God's word to Mark chapter one, and as you do so, please stand with me. Mark chapter one. Be reminded this is the word that stands forever. Mark chapter one, we will be reading verses 35 through 39. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he, that is Jesus, departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 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." Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this enduring word, this word that will never fade, it will never perish, but it stands forever. Lord, thank you for the person and work of your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to marvel and to be filled by the power of your Holy Spirit. We ask these things, amen. Well, please be seated. Well, here in this fairly short story, this fairly short account, We have really two parts, the first three verses, 35 through 37, and that is where Jesus praying and the ensuing aftermath is taken up. And then verses 38 and 39, where Jesus responds and pivots to the next thing. Now it may seem that the two are just simply two events, chronologically one after another, little to do one with another, but the two, as we will see, are quite related. Jesus' intention to set out from Capernaum to the surrounding towns in Galilee was not something he came up with on the fly when Simon and those with him finally caught up with Jesus out in this desolate place, but this was Jesus' plan the whole time. So first we'll look at our doctrine and I want to start in the first three verses here, where prayer is chiefly in view. I want to start by looking at the timing of prayer. The timing of prayer, we have a description here in the ESV, very early in the morning. After just doing a little word study, I think perhaps that is true. That is a perfectly legitimate translation, but the idea is, I guess, a more wooden, one-for-one translation would be something more to the effect of, while still very much night, it was nighttime. likely pitch black at this point. And in this, the timing of prayer, we see See, this comes at a time where Jesus' ministry was really gathering steam. It was picking up in popularity. People were starting to flock to him. The word was getting out and he had a lot of things vying for his time, for his attention. And so Jesus, knowing that people would be clamoring for him, he had to resort to escaping, as it were, at an hour where nobody would be the wiser. And so he gets up. Well, it's still the dead of night. And what does he do? He takes off. Here we see some of the circumstances of private prayer. He takes off to what the gospel writer calls a desolate place. And the idea is that this is a place of seclusion. It is so deserted that to be there is to guarantee solitude. There are places in our great state where you can pull up to a trailhead and before you even get there, you are practically guaranteed that you are going to be alone. And Jesus picked such a desolate place, a place where he knew that he would be able to enjoy the fellowship, the communion, the company of his Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit without any kind of competition or interruption. It was a place of solitude. So Jesus was seeking privacy, secrecy. This is why private prayer is also often called secret prayer. And this is not an isolated example. Jesus is recorded in this gospel and all the others as engaging in a similar kind of practice. Mark 6, verse 46, and after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. Matthew 14, verse 23, and after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was alone. Luke 6, verse 12, in these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And Luke chapter 5 verse 16, but he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. So Luke is indicating his normal practice, his regular practice. Now, I don't believe that what Jesus is doing is leaving behind necessarily a rigid prescription in terms of the timing or the exact circumstances. After all, if you live in Kansas, mountains are sparse. If you live in Maine, deserts, desolate hills like you might have, say, in Idaho or in Israel, are a bit sparse. But through these particular circumstances, through the timing, what we see is the priority of prayer. The priority that Jesus placed on private or secret prayer. And what we see through these things is that Jesus believed that this private, secret prayer was absolutely foundational. And we see this because he did whatever it took in order to allow it to happen. In our passage, it was necessary that if he was going to enjoy private prayer with his Father in heaven, he would have to take great pains to make it happen. Now, Jesus, of course, he not only could, but he did pray all throughout the day in the presence of those around him. But all prayers are not the same. Brothers and sisters, if we do not cry out to God when we are alone, then what precisely are we doing when we cry out to God in our families, and in our church fellowship. Can we really truly consider our public cries to God to be genuine? When I was a young Christian, I had a dear brother who noted, this was when I was stationed in Baghdad, that when I was in company with other Christians, I would pray over our meals together. But he came to me and he said, now brother, I don't know what's going on in your heart. But what it looks like is when I spy you from, say, maybe far across the chow hall, it doesn't seem like you're praying over your meals like you do when you're sitting with me. He was pointing out how duplicitous I was, how truly bankrupt my prayer life was. Because if we're only praying in public, if we're only praying in our families and in our church settings, then in no way can we really claim that we are crying out to God. Thomas Brooks observed that between our own fickleness and Satan's restlessness, it is imperative that we must get into such corners where we may most freely pour out our souls into the bosom of God. Brothers and sisters, this is what we see in our very passage, Jesus, the very Son of God doing, despite the fact that he had no fickleness, no indwelling