Jesus do? He goes off by himself up the mountain. Everybody else has been taken care of. Everybody else has been sent away. And what does he want to do when he finally gets a moment to himself at the end of the day, what does he want to do? He wants to pray to his Father. He wants to spend time in the secret place.
Go with me to Mark 14. One of the most compelling scenes in all of the gospel is when Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he is going to die. This garden outside of the city of Jerusalem at the base of the Mount of Olives. And Mount of Olives is known for its olive trees, and this is where Jesus was feeling the pressure like an olive getting squeezed for the oil. Here's Jesus feeling the pressure that he's going to get squeezed. He's about to be crucified for your sins. And so, Jesus, he's knowing what's about to happen. Judas is going to betray him. They're going to arrest him, just like he's been saying, All of Mark, I will be handed over to the chief priests, the elders and the scribes. It's about to happen. And Jesus, in preparation for this moment, you know the theme, now what does he want to do? Well, he wants to pray. And so, Mark 14:32, “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’” And he took with him the guys who were in the house all the way back in chapter 1, the guys who saw the door open, and there were all the people who were sick, there were all the demon possessed, and then the next morning, when they woke up, it's like, whoa, where'd Jesus go? Well, here we are now on their last night with him and Peter and James and John, and he and Jesus began to be greatly distressed and troubled. Verse 34 he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” I feel like I'm going to die. Remain here and watch. “And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. And he came and found them earnestly praying for him. Is that what it says right there? He came and he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, notice what he says to Peter, I'm going to use your old name right now, bro, Simon, that's when somebody gives you a special name, like Peter rock stone, and then they're like, uh, Simon, they go back to your old name. That's not a good thing. Simon, like, oh, we're regressing right now in our relationship. Simon, are you asleep? Look at this question right here. “Could you not watch one hour?”
See, this is some question I have whenever I read this passage. It seems to me that Jesus thinks one hour is a short time to pray. How did one hour become a long time to pray for in our mind, like, how many people in this room that call themselves Christians for years have even prayed for an hour and Jesus is like, Guys, that was only one hour. You couldn't stick with me for one hour? You couldn't pray for one hour. Simon? Where are you at, bro? In fact, watch and pray, Simon, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping? Three strikes, and you're out, Simon. And then this, I feel like Mark has been leading up to this statement right here, it is enough. “The hour has come, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” The moment that Jesus kept telling them, and remember when Peter took him aside and rebuked him. You're not going to suffer at their hands. You're not going to die. That's not going to happen to you. And Jesus had to say to Simon, “Get behind Me, Satan, you're thinking about the things of man, not the things of God.” Like Peter, he's been telling you over and over, this is going to happen. They're going to take me, I'm going to be in their hands. This is going to happen. And then he gives them a chance. One chance, two chances, three times, they could be praying. And then the moments there and here they come with their torches, the mob to arrest Jesus, and there are the disciples completely not ready, because they did not devote themselves to prayer. I wonder how many of us, if Jesus came, he would find us sleeping, rather than praying. In fact, it's very clear that Peter gets three opportunities to pray. And how many times does Peter deny Jesus later on this same night, three times, because he wasn't prepared. And how many opportunities with other people have you and I missed because we didn't pray and we weren't prepared? How many times have we fallen into temptation because we did not watch and pray
So, I hope you get inspired by the example of Jesus to pray, but some of you are going to have to admit that you don't pray the way that you should. And I'm just here to ask you, what is it going to take to really change that? Are you going to just feel guilty about how much you pray for the rest of your life, or are you going to go really pray. Like that's what I feel like it took for me. It took me realizing that, when somebody brings up prayer, I can't just keep feeling bad like I should pray. I need to learn how to pray so I can say before my God and before anybody else that I pray to God, just me and him. And if you ask people, do you pray? They're like, oh, of course, I pray. They act like they're insulted that you would even bring it up. Do you pray? Of course, I pray. I prayed right before I ate my food. The other day, I prayed right when I needed help on the freeway because that person cut me off. I prayed the other day. I prayed when I when my kid did that thing one more time. I prayed, oh, Lord, help me. I prayed right. And you realize when people are saying, oh, of course, I pray, what they're throwing up is these, “Lord help me” prayers throughout the day or a quick “thank you Lord” right before they eat a meal or go to bed. And that's not what I mean when I say, do you pray. When do you get away just you and God and you pray for like an hour? Nothing else on the agenda, no distractions out of town, no people around a desolate place. They have to search for you to find you, because you're just there with the Father. Do you know this blessing of being in that secret place where it's just you and the Father, nobody else? