If you want to join me in your Bible, in the Gospel of Mark, back in chapter 1. Going along with that theme that He does love us, that last hymn we just were singing, I'm sure we've sung that many times, but something just finally kind of hit me in the second verse. It says, the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. And it just hit me as we're seeing that, that's talking about me. Isn't that wonderful? God looks upon us as a treasure. Well, we're in the Gospel of Mark in chapter one. And in the Gospels, not just Mark, but in probably all the Gospels, we see Jesus in one way as a man of prayer. We see him praying. S.D. Gordon, who was a YMCA secretary in the late 1800s, and then was Wikipedia calls him a lay evangelical minister. I think that's what they called him. But, as was kind of common in those days, people who worked for the YMCA, that stands for the Young Men's Christian Association. I'm not so sure it lives up to its name today, but That was really kind of a soul winning force in those early days, reaching folks with the gospel. Anyway, so S.D. Gordon had worked for that and was used of God. And he has a series of books written entitled, Quiet Talks on Various Subjects. They're not commentaries. They're not some deep scholarly exegetical study. They're just some simple sort of devotional thoughts. that he gives on certain topics. And one of those, I think it's the second book that he published, is Quiet Talks on Prayer. And in that book, he says that there's one great power that flows into us, and that's the Holy Spirit. But there are five powers flowing out of us. Now these are his words, and he says the greatest of those is prayer. The first one is the power of what you are, your life, and how that touches others. The second is the power of what we say, how we speak to others, the words we share. The third was the power of what we do, that's our service for the Lord. And the fourth one was the power of what we give in support of God's work. And the fifth was the power of what we pray. And he says that's the greatest, I'm quoting now, the greatest thing anyone can do for God and for man is to pray. And he says that's why Great people are the ones who pray. Well, no wonder Jesus was a man of prayer. And no wonder he was great, because he was a man of prayer. He prayed. Well, here in Mark 1, I want you to look at verse 35. And let's read a few verses here. It says, and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out. and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, all men seek for thee. And he said unto them, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love for us and the privilege to be here tonight. As we just completed a very visual object lesson of your broken body and your shed blood, we're thankful for what was given for us that we might be saved. And I pray now you'd help us as we look at this aspect of the life of our Savior that it might encourage us, maybe motivate us, Help us please, in Jesus' name, Amen. Jesus, a man of prayer. Now I want you to first off, notice before we focus in on that specifically, I want you to just be reminded of the pressure of ministry. Because in this chapter, the last time we saw Jesus picking disciples and so forth, But in verse 21 it says, "...and they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught." That was kind of normal. That was his normal process of what he would do. Every Saturday, because that was the Sabbath day, he'd be in the synagogue, because that's typically what you would do if you were a Jewish person following Judaism. On the Sabbath day, which is Saturday, you'd go to the synagogue And for lack of a better term, an easy way to understand that was like going to church. The rabbi would be there, there'd be the reading of the scriptures, there'd be the explanation of the scriptures, I'm sure there would be prayer, maybe even singing of the Psalms of some degree, and Jesus would do that. But while he's there, It says, verse 22, and they were astonished at his doctrine. They actually let him teach. They recognize him in that regard. But there's somebody there who has a demon. They're possessed. 23, and there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, let us alone. That sort of implies that there's more than one. He's not just possessed by one, but he's possessed by a group, maybe. And Jesus casts him out. And everybody is amazed. And his fame spreads abroad, it says in verse 28. And it says in verse 29, and forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogues, it was not just a Sabbath conflict, but there's something very personal, because he goes to Simon's house. Simon is a married man. And we only know that because of this passage right here. Simon's wife's mother is sick of a fever. And so she's sick on the sickbed, maybe even on her deathbed. It's serious enough that they ask Jesus to come and heal her, and He does. Takes her by the hand, lifts her up, the fever leaves her, and then she kind of makes supper, okay? When even comes, meaning the evening, now what that would mean is that it would be Saturday evening and now Sabbath is ended. Because the day began at sunset and ended at the next sunset. So the Sabbath had begun Friday evening at sunset. So now it's Saturday evening at sunset and the Sabbath is over. That's why everybody comes. Because before that they weren't allowed to come. You had to keep the law on how far you could travel and all that kind of business. And so they all gather at Simon's house because that's where Jesus is. And in fact, it says in verse 33, and all the city was gathered together at the door. I mean, the house is being mobbed. That's pretty amazing. Think about that. That's not the message tonight, but a thought for us to think about. Is my house so well known as a house where Jesus is? If somebody needs a touch from the Lord, they know where to go. That's something to think about. Now, that's not the message. And so here's all this city gathering. There is all of this pressure of all these people that need to be healed. Verse 32, And even when the son did said, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. Verse 34, And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. At the end of the day, everybody shows up and now there's like a whole other day's work to do. Because all these people are banging on the door. And he does. Isn't it wonderful? There's always enough of the