Tonight I'll be preaching in the book of Mark, Mark chapter one, Mark's gospel chapter number one, and I'll be reading one verse, and then I'll turn over to Matthew chapter four, and then we'll spend the remainder of our time there. Mark's gospel chapter one, and verse number 13. The Bible says, and he was there in the wilderness 40 days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beast and the angels ministered unto him. Let us pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blood and for Calvary and what you did in giving your life so that we can have life and have it more abundantly. Dear lord, we are humbled by your love, your mercy, your grace towards us and you're working in our lives in a special way to accomplish your will and purpose purpose and a plan for us. Uniquely ordained. I pray that you would bless in a special way the preaching of your word but that you would use it to challenge our hearts and to give us direction and guidance on the path to our destiny. Bless in a special way. Give me the words you love me to say. Cleanse me of sin. Empty me of self. Fill me with your soul and spirit that I may preach what thus said the lord and we'll be careful to give you the honor and glory in You may be seated. At present, the Olympics, the world's premier track and field event is taking place in Paris, France. And every time I view Olympians, I can't help but think of all of the hours, days, weeks, months, and years of preparation that had to be done in order for them to arrive at such a prestigious place and position. And when we see athletes and people who accomplish the pinnacle of success in their various fields of endeavor, and they bask in the glory of their success, it should never be lost on us the many sacrifices that they must have made, the dedication and the commitment put in before they could savor such a special moment. When you think of evangelism, the responsibility that we have and we've been given by Almighty God to go into all the world and preach a gospel to every creature and the results that would define success. It is easy to conclude that successful evangelism and successful results that come along with evangelism would bring about incredible joy, would bring about incredible excitement. If you've been saved by the grace of God, I would submit to you, you must be thrilled when people are one to the Lord. We see tonight the enthusiasm and the excitement of reflecting on what was done this past week through Vocational Bible School and the impact on the lives of these children and the decisions that may have been made in their hearts that you might not even be aware of. And so it's an exciting thought, it's an enthusiastic endeavor to see people impacted with the gospel. However, like the victory experienced by an Olympic champion, the success, if we desire to have it, must be preceded by preparation. We're exploring what I call keys to evangelism. And the first key we observed is what I call the person. You say, why is this the first key? Because it's important to understand that evangelism is founded and all about a person, none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, he's the one who evangelism is all about. But tonight we want to touch on the second key, if you will, and that is, I alluded to it, the key of preparation. Preparation. My friend, in order to have successful and desirable results, it is essential to have proper preparation. Jesus, prior to his earthly ministry, showed us the importance of preparation. And if you read the gospels, you would notice that his mindset of preparation and his practice of preparation was seen continually throughout his ministry. In other words, he did not just have preparation taking place at the beginning or the onset of his ministry and then abandon preparation. He had preparation throughout his ministry. And if Jesus would prepare for evangelism, how much more should we do the same and follow his example? Now I want us to note, I'm not sure how far we'll get on this tonight, but I want us to note a number of aspects of this key of preparation here. tonight. Now I want you to notice and be aware that as we get through these keys of evangelism we'll be looking initially in the book of Mark and we'll notice all of these keys found in Mark's gospel. Now Mark's gospel is kind of like one of the shortened versions, the shortest gospel. He had less to write on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and so but we're going to notice these aspects showing up here and then like tonight we might go to another reference of that passage in one of the other gospels but we will always begin in the book of Mark. So tonight we observe here in verse number 13 that we read that Jesus notice Matthew was about to embark on his earthly ministry and he engaged in preparation. Notice the Bible says he was there in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan and he was with the wild bees and the angels ministered unto him. Now, Matthew's gospel gives a much more detailed account of Mark chapter one and verse number thirteen. So, I'd like you to turn to Matthew chapter again a more detailed account of what Mark gave in one verse. Right? So Matthew chapter 4 and verse number 1. Now let's notice first of all when it comes to preparation, preparation involves first of all submission. Submission. Oh look at verse number one and what the Bible says then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil now We understand that Jesus came to this earth clothed in human flesh But even though he was clothed in human flesh. He was still 100% God. Amen, and so he was not less of God he did not lose his divinity but he clothed himself in humanity but notice what the bible says even though jesus was still equal with god the father and equal with god the holy spirit the bible says then was jesus look at that next word what is it led up of the spirit this is the son of god being led by the spirit of God. Though I find that literally amazing that Jesus himself and he did this on countless occasions through his earthly ministry, he was willing to be led. He was submissive. Now, think with me and contemplate. I'm using my imagination here. If the Godhead and if Jesus functioned like many institutions here on earth, I would submit to you that Jesus might have said, listen, in this Godhead, there are three of us. And three is an odd number. That's for a reason. This odd number indicates that if we have a vote in the Godhead, guess what? There's always going to be a majority. So, Holy Spirit, rather than you decide to lead me, after all, I'm on the same level with you. Remember that? You ain't higher than me. I'm not higher than you. So, before you lead me, let's call God the Father. Let's see what he thinks. And if he and I are on the same page, we're gonna go that way. And if