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I'm so blessed. Sometimes I get to get up early, like, as soon as the coffee shop opens, I get to get there. Have you ever been around like the streets are empty at those times? Right? You can get around real easy. And these poor people working at this coffee shop, they are clearly not fully awake as they're preparing this coffee. And I get in there, and I get to open up the Word. I get to pray for a long time. I get to listen to songs Ryan Pierce has recorded that aren't even released yet, and I'm just here having my own time, me and God, and I'm just praising the Lord. I'm asking him about my whole day. And then I look around and I realize I'm the only person in this coffee shop. And I wonder, man, as the sun starts to come up and I feel sad that the sun is coming up, because that means my time is over, and everybody else is going to wake up, and the whole busy, crowded day is going to begin.
I wonder to myself, how many people know this joy of just being in the presence of God? How many people know that when the sun's coming up, the best part of my day has already happened, because I just poured out my heart to the Father. I just gave him everything I've got, all my cares, all my anxieties. I confessed all my sins, and I asked God, the one who sits on the throne, I asked my father, who cares about me, I asked him to do it today. Everything else in the day just feels like bonus time after I spent this time in the secret with my father. Do you know what I'm talking about? Can you say amen to that? Because if you can't say amen to that, you need to.
That's what Jesus was all about. I mean, one of the clear takeaways from reading a day in the life of Jesus is you can't find him the whole day because he's gone somewhere by himself, praying to the Father. Is that how you live? It says in Luke 11:1, we'll throw it up here on the screen. But it says that after Jesus kept doing this, “As Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples eventually said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Like they keep seeing Jesus go away like this, to pray. And eventually they're not saying, what are you doing? Everybody's looking for you. You’ve got to come back to Capernaum. At some point they're like, wow, whatever you're doing, Jesus, will you teach me how to do it? I want to learn to pray. How do you pray?
Go with me to Matthew, chapter 6. Matthew 6:5-6. Jesus teaches us to get away and pray like this in Matthew 6, 5 and 6. This is part of the teaching of prayer. This is not so much the content of the prayer. Now, the content of the prayer. You could keep going here in Matthew 6. You could go to Luke 11. If you want to see an example of Jesus praying, go to John 17. The whole chapter in John 17 is Jesus praying. I'm so excited at our high school camp, at our Camp Compass, at our Junior High camp, we're going to be looking at John 17 this summer. We're going to be learning what Jesus prayed for us. Very inspiring, very powerful. But here, the emphasis is not on what you should pray during that time, but do you even have the time? And here in Mark 6:5, it says, “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.” Is the only time you're praying when other people are around? I mean, it's great to pray with your family. It's great to pray with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's great to pray when God's people are gathered together. But is that the only time you pray when other people are going to see it? Or is there a secret prayer that's just between the Father and you, and you're not doing it with anybody else. It's just you. And notice the assumption here is when you pray. I don't know when Jesus was preaching. It was when you pray. When Jesus was preaching, can't you watch even one hour today? It's like, if you pray, and maybe ten minutes. I don't know how this happened, where Jesus clearly has an expectation, and we've acted like who cares about that? I don't need to pray like that. Maybe you've heard of this guy, Martin Luther. He's a famous person who was involved in the Reformation. He's a historical figure people still know about hundreds of years later. Well, he has some quotes on prayer that Christians have been passing around now for generations. And I don't know where these quotes came from, but I know Charles Spurgeon quoted this in one of his sermons in 1865. And Martin Luther, he had a quote where he would say, if I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. That was cool. And then somebody said, well, what are you going to do tomorrow? Martin Luther, he's like, I’ve got so much work tomorrow. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer. See, in Martin Luther’s mind, the more you have to do, the busier you are, the more crowded you get, that means more to pray for even more things to come and humble yourself and cast your cares up to the Lord. More ways to intercede on behalf of people you know. So, if there's a lot going on, that means more time in prayer with an attitude like that. Maybe he's a guy that God used. Maybe there's a reason we're still knowing his name hundreds of years later. Leader, because he was a man who spent time with God. You need to devote yourself to prayer. That's at least the example of Jesus.