Lord. He never says, you know what, I'm tired, come back tomorrow. Are you glad for that? You can go to him any time of day, any point of your life. And He's not going to put you off and say, no, I'm on reset mode. I'm on vacation. I'm on whatever. This is my day off. You'll have to wait. It's wonderful that we have the Savior and He's right there when we need Him. That's a blessing. Well, okay, so there's all this pressure of ministry, and we could look at other events that happen in the life of Christ, like when He goes in the boat, after all of, you know, big day's work of ministry, teaching, healing, etc., and they're going across the Sea of Galilee, and what does Jesus do? He sleeps. He's like, I'm taking a nap. Okay. And then the storm comes, and He's got to calm the waves. So that's a draining thing. Any of you that have a vocation where you're dealing with people, there's an element of, it can be very draining. Almost more draining than physical labor at times. I don't know if one's more draining than the other, but it's a lot of mental effort. And so Jesus has had this huge day But what does he do the next day? Because in verse 35 it says, and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he gets up early. At the crack of dawn, basically. Now, What would you do after a very strenuous day of labor, and the next day you have no appointments, you don't have to be anywhere specifically, what would we typically do? Sleep in, that's right. Thank you, Ronell's over here snoring already. Hopefully, she's illustrating not actually asleep. But yeah, and we wouldn't fault anybody for that. You've had a very straining time, and so it's like, you know what, I need a day to sort of recover. But Jesus is up early. Now, before we kind of automatically think everybody ought to be up at the crack of dawn, Our culture doesn't run on the same cycles today as it did back then. That doesn't mean everybody ought to get up at 5.45 in the morning, or you might be one of those super early people who say, 5.45, you're sleeping in. But I can say, you ought to start your day with the Lord. You ought to start with Him. If your day schedule begins at noon, which some people who work, you know, the late, mid shift and so forth, and they don't get home till six in the morning, noon might be getting up early for them, depending on their, you know, normal cycles. But you ought to start with the Lord. That's a good thing. Rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. If the pressures of ministry are intense, the priority of prayer must be intentional. He got up on purpose before everybody else. He went somewhere to be by himself so he could spend time with the Lord. It's tough to focus on your prayer life or your prayer time, whatever you want to call it, when there's all kinds of chaos going on around you. Whether that's noise or that's other people, or whatever, you know. It's not a good time management efficiency practice to say, I'll do my devotions while I'm taking my shower and driving to work. That's kind of a cop-out, actually. Because you're focusing on something else. And God doesn't really have your focus. I'm not saying that you shouldn't pray while you're taking a shower. I'm just saying, we might need a little more than that short time. We may just be checking a box so we can go on with the more important things of our day. And actually, prayer is the most important part of our day. It's our time with the Lord. Albert Barnes, in his commentaries, mentions four things about the Lord and His prayer life. That though He was perfect and holy, He recognized the duty and importance of prayer. He gave time to that on purpose. when Jesus wanted to find, I mean, a lot of times, as we read through the gospel, we'll find that Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, or he went here to pray, or he, you know, he went to a solitary place. I think we can find places where he prays publicly, too. At Lazarus' tomb, he prays, and that's a public prayer. There's time for public prayer. There's time for corporate prayer when we come together in agreement to pray as a congregation. If we only come together for corporate prayer, or for public prayer, to the neglect or absence of private prayer, then I'm not so sure your corporate and public prayer is actually prayer. It might just be recitation of religious sounding words. It starts with that personal relationship. Nehemiah, there he is before the king, and he's got a kind of a sourpuss face on, and that's because he got bad news. Usually when you get bad news, you're not hopping up and down with joy, are you? No, you got a frown, or you look sad, or you can tell you're distressed. Something's bothering you. And the word that he got about what was happening back in Jerusalem with the gates burned with fire and the walls are broken down and Jerusalem is just a disaster. And he's got family back there and it's thought that the man who brings the message is actually Nehemiah's cousin. and gives him this bad news, Nehemiah's upset about that. He spends like a whole month in private prayer. I mean, he's dedicating his devotion time, if you will, to seeking God's attention about this issue. Well, when duty comes up and he's got to go carry the wine to the king, because that's his job, he's the cupbearer, the king noticed, what's the matter, Nehemiah? You don't look very happy. No, that's not good. And the presence of the king, that's not good. Because that could make the king feel sad. Now you've caused a problem. You've rained on the king's parade. You might get fired, or you might get dead. Depending on the king's attitude, that's not a good thing. And Nehemiah there says, so I prayed and told the king. which means it was a instantaneous silent prayer. Oh Lord, I'm in trouble now, please help me. But you know what, he couldn't have done that and got the answer he got from the king if he hadn't spent 30 days or more in private prayer. That's important. So he sought a solitary place away from the world and even away from his disciples. Not a bad idea for us to have a place. Whether that's a chair, a room in your house. Fellas, maybe you gotta just sit in your truck. I don't know. Susanna Wesley, I think she sat in the kitchen and took her apron and flipped it over her head. How many kids did she have, Bridget? 