Mark 1:28-39

[0:00] Actually verse 28 in Mark chapter 1 says, And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region, Round about Galilee. Why was this?

[0:10] Because everyone was so amazed that Jesus Christ not only went into the synagogue when he teached, and he taught with authority, he and his doctrine was doctrine that no one had ever heard before.

[0:22] I said this was the very beginning of Jesus' ministry here. Not only these things, but they had also just witnessed Jesus Christ command a demon out of a man. So we have all these things, it says immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region, Round about Galilee.

[0:41] So we pick up in Mark chapter 1 starting at verse 29, says in 4th with, When they were come out of the synagogue, They entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

[0:53] But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and an on, they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.

[1:08] And that even when the son did sit, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and then they were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door, and he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases, and many, and cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him.

[1:31] And in the morning, rising up a great well 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.

[1:48] And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for there therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

[2:02] Now the verse I want to concentrate, we read all those verses, but the verse I want to concentrate on this evening is verse 35. It says, And in the morning, rising up a great well before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

[2:19] Now we've read already some miraculous things that Jesus Christ has done, or we talked about them before we picked up a reading tonight, as far as casting out a devil in the synagogue meeting.

[2:31] And as far as, I mean, folks, even the way that he called the disciples to follow him, that was a miracle in itself. That he could just pass by where those men were, and say, follow after me, and they would drop what they were doing, and follow after him.

[2:49] It was amazing that Peter did this. It was amazing that Andrew followed suit. It was amazing when Levi, when Jesus Christ passed by Levi.

[2:59] You don't read about that here in this account, or this chapter of Mark, but when he passed by Levi at the receipt of customs, and he simply told him to follow him, Levi left what he was doing.

[3:11] He left his living, he left his way, he left everything that he knew to follow this man, Jesus. So we know about many of the miracles that Jesus performed here.

[3:23] He healed the sick, he cast devils out of people. He done all of these things, but folks, here in verse 35 of the first chapter of Mark, it says that Jesus rose up in the very early part of the morning that would have been before anyone else had gotten up out of bed.

[3:41] Anyone else had crawled their way out of the bed? Jesus woke up, he went and found a place where he could get along with the Almighty Father, and he prayed under God.

[3:54] And folks, I think this is where the church as a whole fails more times than not. We don't find time in our day to get alone with Almighty God.

[4:05] I think that we should follow along with what Paul tells the church at Thessalonica and pray without ceasing. I agree with that, but folks, there are times throughout every day that we should find time to get alone with Almighty God, to pour our hearts out under Him, to pour our thoughts out under Him, to pour out everything to Him.

[4:31] People will read this scripture and they'll say, why would Jesus even have need to pray? He was the Son of God. Jesus, this was the first time in Jesus these first 30 years of His life that was the only 30 years He had ever been away from the physical presence of God.

[4:52] He had spent eternity with God until He was born in a manger there in Bethlehem. But at that point, He had spent all of eternity, all of the eons, and all of the ages in the presence of His Father now that His ministry had begun.

[5:13] He needed the Father's help, the Father's guidance, and the Father's love more than ever. Folks, we need that throughout our day.

[5:24] Jesus was a busy man. We're just in the first chapter of Mark here. He's already got crowds following after Him. He's already got the crowds swarming Him.

[5:35] And this is just the very beginning of His ministry. But nevertheless, Jesus knew what work was set out for Him to do. He knew that He had to go to the regions round about and preach the gospel and preach repentance.

[5:51] He knew that He must do these things regardless of the crowds, regardless whether He dealt with them in the day, the evening, or the night.

[6:02] Regardless of any of those things, Jesus Christ still found time to get alone with the Father. It is imperative that we pray.

[6:13] It's imperative that we find that time with God. Us Christians, preachers included, we wonder why things don't get done in our life. And we wonder why our prayers seem to go for weeks and months and years without getting answered.

[6:30] Maybe it's because we ain't taking this seriously enough. Maybe it's because we haven't taken time to really get down to business with Almighty God.