sin, no original sin, and despite the fact that he had withstood the very severe temptation that Satan had brought him. And so these three verses, brothers and sisters, we see more than anything, the priority of prayer in the life and ministry of the very Son of God, the preacher of preachers. And so speaking of preaching, we see in verses 38 and 39 that Jesus states his purpose for coming out or coming forth, and he states that it was to preach there also, meaning those regions of Galilee surrounding Capernaum. Now, in the text, there is some ambiguity just on the face of it. From where is he coming forth? Is it from Capernaum that Jesus is referring to his coming forth from? Or is he referring to his coming forth from outside of time, space, and matter itself into time, space, and matter? Well, Sinclair Ferguson points out that both are certainly true. Perhaps Jesus' suggestion was pregnant with both meanings. Either way, Jesus' purpose on that day when he rose early was to preach in the surrounding towns and villages. But if his stated purpose was to go out and to preach, I ask you this question. Why did he not arise early while it was still very much night, and rouse his disciples and say, it's time to go and get the show on the road. We have preaching to do. Well, I think it should be clear that though there was preaching to do, Jesus saw prayer is absolutely foundational. Now we know that the purpose of Jesus' coming was not ultimately to preach only, but to reconcile sinful men to God. But because what Paul says in Romans 10 is true, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And of course, on this particular day, that was never more true. They heard the word of Christ from Christ himself. So Jesus' own actions show us that if his purpose was to preach, then he ought to first pray. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the life and ministry of Al Martin, a dear saint, pastored back east for over 40 years. I've been blessed by his ministry, I would commend it to you. And I had the privilege of hearing from him on a couple of occasions when I was back in Grand Rapids. But he was, in the short time he had to impress upon the seminarian sitting in front of him, he quipped that the act of delivering a sermon is really mop-up duty. the real hard work. And the single most important element of preaching is prayer. Pastor Martin talked about in his own study, he was intentional and he put a chair between the threshold of the door and his desk. And that chair is his prayer chair. And he said, may I never walk past that chair to my desk to engage in study without first praying. But you see, Pastor Martin was not at all original. He just knew his Bible. He knew and he was a disciple of Jesus himself. Prayer must precede our ministry. It's not just preaching, brothers and sisters. If Jesus found prayer to be so necessary to his own ministry, how could prayer be any less necessary to the various ministries that God has called each one of us to? And if Jesus, being the Son of God, found prayer so necessary, how much more do we that much further from our God and Father need prayer, to be drawn back to Him. And I'll remind you also that in some sense, every single one of us is called to be preachers in some sense. First, we're to preach to ourselves, and then secondarily to those around us. So whether you are a butcher, a homemaker, or a candlestick maker, your God-given ministries are to be empowered by prayer. So it is our duty to engage with God in private prayer. But is it simply prayer is a means towards some greater end, toward that ministry effectiveness? Do we only engage in prayer, brothers and sisters, because it will get us something? Well, God may be pleased to use our prayer, to do just that, to make our ministries more effective in our callings. effective, so it's not less than that. But brothers and sisters, we are to seek prayer, private, secret prayer, time with God for the sake of communing with God, for the simple opportunity to get to be with Him, for Him to be our prize, for our souls to delight in Him, Guy Richard points out that we tend to think of prayer as a way to draw down blessings from God, but Jesus thinks of it as a way to draw us up to God. Brothers and sisters, private prayer is nothing less than consciously entering into the immediate presence of the triune God. And God not only grants us a private audience with him, what a privilege, but he commands what is our delight. We are made for this. When we enter into prayer, we bring glory to him and we are enjoying him. Enjoying him as our God, our maker, our sustainer, our bread of life, our fount of living water, our all in all, our protector, our judge, our father, our brother, and our advocate. Now, there actually is a connection between finding God as our highest joy in this private prayer and our ministries. Because, of course, it's only and until we've found him to be our highest joy. When we delight in him above any other thing that God ordinarily makes our ministries effective. makes us fruitful. And so brothers and sisters, where do we start? Well, if prayer is both our duty and our delight, then the first thing we should do is take an honest inventory. Am I the person who only prays in public? To be thought of well by men. or perhaps not to elicit suspicion of those around me. I offer up prayers when it's acceptable, when it's expected just to get by. Or is it seeking the Lord while he may be found? You see, it's our private prayer. or a lack thereof that tells a great deal about whether or not we delight in God. And this is something that only you ultimately know about. Only you can answer this question. God knows, but no other man knows your private prayer life. So brother and sister, take inventory. What is your private prayer life like? What does your private prayer life say about who you think God is? Who is God to you? Is he to be pursued in quiet? Well, perhaps you don't like the answer that comes back at you. Well, there's only one thing to do then, dear friend, and that is to cry out to God. Ask Him for that