Now go back to Mark, chapter 1 and you'll see this. This is what happens when they find him here, and they're like, hey, they're searching Simon, maybe Andrew, James, and John. We’ve got four disciples at this point, and you can just picture these guys running over the hills north of the Sea of Galilee, and they're just like, is he here? Is he there? And they run over the next hill, and they can see now what's beyond that hill, and they're looking for him. And then maybe eventually, one of them runs by, peeks his head into this little cave, if Shafiq is right, and there's Jesus in there praying. And they found him, and they said to him, everyone is searching for you. Like Jesus, you are the talk of the town. You are the most famous person in the history of Capernaum. Everybody's looking for you right now. That was amazing yesterday. And look what Jesus says. I think it's so helpful. He says, “Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Hey, Jesus, don't you want to come back now to the city that you're famous in? Don't you want to come back now where you already have this captive audience who wants to listen to you, and you've banished all disease and you've cast out all demons, don't you want to know? Kind of just settle down in Capernaum and enjoy the fruit of your labor. Jesus is like no, because all these towns, all these villages, I need to go and preach there, too. That's what I came for to preach, the gospel of God. Jesus isn't trying to get famous or comfortable or settled down in one town, Jesus came for all the towns, towns we don't even know their name, villages, not even big enough to put their name in the Scripture. And if they've got a synagogue. It takes ten Jews, Jewish men, to form a synagogue. If they've got one of those, Jesus is showing up and he's going to preach in it, because he came for the souls. See, he says, I came to preach, and I've preached the message now in Capernaum, I’ve got to go preach it in these other places. So, Jesus doesn't get caught up in the hype of this moment, biggest deal ever in Capernaum. No.
Let's get this down for number three: Even when Jesus was busy and crowded, “He stayed on mission,” and his mission was to proclaim the gospel of God. We already saw that back in chapter 1, verse 14, that after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee. And what does it say he came into Galilee to do, “proclaiming the gospel of God, proclaiming the good news that heaven has a message for Earth, good news of great joy for all people, that God in heaven on the throne sent his one and only Son who humbled himself down here to Earth.” And the Son of God has died for our sins. The Son of God has risen from the dead, and everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life where they can know God. In fact, if you turn to God, all of your sins can be forgiven because God sacrificed his Son in your place. Hey, the time is now, and the kingdom of God, it's right there. You could reach out and grab it, repent and believe in this good news. That's what Jesus came to do. He had a definitive message, a specific and clear gospel, and he came to give that good news to everybody, no matter what town or what village they lived in. This is why I came out to preach, to proclaim. You see this same word, kerusso back in verse 4 of chapter 1, when John the Baptist appeared. He was baptizing in the wilderness, and he is proclaiming. He is preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We’ve got to call people out in their sin, call them to change their mind, call them to turn from their sin to a new way to confess their sin. And when they do, God will forgive them for their sins. Look what it says in verse 7 that John the Baptist preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I.” Hey, this isn't about me. It's about him. I'm going to decrease, but he's going to increase. Hey, guys, don't get all hyped up about me. You need Jesus. That's what John the Baptist preached. And then Jesus came preaching the good news. And then the disciples here are like, wow, everybody in Capernaum is searching for you. And he's like, guys, we're not here for that. We're here to go preach the Good News to more people. Wow. That's what Jesus came to do was to give God's message to Earth.
