Shownotes
Mark 1:29-39 The Priority of Jesus
Title: A Day in the Busy Life of Jesus (Mark 1:29-39)
Focus Keyphrase: spiritual health
Excerpt: A busy day in the life of Jesus shows us his compassion for hurting and broken people. In the midst of busyness, Jesus takes time for prayer to get recharged and focused on the main priority.
Talking Points:
- Jesus works day and night to show his compassion for people. Meeting the needs of a broken world can be draining. Mark 1:29-34
- The next morning we see the source of Jesus’ selfless service. Expending yourself requires you to recharge through spiritual disciplines. Mark 1:35-37
- The main priority of Jesus’ time on earth was to tell people the good news. The deepest need of the broken world around us is spiritual, not physical. Mark 1:38-39
Discussion:
- Have you ever served in a soup line for the homeless or a church outreach event? Describe your experience.
- Read Mark 1:29-34. Why do you think Jesus started his ministry with healing people and casting out demons? What does this say about his character?
- Do you have a discipline of devotional time and prayer? Have you ever felt the need to get away to pray after becoming overwhelmed and busy?
- Read Matthew 6:9-13. How does the Lord’s Prayer relate to this part of Jesus’ ministry?
- Do you know how to share the gospel with someone? Is preaching only meant for Sundays?
See Also:
Shownotes:
Excerpt: A busy day in the life of Jesus shows us his compassion for hurting and broken people. In the midst of busyness, Jesus takes time for prayer to get recharged and focused on the main priority.
Mark 1:29-39 (NLT) After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them.
That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.
A Busy Day
Jesus works day and night to show his compassion for people.
Jesus’ acts of healing and deliverance are a foretaste of what his Kingdom will bring
Notice two things: his compassion and his busyness…
Out of compassion, Jesus pours himself out in ministry.
Mark 1:29-34 (NLT) After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them. // That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
Jesus takes time out of the very important inauguration of his mission to heal Peter’s Mother-in-law. In fact, he’s making an important point that not only does he have the power and authority to heal but that his healing of many people and casting out demons is a foretaste of what happens when God establishes his rule on earth.
The devil had set up shop on earth but Jesus was coming to set up his Kingdom. He is starting the restoration process of the fallen world. Starting with Peter’s mom, we see that she is fully restored to the point of resuming normal duties. He’s doing that one person at a time. Imagine the people's desperation to bring their sick and oppressed family members to Jesus! Imagine how busy Jesus was!
Another interesting point is that he did not allow the demons to speak. This was his way of silencing the abusers. He would bring about the Kingdom on his terms as he saw fit. This alludes to his power and authority that we saw last week but with this newly added component of compassion. He does not misuse his power but uses it for good. The whole town senses his goodness and wants a taste of heaven for themselves, if even for a moment of temporary relief. It shows how heavy the weights of this world are on humanity. They had probably tried everything. Finally, Jesus has the solution to their burdens.
John 10:10 (NLT) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
People are important enough to God to take time for personal touches of power and love.
Meeting the needs of a broken world can be draining
TRANS: But that’s just on the surface. Look at what lies beneath… (peel layer back)
Morning Prayer
The next morning we see the source of Jesus’ selfless service.
Even Jesus needs the discipline of devotional time and prayer.
Mark 1:35-37 (NLT) Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
Jesus just had one of the longest days of his life so far. This goes back to the theme of the gospel in action. Things are happening so fast once Jesus steps on the scene. It’s interesting that up until this point there isn’t even a mention of a break to eat, sleep or even sit down. We see here though that Jesus takes some intentional time to go pray. He knew he needed to get away for a moment to a place where there was silence. It says in the text that news of him had been spreading quickly so if he didn’t take a break now he may never get one. Yet this is more than a break. It is a time of spiritual renewal. Even Jesus needs the discipline of devotion time and prayer.
It seems obvious that we all need rest but yet we struggle with taking time to talk to God. We would rather keep grinding away than make ourselves take a moment to reflect and refocus. Sometimes we need to step out of the project we’re working on and take a look at the bigger picture.
Expending yourself requires you to recharge through spiritual disciplines.
Prayer can help us rely on God’s higher point of view.
Matthew 6:10 (ESV) Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus could have been very easily distracted but he knew there was a greater purpose than people's immediate needs. The bigger picture is the advance of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth!
TRANS: Peel the layer back just a little more…
The Real Priority
The main priority of Jesus’ time on earth was to tell people the good news.
Mark 1:38-39 (NLT) But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.