thing you don't deserve. Maybe your prayerlessness is an indication that you are not really a believer. Or perhaps you're just in a dark season, but either way, cry out to God, that is the only thing that we can do. Or perhaps your private prayer life, it exists, there's something there. Well, if this is the case, it is only to the praise of God working in you. Because spiritually dead people don't pray. Prayer is, after all, a most spiritual activity. And so, in and of ourselves, we would never pray apart from God. And those who do only do so with God's supernatural work in their lives? Well, I suspect that probably a majority of those in the room would find their prayer lives somewhere between non-existent and flourishing. Perhaps we can be grateful for what God is doing in and through us, but we also know that we lack in the frequency and in the fervency of how we come to the Lord in prayer. And so I just want to commend to you some things to pursue in awakening and growing your private prayer life, your seeking out of the Lord. And the first way to do that, brothers and sisters, is to do a deliberate study of what God has said in his word about prayer. And you could further limit that just to Jesus' own life. Just start there by looking at how Jesus was the God-man of prayer, but to examine his life with respect to prayer. Secondly, study what practices, what wisdom, saints throughout church history have gleaned and found most helpful and edifying. And of course, we're to test all of that by the Word of God, but I have found that the saints who've gone before have made so many mistakes, but have learned so many glorious lessons with respect to prayer. And prayer is definitely one of those things where different practices may suit people differently as God has made us all different. And so some find that praying aloud is actually quite revolutionary. They may have never tried it and they find that perhaps strolling through the countryside and praying aloud, actually saying the words audibly is revolutionary to their private prayer life. And so, That could be sought out in a neighborhood as we walk down a street. It could be sought out on the greenbelts, perhaps, up in the foothills. But experiment. Try changing your posture. And again, the saints throughout history have given us a lot of suggestions, things we may try. Changing our posture, our environment. And so, what does your desolate place look like? Where is that place where you're able to find solitude? For no two people in this room, is that gonna look the same with respect to time or location? Now of course, desolate does not mean dreary. That's not the idea, that we find the most gloomy, pardon the phrase, but God-forsaken place. No, the idea is to find a place of solitude, a place without distraction. Pray God's word. There is no better material to pray through than God's own Word. And again, as we consider that, just remember what Guy Richard suggested, that prayer fundamentally is not about pulling things down from the heavenlies, but rather, prayer is what brings us up there to be near to Him, to God and His realm. And as we pray God's word, we should be looking for and pleading the promises of God. Absolutely plundering the word of God for his promises and bringing those promises before God and pleading them. Consider the different ways where you could change your approach, and this may be using notes. Preparation is not unspiritual. Preparing for a time of prayer to take inventory and really consider deliberately before we enter into that closeness with God, what are all the things that I ought to pray for? And so maybe every day of the week has something unique to it. or perhaps there are circumstances in your life. Every time I hit a red light, this is what I'm going to pray for. Every time this happens in my life, I'm reminded, here's an opportunity to be praying for this particular thing. If you're like me, Oftentimes you come to a sermon like this, you come to something that reminds you, oh, I need to be praying more, and you consider just all the different things that you ought to have been praying for, and you come up so short. Use the circumstances in life to prompt you. There are many things that we do very routinely, many circumstances that we find ourselves in day after day, if not week after week. And those can be little mental flags to prompt us to pray. Another, well, one of my seminary professors lamented that, you know, in every little millisecond where we have a free time, the immediate response is to pull out our phones and to just divert ourselves. And in a sense, we've been robbed. We're really robbing ourselves in all of these moments that life gives us, where we have sort of moments. Instead of filling that immediately, perhaps with a device or whatnot, these are all opportunities to engage in, it may be brief, but prayer to God. And I just want to close with this. Jesus prayed for us, brothers and sisters, while we were dead and while we were asleep. You see, we will always, this side of glory, fail to commune with God sufficiently in every respect. We will not do it frequently enough. Our prayers will not be earnest enough. They will not be fervent enough. But Jesus' perfect record, dear brother and dear sister, Jesus' perfect record of prayer is ours. His record is counted as ours. And God promises that the Spirit perfects our feeble, feeble prayers. While we were yet estranged from God, He prayed for us. While we are yet sanctified, Jesus prays for us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have given us a perfect pattern of prayer. Lord, thank you for this most precious gift that you call us, out of compassion, you command us to come before you, to come into your very presence. Who would have imagined that the king of the whole universe would want to commune with, would want to hear from those such as us? Lord, we thank you. for this beautiful command, for you beckoning us to come into fellowship and communion with you. Lord, please help us. Please help us, oh God. For the glory of Christ Jesus, we ask all of this. Amen.