Now I know what some people in the room are thinking right now. You're thinking, well, I'm not a preacher. I'm not like John the Baptist or Jesus. Okay, go ahead with me in Mark chapter 1, and go to verse 45 because the next time we get into Mark, there's going to be a leper, and Jesus is going to have compassion on this leper. He's going to heal the man of his skin disease. He's going to make the man clean. And then he's going to tell the guy, hey, I just did this for you, but don't go and tell anybody about it. Have you ever noticed that in Mark how it says, don’t go tell anybody what I did. And then after Jesus tells them, it's called the Messianic secret, don't go tell them what I did. And then after he says, please don't go share with anybody, what do they usually do, everybody? They go tell everyone what Jesus just did. It's amazing how that worked. Jesus in Mark is like, don't tell anyone, and they tell everyone. Jesus to us is like, go tell everyone. And we're like, I'll keep it to myself. How did, how did that happen? But notice what it says here in verse 45, this man who had leprosy, who's now been cleansed, he's going and “he went out and began to talk freely about it and spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.” This one leper guy gets so hyped up, he goes and talks freely about it. He spreads the news. Now, Jesus can't even go to all these towns and villages and preach in their synagogues because it's all too crowded. It's all too busy. Now, when it says talk freely about it, guess what word it is there? Kerusso, the word to preach, the word to proclaim. Yes, it could be a more formal preaching, like we're doing in this service here as a church, but it could also just be you pumped up to share good news.
And see, here's the thing that I think a lot of us lose when it comes to sharing good news, is we start being afraid of what people will think about us, or we start wondering if we will know what to say. But the truth is, it's not about us, it's about him. Well, well, we're going to have Mother's Day brunch after this, and I don't want to bring up religion. If you think you're bringing up religion, that's the problem, right there. We're not bringing up religion. We're not bringing up Christianity. I want to tell you about him. I'm not here to try to get people to come to church or to believe a certain set of teachings. I want people to know Jesus. I want people to see him. I want their eyes to be opened to realize that's the Creator walking around in skin, the guy who can heal like that, the guy who can cast out demons like that, the guy who speaks like he's in charge, because he really is.
I want people to see who Jesus is. I want people on Mother's Day, on their way to brunch, to realize that guy and that story, that guy in Mark one, he came here for me. I'm the mission. He came here for my soul. He came to pay for my sins and be judged in my place. He came to rise again so I could know God, so I could pray like that, so I could have a relationship with a Father who loves me and cares for me. He came for me. How could I know that the Son of God humbled himself to die for my sin and gave me a whole new life and not want to talk freely about it? You’ve got to meet Jesus. He's literally the greatest guy ever. You need to know him. That's what we're talking about. That's what John the Baptist preached. He preached Jesus. That's what Jesus preached. He preached good news. This is what this leper is saying, I used to be unclean. I used to have this skin disease, and now he healed me. Now I'm clean like you guys. Got to go check this guy out. And Jesus now he can't even go into towns anymore, because there are so many people. Why? Because he's talking freely about it. When was the last time you talked freely about Jesus like you didn't care what people thought about you, but you really cared what they thought about him? That's the mission. The mission is the name of Jesus being made known. The mission is more disciples about Jesus in all nations. The mission is more people repenting and finding forgiveness for their sins in his name, the name of Jesus being known by more people. It is the mission. Is that why you came out? See, I think some of us, we'd be like, I'll just chill in Capernaum. This sounds great. No disease, no demons. Everybody's getting excited about Jesus. Let's just settle down right there.