[6:41] And preachers are just as guilty as anybody. We are just as guilty. It is so important that we pray. Folks, that prayer, it keeps us in close relationship with the Father.

[6:55] Folks, if I went a single day without prayer, I don't know what I'd do with myself. And y'all probably wouldn't either. I ain't saying I'm any better than you are. But if I did go, if I did go one 24-hour period without praying, that ain't gonna make me lost.

[7:12] That ain't gonna, God ain't gonna kick me to the side or cast my soul into hell because I went 24 hours without praying for him. But what does that do? It kind of hinders my relationship a little bit with God, just like not reading my Bible.

[7:26] Hey, I know if I've gone a day without reading my scripture, I can fill it in my soul. If I've gone that long, I can fill it in my mind. I can tell it in my actions.

[7:37] I can tell it in my speech. I can tell it with how I basically feel. If I go one day without putting my nose in the Word of God, it makes an impression on me.

[7:51] And I believe that's the Holy Ghost saying, hey, you haven't solved after God today. You have, you have been a child to seek God today. You haven't prayed, you ain't read the scriptures, you ain't done this, you ain't done that.

[8:05] Now folks, it don't happen very often, but it has happened that I ain't read and that I ain't prayed. But it does happen when things, like I said, we get so tired, we get, we get so pressured.

[8:18] We sit down in the recliner in our favorite chair. We kick back, we kick our feet up in the air. We're relaxed for just one moment. And what happens? We'll drift off to sleep.

[8:29] And then next thing you know, fair times done, rolled out the window. We might wake up in the middle and I'd say, I need to get in the bed and still laying here on the couch. I'm just telling you all my own personal experiences with this.

[8:40] I don't know what happens in your all's life. I know what happens in mine. And I know what gets in the way of my relationship with God. I am the very thing that gets in the way with my relationship with God.

[8:53] It's my fault if I don't pray. It's my fault if I don't read. It's my fault if I don't get alone with God in the prayer closet, in the living room, in the kitchen, wherever I am.

[9:05] It's my fault if I don't do these things. God wants those things. Hope you flip way over into the Old Testament, speaking about prayer.

[9:18] Way over in the book of Exodus and the instructions for the tabernacle are given. And the dimensions are given and what's to be in it are given. And what's to be done with those things is given.

[9:29] I know I've told or preached on it here before about the brazen altar. As soon as you walked in to the tabernacle on your right, there was a brazen altar. That's where the blood sacrifice was made.

[9:40] If you walk just a little bit further, folks, it was in a straight line from the door all the way back to the veil, from the door back to the curtain where Almighty God was. But if you walk just a little ways past where the brazen altar was, there was the labor, that's where the cleansing took place.

[9:57] That's where they washed their feet. Why? Because they've been out in the world. They've been to everybody's tent. They've been all over the campsite where the Israelites were, not knowing who, who, what, sin, not knowing where they've been, what they picked up, they cleansed their feet.

[10:13] But the very next thing in that line was an altar of incense. It was an altar they would go back to. They would burn incense in the morning and burn it in the evening.

[10:23] That incense was a picture of prayer unto God. And it burned perpetually in the tabernacle. Perpetually, continuously, it burned continuously.

[10:38] Flip all the way back over to Revelation. There's an altar of incense there. There's incense. There's smoke rising up. Folks, that's a sweet savor in the nostrils of our Lord when His people are praying to Him.

[10:50] When His people are really and truly seeking Him. When they're seeking His guidance. When they're praying just to give Him thanks for whatever it is He put on their table that day.

[11:01] When they're praying for a move, they're praying for healing, praying for mercy, praying for salvation, for lost loved ones. It affects the heart of God when His people want to commune with Him.

[11:16] And He won't set from His people. Not only does He want it, He expects it from us. Folks, Jesus taught people how to pray. I said people would look at Jesus Christ or they'll read these scriptures I should say.

[11:30] In the Bible, say why would Jesus Christ need a depart and get by Himself? Why would He need to pray? Why did Jesus Christ make the greatest prayer in all of the Bible, John chapter 17?