He could have stayed in one place and healed every affliction of those who would come to him. Yet, he leaves and makes sure to let the disciples know the primary reason he came. Healings and deliverance were secondary to the main goal, which is salvation. He came to give them eternal life. (Gospel)
Preaching about the Kingdom is not just a Sunday preacher's job but every Christian is called to preach.
This can be called discipleship, evangelism, mentoring etc. This is primary. Even though we are also called to show compassion and be the hands and feet of Jesus, our greatest way of spreading the Kingdom is through sharing truth.
Mark 16:15 (NLT) And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
The deepest need of the broken world around us is spiritual, not physical.
Close: Jesus’ compassion for hurting and broken people keeps him busy. Yet, he still finds time to pray so that he doesn’t lose focus on the main priority which is to take care of sin once and for all.
What is our priority? Do we get busy without taking time to recharge and refocus? Do we use our hands and feet but never our mouth?
Let us not be like “the whole town” of Capernaum and only seek Jesus for temporal blessing or relief. Our needs are greater than our circumstances. We need a healing of our souls!
Transcripts
bryan:
hey everybody welcome to the pursue god podcast brian joined in the studio by eric and eric today where in week number six of our series where we've been going through the gospel of mark sort of just bit by bit sec and by section today we're going to be looking at chapter one versus twenty nine through thirty and we'll read those in just a second but before we do it um let's talk about who today is less than really is going to appeal to i think what first of all anyone that that is hurting or broken we're going to see some stuff in here where jesus is going to be interacting with um you know a demon possessed guy he's going to be acting with somebody who needs a healing so anyone who's listening to this you're tuning in today and and you feel like you need a special touch from jesus learn about the heart of god for people which is always cool to learn about but i think on the other end of the spectrum eric today's topic is probably also for people who are strong believers who love to get busy for jesus maybe they go out there and there they work in their community they do a lot of outreach they do missions trips i know we know a lot of people at our church that are like this so i think those people are goin to learn something as well people who really want to be on mission and want to help people so there's something in the story today for everybody because today we're going we're going to just take a look at a busy day in the life of jesus you know these verses give us a snapshot of of a tip i don't now if this was a typical day or not probably a pretty typical day for jesus which is kind of cool to have a glimpse into his life and it's going to show us what really matters to him show us with it's going to show us his um his focus his priorities it's going to show us his disciplines is going to be a lot of stuff we're gonna learn as we read these passages so before we jump in all that eric why don't we just read the section let's read this section of scripture and then let's break it down
eric_sitterud:
okay mark chapter one versus twenty nine through thirty nine after jesus left the synagogue with james and john they went to simon and andrew's home now simon's mother in law was sick in bed with a high fever they told jesus about her right away so we went to her bedside took her by the hand and helped sit up then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them that evening after sunset many sick and demon possessed people were brought to jesus the whole town gathered at the door to watch so jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases and he cast out many demons because the demons knew who he was he did not allow them to speak before daybreak the next morning jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray later simon and the others went out to find him when they found him they said everyone is looking for you but jesus replied we must go on to other towns as well i will preach to them too that is why i came so we travelled throughout the region of galilee preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons
bryan:
all right so let's back up and let's talk about just the day you know we see it we see like an afternoon then we see in the evening and then we see the next morning so let's start with that that busy day that the work day of jesus really
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
it's showing us something about his compassion for people the jesus is about this is the god of the universe but we see in this passage that he he cares about people right let's drill down on that a little bit eric who is he interacting with and what kind of stuff is jesus doing in his day
eric_sitterud:
well it's interesting that that right after jesus you know has done preaching at the synagogue kind of the context to this he goes around and and has one of the busiest days of his life if first um it's someone close to him one of the guys that he first called to as we saw a couple of weeks ago he called
bryan:
oh
eric_sitterud:
simon who was peter um and called called peter to be one of his disciples and and peter's mother in law was ill so that first tells us that peter was married um sometimes people wonder if the disciples were married well some of them were but we see that jesus
bryan:
right
eric_sitterud:
has comp and he says oh no basically like oh no your your mother in law is sick i can do something about it and it's interesting that he chooses this to be one of his first miracles it's not his first he turned he changed water into wine you know way earlier than this but but it's interesting that he would he would choose this to be and mark would choose this to be one of the things that he puts in there and it really kind of goes back to the context of member you know the intro to the book of mark that mark was was a companion of peter probably was following him around listening to him preach and his his writing his memoirs and so i think it's important to not overlook the fact that peter's you know basically either telling mark or mark thinks it's important to recount that one of the miracles is that jesus heals peter's mother in law and and what it says is you know he helped her sit up then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them no i don't want to just you know walk past that either it's amazing to me that she's sick she's she's got a fever um maybe even close to death probably hasn't been doing her regular duty is this really shows the impacts of what sin has and brokenness has on our our world and yet jesus heals here not to the point of like um you know being okay but completely heals her to the point where she can resume her normal duties because it says she jumped up and pared a meal like out of gratitude but that was probably something that she she normally did and it really just shows jesus heart to restore people and that's what we see is that all of a sudden everybody's hearing about jesus and who he is in his power and and in this restorative power this compassionate heart jesus has for people is really revealing first and foremost his character and secondly it's a little taste of um what what he's going to do not just for people physically but for people spiritually and in one day what the world will look like when he completely restores everything it's beautiful it's very beautiful
bryan:
well it's interesting if you go back to that passage it says that they left the synagogue so he was he was previously in the synagogue now he goes to
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
a private home simon and andrew's home so now
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
we get a glimpse at what is almost like a glimpse of his private life or maybe his like friendship his friendship circle what's happening behind closed doors and behind closed doors jesus still cares about people it's not like he was one way in front of everybody
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
and then behind closed doors he's he's a different he's a different guy like this is the same we're seeing the heart of god everywhere he is
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
i love that we get that glimpse that the day in the life includes okay we looked at the synagogue now we see what's happening in andrew in simon's home he healed she
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
heals simon's peter's mother in law and then and that was in the afternoon
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
because then it says that later that evening after sunset so now he goes back out so he did
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
he didn't just say okay well i did my work for the day i was in the synagogue i did some good stuff for peter's mother in law now i can just sit back i've earned my netflix time i can just sit back and allow no he goes back out it was after
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
sunset and now he's doing even more ministry that's why we're calling this a day in the busy life of jesus because we see how busy he is we see how purposeful and how focused he is so now he goes back out to the public and it says that many sick and demon possessed people were brought to jesus so it says the whole town i pay attention to these words many sick the whole
eric_sitterud:
hm
bryan:
town gathered at the door to watch and so jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases he cast out many demons so it doesn't say that he did once i mean in fact in another gospel it says that he healed anyone who would come to him so we see this generous
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
love of jesus like he is so generous with everyone he's healing people he's casting demons out it does say by the way that the demons knew who he was but he didn't allow them to speak we'll get into maybe later on in this series like why why he was so secretive about this stuff but the secret is getting out and it's not surprising because he's meeting people's actual needs and i guess the point is is it probably was pretty draining for him to do ministry day and night and he really did he poured himself out for people both private l and in the public square
eric_sitterud:
yeah brian i think you know you and i can relate to this not not necessarily you know thinking highly of ourselves or trying to boast or anything but having you know the right heart and the right motives wanting to work hard right wanting to be efficient wanting to be busy wanting to serve but church wanting to you know do care ministry activities and outreach events and you know missions work you know and there's a lot of different things that we do as ministers that that keep us busy so now i can't fully understand the power and the drain that's coming out of jesus and and certainly he's not doing anything wrong at all but i think sometimes for us as humans we can over expend ourselves a little bit right sometimes we can get too busy we can get focused on
bryan:
ye
eric_sitterud:
because we care for people and not even just for power theres are ministers but every regular regular every day christians people that are coming to our churches and and working really hard we really appreciate them so much um but it if we're if we're not careful we're going to work all of ourselves into a place of unhealthiness right and and we start to see the drain on us starts to affect other people around us and and so we're not jesus so as humans as i think about this story i know what it's like to get really busy doing things that are that are good but but sometimes you know trying to take care of all the the problems of the world
bryan:
oh
eric_sitterud:
the problems in your world if you're listening to this and you're thinking about okay you're not you're not a pastor but you're you've got a lot of things going on in your life you've got sick people um you know family members that are hurt people have addictions and and you want to try to take care of all of those problems you're worried about it you're concerned about it well this i think number one shows that really we should let jesus handle it jesus is perfect he has the power we don't in our in our flesh have the power to be able to run around and and and heal people and to take care of everyone's needs perfectly but but jesus can and we see his heart but yeah secondly i think then that prob ably leads us to our next point in what we learn from jesus because meeting the needs of the broken of a broken world or the broken world around us can be so draining we see that even jesus needs some time for prayer and and reflection and so we see the next morning the source of jesus selfless service is actually through getting away and taking a break if we go and look at a mark chapter one thirty versus thirty five to thirty seven it says before break the next morning jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray later simon and the others went out to find him when they found him they said everyone is looking for you so so they didn't get why he was taking a break they were probably wanting to keep going or they were overwhelmed themselves but jesus kind of models here that needs to get away and possibly recharge right