See, we're at that time in our church where some of us came here to Huntington Beach because we wanted to see what Jesus could do if we preach the gospel around here and now. We've seen Jesus do so much. We started at the high school. We were over in that building. Now we have, like, a campus of multiple buildings. Now there's a whole another church in Long Beach. And we could be like, yeah, let's just settle down here with God's people. Or we could say, no, look at those people. They need the gospel. That's why we came here, was to share the Good News of Jesus that could transform people's lives.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 5. I hope this will inspire you, because my concern is we get so nervous, we get so worried about what people are going to think, and so much of that is self-focused. And look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5. He says, “For what we proclaim,” what we preach, what we talk freely about, the same Greek word kerusso here, what we proclaim is not ourselves. When you're out there sharing Jesus with someone, don't worry about what they're going to think about you. We're not proclaiming ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants. For Jesus’ sake, I'm just here to tell other people who he is. That's the purpose. I mean, I get nervous as somebody who has to speak in front of other people, as somebody who goes and talks to people, I get nervous. I feel uncomfortable, but I don't think I'm up here telling you my favorite jokes and stories. I'm not up here talking to you about myself. I'm here to tell you Jesus did this. Jesus said that. And it really helps. When you think you're talking about yourself, you will be nervous to the point where you may not even do it, but if you think you're talking about him, you will be able to speak freely, boldly, because he's worth talking about. Everybody needs to know him. He's the one who's the most important person in the history of planet Earth. He's the one who upholds the universe by the Word of his power. And he created us, and he sustains us, and Jesus, he's given us every good thing in our life. And yet, even though he's the most important, when he's on his way, he'll still stop, and he'll still come and care about little old me and my problems. That's how much he cares.
See everybody needs to know him. And so, Jesus, he didn't get caught up in the busyness. He didn't get caught up in the crowd. And even though they had a positive response to him in this moment, he's like, look at that little town over there where there are just a few more souls. I'm going there to preach. And he began to go around, and Jesus, I think he knew I better get to these little towns quick, because eventually, by the end of chapter 1, he can't even go to towns anymore. I’ve got to stay on mission, and so I hope that inspires you. I don't expect people to find out Jesus by themselves. Look at what it says here in these verses. Look back at verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 4. “Even if our gospel is veiled, even if people can't see Jesus, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” If you don't proclaim it to them, how are they going to see it if you don't shine it to them? How are they going to hear it? I think we have this idea like, oh, people should just figure it out for themselves. No, that's not how God said it. God sent us out. We're the way he's going to reveal it to them. And so, if you've got the handout, flip it over, and I want you to see question number two based on this example that we've seen of Jesus. I hope it inspires you, and I would just like you to think about your days when you get busy and crowded. Take a moment to evaluate a day in your life. Are you available to meet the needs of others? Do you make a private time of prayer a priority? Are you telling the gospel freely to those who need to hear it, does a day in the life of you look like a day in the life of Jesus? Let me pray for us right now.
Father, I just thank you so much that Mark wrote about this, this one day in Capernaum, one day that completely changed the whole city. So many healed, so many demons cast out, and yet, immediately, Jesus is praying and on point to go to the next town and to preach the Good News there, Father, I pray for all my brothers and sisters that you would inspire us. There is no one like Jesus. What caring! What power! What focus he has to be praying to you and to be moving on to the next town. God, please use just this glimpse into a day in the life of Jesus to challenge us, to encourage us, to inspire us. Let us have great conversations about Jesus all week long. And God, I just pray for those who have joined us here on Mother's Day, and maybe they're on their way somewhere else. Maybe they just came here to be with their moms here visiting. Or maybe kids came here to be with mom. I just pray that on the way of their busy, crowded Mother's Day that they could see that there's a man who came for their soul. There's a man who would stop whatever he was doing, even though what he was doing was more important than anybody else. But he would stop the whole crowd, and he would search out that one woman, that one playing man. I pray that they would see that Jesus is the one searching for them, and that you would open their eyes to see Jesus. You would open their ears to hear the Good News of Jesus. I pray that they would be able to sing with the rest of us. Jesus, there's no one like you. We love you, adore you. We want to become more like you. So let the name of Jesus be exalted in our hearts. Let the name of Jesus be known by more souls here in Huntington Beach. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.