16 kids. I think there was a little chaos in that house. But the kids knew, if mom's in there with the apron over her head, leave her alone. She's having private mom time. That's as much space as she could get, but she took what she could. So we have to determine that in our own life. How's that gonna work for us? Okay, what time of day, what place, but you need to be intentional about your time of prayer with the Lord. Fourthly, or excuse me, thirdly, thirdly, Albert Barron says, early in the morning, that's when Jesus, we find Jesus going early in the morning, before the day begins, before the world Or maybe even the devil might be creeping in, in life, and all the details and the stresses and obligations. Before you check your email, before you check Twitter or, it's not Twitter, formerly, ex-formerly Twitter, or whatever kind of social media you may be using, texts, you know, whatever. Bible should be with the Lord and with his word early early The last thing he says if Jesus prayed How much more ought we to pray if the sinless Son of God? Intentionally sought a place and set a time that he could commune with the Heavenly Father We certainly need to do that Which I mean we would almost you know in our human wisdom think that well Jesus doesn't need that because he's God But as a perfect man a sinless man Still felt the need for communion with the Heavenly Father and if he needed that Boy, I really need that. I Really need that. I need God to help me Barnes says, before the world and Satan, rush in. Because if omitted, he says, all will go wrong. Our piety will wither. The world will fill our thoughts. Temptations will be strong. We will find it impossible to raise our feelings to a state of proper devotion. And how many times have any... anybody here probably could give testimony is the day started you got you know late out of bed beep beep beep and you hit the snooze too many times or whatever the case was and you get up you're like oh man I don't really have time I got I'm really rushing rushing rushing oh I really need to read my Bible and spend time in prayer and so I'll try to read a verse or two while I'm eating my toast and then crumbs fall over your Bible and you're trying to sweep the crumbs off and then you know it's like oh I got to get to work and And you don't think about it till maybe the end of the day. Or maybe till the next morning, because you get almost all whipped out. You're like, I'm going to bed. You're done. And the Lord could have helped us. Now, I'm not trying to be mystical about it. There's just some practical things if we build that into our life as a continual, and it is a habit. It is, it's a habit. You have to develop that habit. It becomes a discipline, but we need that. The priority of prayer. And it's after that priority of prayer, the scripture continues, and then his disciples find him. They're like, hey, where's Jesus? You know, they get done with lunch, or not lunch, but maybe done with breakfast, and he's not there. And they're like, where did he go? And they go looking for him. And they find him. Because everybody else has been looking for him. And that's what they tell him, all men seek thee. And Jesus, let's go into the next towns and preach. And so he, then he, the whole pressure of ministry begins again. And he goes, it says, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils. So the whole process starts all over again. So that implies there's kind of a cycle, isn't there? We wanna serve the Lord and do well. But we ought to start that, that cycle begins with seeking God's favor, direction, and enabling. And then we can give based on what he's given to us. And then we go back to the Lord, get reset, so that we can give some more. There's a cycle there. Which, let me close, with the participation of the touched. And I don't mean he's touched, that's not what I mean. But if we've been touched by the Lord, we can either be a help, like the disciples, they're looking for the Lord, and they go with him, assisting in ministry from time to time. Or, as the next chunk, when the leper comes and says, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean, and Jesus says, I will. Isn't that wonderful? Jesus says, I will. If we ask him, he says, I will. I'll help you. I'll help you. But this guy, um, Maybe he's so excited about what happened to him, but he's given some instruction. So if the pressure of ministry is intense and the priority of prayer is intentional, the participation of the touched must be instructed. We have to follow things the way God says. Because the Lord gives this man some clear directions. verse 43, and he straightly charged him and forthwith sent him away. And saith unto him, see thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. But he doesn't do that. He doesn't do what Jesus says. Now we might think, why would Jesus say that to him? Because until the priest declares him clean, he's not clean. It doesn't matter if Jesus has healed him, he is still considered unclean. And so first he was to go to the priest, offer the sacrifice. We read about that in Leviticus 14. How many times do you think the priest had someone come to them and say, I've been healed of leprosy and here's my offering? Yeah, like that's never happened before. That's a new thing. But now, he didn't do what he was told, and he's bragged it all about, what do you think the enemies of Jesus are gonna do? Oh, that guy's lying, it's a fraud, it's a... And now he shows up with this, it's kinda too late. He was supposed to go directly to the priest, give the offering before someone could come in with rumors or lies about what happened. And soon as the priest declared him to be clean, That was a testimony to the priest and to the people that Jesus was valid. But that's not what he did. Instead of being a help to the work of Christ, he became a hindrance to the work of Christ because he didn't do what the Lord said. It's just that simple. And that's a simple application for us, isn't it? We ought to do what the Lord tells us, the way he tells us to do it. Because when we do it our own way, we become a hindrance, not a help. That's good for us to learn. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love and grace. Help us, please. We all recognize the importance of prayer and that we ought to be committed to having a prayer life, not just a prayer time, but a prayer life. Would you help us with that? We thank you for what our Savior did for us. Would you bless now, please, as we prepare to head home, in Jesus' name, amen.