[11:43] Why did He do that? Folks, that prayer was for me. That prayer was for you. That prayer was for everybody that was saying. That's why Jesus said in that prayer in John 17. He said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for my own.

[11:54] I pray for those that the Father has given me. I'm praying for those that are saved, those that are the elect the call of God. That's who I'm praying for.

[12:04] Folks, in given instruction though, how to pray. When the disciples asked Him, they said, teach us how to pray. And He taught them how to pray. Folks, He would have said, don't you worry about prayer.

[12:15] It's not important if that was the case, but He didn't. He taught the disciples how to pray because prayer is important in a believer's life.

[12:28] It's a continuous thing. I saying that we need to walk around or we need to get on our knees and walk around on our knees all day long.

[12:38] Folks, we need to have an attitude of prayer constantly. Constantly, be in constant contact and constant communication with the Father.

[12:48] How's the best way to do that? By keeping Him going, by keeping His nose in your Bible as often as possible. Folks, you don't know what God has to say to you. Read your scriptures.

[12:59] Read the Bible. If you want to know, that's God's speech to the entire world. That's God's speech to you. It's God's speech to me. God speaks more to us in His Word than He ever will during a prayer.

[13:14] He speaks to us through this Word. This is the instruction book that we had. How many of you have ever prayed a prayer and asked for God's guidance in something and you went to the Bible and it wasn't very long before you come across the scripture that pertained to what you were just praying for.

[13:31] Folks, I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me that is God speaking to me through His Word. So we can stay in constant communion with Him through His Word.

[13:43] Folks, I like just having a conversation. I like hitting my knees sometimes and just talking to God, pouring it all out. Everything that's on my heart and I don't do it with a bunch of these and a bunch of vows and a bunch of lies.

[13:58] I don't do it with a bunch of fancy words. I don't do it with all these things. I talk to Him like I'm having a normal conversation like anybody else and sometimes I have to pause to see what God's trying to tell me.

[14:12] Sometimes I have to pause to see what He's trying to move inside of me. But folks, there's nothing, no better feeling in this world than pouring your heart out to God because once you get those things off your mind and you get them off your chest, they're laying in the lap of God and He's the only one that can do anything about them to begin with.

[14:34] A lot of times I think, I should have done this days ago. I should have done this a week ago. I should have done this a month ago. Instead of trying to solve it on my own. Jesus Christ here in Mark 1 and followed around by the only people that gathered outside that house but He woke up the next morning very early for anyone else did to do what?

[14:57] To go pray. This ain't the only time He ever done it either. Jesus right before He and the disciples hit the waters one time. He sent the disciples on their way.

[15:08] He said, you go on down there, you jump in the ship, you jump in the boat, you head on across. I'll catch up just a little bit later. It says Jesus departed up into the mountain to do what? To go pray, to go have conversation, to commune with the Father.

[15:22] Folks, Jesus Christ knew the importance of that. Not only did He need to do it while He walked here on this earth, but He was teaching us just how much we need to do it.

[15:32] If Jesus Christ needed to pray to God, how much more do we need to? If He had to, folks, I can promise you, our need for it is a hundred, a thousand, a million fold compared to His need to do it.

[15:49] Folks, when Jesus Christ went out into the garden after they'd done and rested Him, well, before they arrested Him, what did He go out there to do? He went out there to pray.

[16:01] When out there to pray, He knew what lay ahead of Him. He knew what was coming that next day. He knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew what was going to happen that night. He knew that Judas would show up and He knew that He would have that guard with them.

[16:14] He knew the chief priests would be with them. He knew Judas would come to Him and betray Him with a kiss. He knew all these things. Nevertheless, though, even though He had knowledge of it, even though He had had all eternity to prepare for that one evening, that one night of His life here on this earth, He had all that time to prepare for it.

[16:35] He still went into the garden. He went about a stone's cast from the rest of the disciples and He got along with God. If Jesus had need to do that, I promise you do.