you and him are on the same page, you and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit and God the Father, guess what? I'm going to agree to majority rule. Isn't that how we would work based on so many institutions, your honor? But that's not what Jesus did. That was not the attitude of Jesus. Jesus had an attitude of submission. And even though he was just as much God as God the Holy Spirit, he was just as much God as God the Father, Jesus set an example that he was willing to be led of the Holy Spirit of God. We understand that even through Jesus' earthly ministry, he was submissive to God the father. Look at John's gospel chapter six. We see this so very clearly and this is one of the first aspects of preparation that we'll see all throughout the word of god. Now, look at John chapter six and verse number 38. This is Jesus himself speaking. You see his mindset of submission. It says in verse my own will but the will of him that sent me." An attitude of submission. As Jesus labored in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion, Listen to what the Bible says. You don't have to turn there but I know you're familiar with this verse. Luke's Gospel chapter twenty-two and verse forty-two. Jesus speaking, he's saying, saying, father, if thou be willing, remove this from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. You know why submission is so important? that imagine Jesus had, that we are to embrace, that says, God, I don't want my way. I want your way. That's what submission is. How many times do we want things our way? That seems to be a natural tendency. But here's something I want us to understand. Submission is not natural. Submission is not natural. By the way, submission is not weakness or subservience. Submission says, I recognize my need to submit to another based on their God-ordained position. and I'm intentionally, this is why submission is not weakness, because submission is saying, I of my own volition and of my own will, I'm intentionally choosing to submit in obedience to God himself. That takes strength. And here's the other thing about submission. Submission is not based on who's smarter. Submission is not based on who's more educated. Submission is an intentional decision, again, based on obedience to God because I'm submitting to God. That takes some strength. You ever been on a job and you, maybe, easily, arguably, you're the most knowledgeable, you're the most educated, you're the most experienced, but you're not in charge, that requires an attitude of submission to say, I may know more, but I'm not in charge, but submitting to the authority is the right thing to do. That's the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice, this is all wrapped up in the preparation for what he was about to do. We'll note submission. We'll note one more aspect here tonight, and that is the aspect of devotion. Devotion. Now, turn back to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 4, and notice, Jesus was led above the Spirit. That's submission. But notice his devotion. And all of this is in advance of his earthly ministry. and his evangelistic efforts. And that was in verse number one, or number two rather. And when he had fasted, how many days? 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. Wow. I look at this verse and I wonder, boy, how many of us could last four days and four nights before we are afterward and hungered? But Jesus is fasting here and the length of his fasting demonstrated a level of devotion to communicate with God the Father. Now here's what this fasting showed and demonstrated clearly about Jesus. That he was not half-hearted in his approach. You see, my friend, half-heartedness will always hinder positive results. This is a principle that applies regardless of the circumstance, regardless of the event, regardless of the endeavor, regardless of the institution. You see, an absence of devotion and a half-hearted approach will always hinder and diminish success. Now, fasting, by its very nature, requires an abandonment of food. Now, when we talk about fasting, somebody may say, I'm fasting from social media. I'm fasting from television. I'm fasting from my favorite sport. But instinctively, most often, when we use the word fasting, we're talking about fasting from food or maybe some other pleasure that we engage in for the purpose of demonstrating our devotion to Almighty God. Now I don't believe it's accidental that fasting most oftentimes is in reference to food. You know why? Because in large part we love food. Don't we? I mean I It is most of us, we just love food. It's the one thing that, listen, even if you don't love food, at least you have to like food. And even if you don't like food, guess what? You need food. Amen? So no matter how you turn it, food is something that is necessary and important. So to abstain from the pleasurable, this pleasurable and necessary activity shows devotion. And Jesus, by fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, you can tell clearly, he was all in. You see my friend, preparation that's gonna yield successful results, you have to be all in. All in, not half-hearted. And so we're gonna, pause here and pick this up next week and I want you to understand we'll see this just give you a little sneak preview there's a reason why this kind of devotion is so important because we understand that Jesus didn't have any weaknesses as far as of course sin and so he was fasting for a reason that is essential for each and every one of us to be successful in accomplishing great things for Almighty God. And so we're going to pick that up next week. But I want you to keep in mind this key of preparation. Preparation, first of all, requires a willingness to yield our will to the will of Almighty God. Submission is not weakness. Submission is actually a requirement of Almighty God. First of all, submission to His authority. Submission to the authority that He has placed in our lives, whether it be in the home, whether it be in the church, whether it be in the society, whether it be in the school. God has ordained submission to authority to be a part of our makeup, a part of our mindset, part of our attitude. And when we are submissive to him, then we can then have a mindset of devotion which will lead to other benefits. But I want to leave that with you here tonight as we think of the keys to evangelism. We've observed the person and tonight we've taken a brief introductory look at the preparation Jesus got himself prepared for the awesome responsibility and task that would be before him to share the gospel, to let people know of God's plan for his kingdom and how they would be involved. And I pray that God will help us as well as we prepare that we will have the same mindset of submission and devotion that will achieve results for God's honor and glory.