[16:47] And I promise that I do. We all have need to do that. As I said, over in the Old Testament, we started with the brazen altar and the tavernacle. We moved on to the labor that would cleanse our feet because we go out into the world.

[17:03] We go out into this world every day. We run into people at the stores. We run into people at markets on the sidewalks within our own households. Maybe we run into all kinds of sinful, wicked people in this world.

[17:17] And folks, throughout the course of the day, I promise you sin and I promise you need that cleansing when you get to the labor. But after you've let the labor, walk on over to that altar of incense, the golden altar, as it's sometimes called in the scripture, and light your incense before God.

[17:36] The Bible says that the golden altar stood before the veil, it stood before the curtain. It was before you could get back to the holy of holies where Almighty God was.

[17:47] Light your altar there, burn your incense there, pray unto God, then you can serve Him. But not a second before. Not one second before we've got to have salvation at the brazen altar.

[18:00] There had to be a sacrifice made. There had to be bloodshed for that salvation, for us to ever get to God. That sacrifice had to be made.

[18:10] But after that, there's a daily cleansing that's going to take place. We got to clean our feet every day because of where we go. And where we go affects what we do.

[18:22] It affects what we think. Folks, y'all might say, well preacher, you shouldn't think like that. I'm just as human as you are. I can't tell you how many bad thoughts I have in a day's work.

[18:34] When y'all work on things, I know Roger repairs a lot of things, fixes things up. Hey, I fixed cars for years. You get mad at those cars. You get mad at machinery. You get mad at the designers that put those things together, that wrote it out on paper, then had somebody put it all together with boats and nuts.

[18:52] You get mad at those people. I want to call those people some choice names. I'm not saying that it's okay if we do that, but I'm saying that that anger can cause sin in our life.

[19:02] That's somewhere that we've gone. That's something that we have done throughout the course of the day. So at some time throughout the day, we got to stop with the labor, cleanse your feet, go on back to the golden altar and life your incense before God.

[19:17] Amen. But it's got to take place in that order. Folks, I promise you, if it was that way in Exodus, it's that way now. God does not change. In the Book of Malachi, he says, I am the Lord and I change not.

[19:30] If it was that way for the Jews back then, it is that way now. It took the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us to be able to get back to God. But folks, we've got to be cleansed daily.

[19:40] We've got to have our feet cleansed daily. We've got to pray daily to get unto God to learn what he would have us to do so that we could go on and serve us for him.

[19:52] That angel, I know I preached on Mrs. Past Sunday. I heard at least brought it up. But Zechariah's over in Luke chapter one, Zechariah's when he goes in before the Lord, what was he doing?

[20:05] He was offering incense before God. His lot was drawn and it was his turn as a priest to go in and offer incense before God. What was that incense? It was a picture of the prayers of the people of Israel.

[20:17] No doubt praying for God to send him a Messiah. But folks, it wasn't very long after that at all. It wasn't long before that angel Gabriel appeared and he said, Zechariah, God has heard your prayers and you're going to have a son.

[20:30] Hey, he was in the temple offering up incense under God offering up prayers of the people. Don't you think for just a second that he didn't say, God, I'd really like to have a boy.

[20:43] God, I'd love for my wife, Elizabeth, to come with child. I would love to bring a man child into this world. God answered that prayer.

[20:54] And Gabriel said, God has heard your prayers. Said your prayers have been heard. Your wife will have a child. Your wife's going to have a son. But at that moment though, when all that was going on, Zechariah's was offering incense.

[21:10] He was offering prayers up before God and that prayer God answered right then. Folks, I ain't saying that God will answer your prayer immediately. I know I've waited a long time for prayers to be answered that still ain't been answered.

[21:22] I've been waiting since the day I was saved for certain prayers to be answered and they still ain't been answered, but that ain't caused me to lose my faith in God. My God still hears my prayers. My God said, he heard those prayers when I said them.

[21:35] I still say some of the same prayers to this day working on 12 years later come February. I'm still saying some of those same prayers. God has heard them. I think God will make good on them.

[21:46] I think God's dealing with hearts of the lost. I think God's touching the bodies of those that are sick. I think God is moving on behalf of the prayers that you and I put up to hear and folks.

[21:59] We are God's people. He is our Father. We are His children. And the Father is concerned about the needs of the children. Amen.

[22:10] And therefore, what does He tell them over in John 14? He says, whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do. Now that verse continues.

[22:22] He says that the son or that the Father may be glorified in the Son. That the Father might be glorified. It ain't to make me happy. And it ain't because of what I want or even because of what I need.

[22:36] He said, Jesus told those that were there with Him. He said, whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father through the Son might be glorified.

[22:47] That's why. That's why when you pray for a win in lottery ticket, it don't happen. First of all, that's praying out of my own loss. That's praying out of my own loss.

[22:58] And that ain't gonna happen. Book of James backs that up. Second of all, God ain't gonna get no glory out of that. God knows us. God knows you. And God knows me.

[23:09] And He knows how His children will act in certain situations. Folks, when my boys were growing up, and if you raised children, you know exactly what I'm talking about. They didn't have to utter a word and you already knew they'd been into something.

[23:22] Just from the look on their face. And if you didn't know what it was, all it took was just a little bit of pride. All it took was just a little bit of looking at them the wrong way or one or two little questions and they'd spill their guts all over the floor to you.

[23:36] They tell you about things that you had no clue about, that you didn't know that they had done, but you knew they had been into something. God's the same way.

[23:47] God, God don't have to ask them. God already knows. Just like when you came to Adam there in the garden, says they called after Adam. Said, where are you? Where are you at?

[23:57] If you didn't think God didn't know where he was, God knew exactly where Adam was. He knew exactly what Adam had been into. He wanted Adam to know where Adam was. God already knew.

[24:07] He wanted Adam to know that he was in trouble, that he had already offended a thrice holy God and that God was displeased with the way he was acting.

[24:19] Amen. Now, all that being said, consider this. Did Adam have need to pray to God when that serpent came in on the scene?

[24:30] You better believe he did. You better believe he could have cried out to God and God would have been right there. God would have been right there. He chose not to do it though.

[24:40] Adam never cried out to God. I don't read once in the scripture. Once in the scripture that he cried out. I don't see where Eve cried out to God. Saying, what should I do here?

[24:50] I see where Eve quoted what God said to the serpent. She knew what had already been said. Folks, be careful what you pray for. If you already know the answer, they ain't much sense in praying about it.

[25:02] I can't stand to hear somebody ask a preacher or ask a dakin for that matter. Hey, is it sinful for me to do this? Or is it sinful for me to do that? If you have to ask, chances are it is sin.

[25:16] They say, well, I've been praying on it. I really got an answer because you didn't want an answer. You didn't want the correct answer. Folks, stick your nose in the scripture. Find out for yourself if it's there.

[25:28] Don't give up on your prayer life. Don't give up. I don't care how busy we get. I don't care how busy the pastor is or how busy you are. Make time in your day to get along with God.

[25:41] Jesus Christ here being thrown by people constantly, constantly, but he made time to get alone and pray. He made time to get along with the Father.

[25:53] We've all got to do that. At some point throughout the course of our day, we have got to get along with God and truly get down to business with him. I ain't saying that God won't hear a little prayer.

[26:06] I ain't saying that he won't hear a little five, four or five word prayer. Folks, one of the greatest prayers prayed in scripture is when Peter stepped out on the boat and stepped out on the water and it says that the waves became boisterous and Peter got afraid and he went down on the water and he said, Lord save me, folks.

[26:23] That was three words, but Jesus Christ heard it. And he'll hear any three words that you say too, if you really mean them. I got no doubt in my mind, Peter thought he's going down.

[26:34] He really meant it when he said, Lord save me. And Jesus Christ heard it and he reached down there and he pointed Peter and folks don't neglect your prayer life.

[26:45] It is too important.