bryan:
ah so this is for people who are out there who can relate to that first portion of scripture we just read that busy afternoon and evening of jesus you're pouring yourself out but what i love about this verse thirty five eric is that this shows us the what was behind all of it i love that mark includes this in his gospel that he doesn't just show the stuff that's on the surface the stuff that the people can see out there but he peels the layers back a little bit and he shows us
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
where jesus god his energy from where jesus got his motivation from because he gets it from the father right in says he got up early in the morning which is interesting to me because he was staying up late at night and now he's getting up early in the morning and he starts his day off with prayer he starts his day off with recharging and
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
re connecting and you i know this prayer is probably confusing for some people when you think well who is jesus praying to well jesus the son was praying to god the father and so we see in this that the relationship that so important for the son to have with the father and that jesus s ministry flows out of his relationship with the father and that's a real challenge to doers like you and you and i were you know eric i think we're both doers
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
and it's easy to get caught up in and and to sort of define our christian relationship with god in terms of doing rather
eric_sitterud:
hm
bryan:
than in terms of being this is something i have to remind myself i have to remind my son because my son's wired like i am as well so some listeners out there this is what they really what you need to hear from today's message is you're doing should flow from your being that you are a son of god or a daughter of god that you're a child of god that you are made in the image of god that that your relationship with god is first and foremost and then what flows out of that relationship with god is your ministry right so we saw jesus's ministry but now in the morning we see where his ministry s rue ed and it's rooted in a relationship with a father that and
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
i know that for for me this is so true eric for you as well is that when i really connect with god and i do try to do this by the way in the morning i don't think there's rule that you have to but jesus did so i want to do it this way too as i want to start my morning out by just like letting him speak to me that's when i have my best prayer time is in the morning because then what i tend to do is tend to get about the business and now if i don't do it early in the morning then i'm going to get busy with with stuff with tasks and and i'm sure jesus was the same way he's in fact we even see it right here that he's praying and simon comes to him trying to get him to do the work everyone's looking for you and we don't have jesus's response but i'm sure jesus said just give me a minute here peter i've got something
eric_sitterud:
yeah
bryan:
more important that's happening here i'm recharging before i do ministry
eric_sitterud:
yeah another place where we see simon brought up again who's peter and we see if we look at his character throughout the new testament he was a doer also he was a guy he wanted get things done right and um jesus along the way is teaching his disciples these these little lessons certainly peter who was the leader of the disciples for a while um m that even even yea even jesus needs to take time needs to have some his spiritual disciplines to be connected to the the power source the life the life giving source that he's he's expending himself of right so he needs to be constantly filled filled up if he's pouring himself out he needs to be filled up and in so many times i think in christianity probably people who are wired as doers are constantly thinking that relationship with god is attached to me getting things done and doing and doing things um but in my experience if i if i'm just working non stop but never take that time to really expire it's god to experience that i am a son of god i'm loved and i'm forgiven no matter what i'm doing no matter what work i do and i think that's one of the things that you are hinting at is that i think the way we live might even show what we really believe about god
bryan:
oh
eric_sitterud:
and what we believe about jesus is love for us that it's by by faith alone him that were made right with god not by working and earning it like you said it should be an overflow from our love for him for what he's already done for us
bryan:
yeah and really actually we should break in here for a second because i'm in visioning two types of listeners one is the person who can relate to us who's a doer and what you're hearing right now from the his spirit is i need to be more like jesus i need to make sure that i am that i'm connecting to god i make i need to make sure that the source of this is a relationship with god not just me trying to work really hard to earn his approval or something like that so that's one kind of person who maybe relates to both of us but i also think that we might have some listeners that are saying i don't actually work i'm the net flix christian you know my christian life boils down to go into church listen to a podcast like this once in a while maybe going to small group but i actually don't show compassion for people i don't
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
actually work afternoon and evening and expend myself so i think some people might even feel guilty right now saying i don't expend myself for the kingdom
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
of god and i think the solution for both of those people wherever you are on the spectrum
eric_sitterud:
yeah
bryan:
is you need to have spiritual disciplines you need to connect in to the father because i think for the worker the doer that's going to remind you and recharge you but for the person who is maybe let's call that person kind of a lazy christian who doesn't actually who doesn't actually do anything in the world for the kingdom of
eric_sitterud:
ouch
bryan:
god i think connecting into god in the morning and tying your heart to god's heart is what will actually move you to compassion like we see in jesus maybe you do realize you don't have compassion for people like you should whether we're talking about the spiritually lost or the hungry or whatever and you look at some of those try hards at church know like those guys are those guys do an awful lot but i don't well i think there's something here for everybody that we all need to connect into we all need that time in our regular schedule we call these spiritual ciplinesdand eric i want to get into them for a minute here today
eric_sitterud:
hm
bryan:
we need to connect and to connect to the vine so that fruit does flow the right the appropriate flute fruit does flow out of our lives so what are those
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
spiritual discipline you know jesus is praying here but for us today let's tow about some of the other ones
eric_sitterud:
yeah i think there's fasting there's times of solitude we see that jesus is going to an isolated place um spiritual disciplines of reading your bible uh gathering together with other believers um serving and helping and compassion you know certainly is spiritual discipline also even though even though some of these things might come natural to people and some some it doesn't or sometimes out of the overflow of our hearts because of our connection with god we naturally want to do those things spiritual disciplines are really things that whether they come natural or not or whether we feel like doing them or not there are there are things that help us to continue on the journey in the path of pursuing god being in relationship with god and and so spiritual disciplines are just really ways for us to live on mission to become more like christ to be you know christians that are loving god and loving others i don't know is there any other spiritual disciplines on your mind
bryan:
well yeah but one of my favorites and by the way we'll put in the show notes a link to the spiritual discipline series that we have it's called break through discipline at pursue god dot or encourage you to go through that series with your family or what small group of or your mentor if you've never done that series before we kind of get into the weeds on all this but one of my favorite new ones because i used to think of spiritual discipline s just as
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
bible study prayer those are the two big ones but one of my favorites that i've just recently discovered and it's good for doers like us eric
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
is that is a spiritual discipline called slowing and
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
slowing is kind of connected to solitude a little bit but slowing is just what it sounds like it's when you it's
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
when you intentionally slow down the pace of your life because you've gotten just too hurried i think some in modern life i think we just have so much so much stimulation thrown at us all the time i think that's where a lot of stressing it comes from by the way
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
panic anxiety things like that and so for me a few years back i realized that that slowing is a discipline that i needed to bring into my life so here's what that meant for me as i would take there was you know eric you and i would go golf on thursdays and i would intentionally take the long route go meet up with you guys so it probably took me maybe five or ten more minutes to drive that way but it was not on the free way it was not on there weren't a lot of stop lights and stop saying it was it was kind of more country roads that i was able to travel it was a longer route both time wise and distance wise but it really was helpful for me to say okay i'm going to do something that's not efficient for me i needed that
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
i needed and it was a time for me to put on some worship music and
eric_sitterud:
ye
bryan:
connect with god and just slow myself down like intentionally slow myself down i literally another example of this is i would take walks a lot near my home and i would kind of take a prayer walk and i tend to walk fast that's just how i'm wired i tend to walk fast so
eric_sitterud:
yes
bryan:
the discipline of spiritual discipline of slowing for me was actually literally to try to walk slower try to walk slower than i would normally walk not to prove something to myself but just to just to train myself to sort of smell the roses and end experience life at a different pace for me that was huge and again it's all connected still to prayer to worship to focusing on god but slowing is one of those disciplines that i that i have taken to
eric_sitterud:
i think my wife would would enjoy swapping and having the spiritual discipline of walking faster my whole family makes fun of me sometimes because i don't know for whatever and i'm tired from the day or i'm one of those typical gym rat guys that kind of walk with their chest puffed out in their shoulders and just walk really slow and so whenever we're going to like a grocer store something like i get in the car my family is just making fun of me and
bryan:
oh
eric_sitterud:
saying i'm walking too slow but no i was thinking about your you know the idea of slowing and just how fast paced just the life style of our our culture has now you know we've got we've got cars we all live i mean i was talking someone because i live you know twenty five minutes away from the church and we had some family in town the other day they're from colorado and they live out in the bones of colorado and they were saying that they drive we were talking about our twenty five minute the church may be complaining a little bit and they were like oh we we we were going to a church that took us an hour and twenty minutes one way just to get there and then and then they were saying that their their kid was going to a college that was you know two hours away and they just he have a slower paced life i guess and and so they enjoy those times of being alone and so yeah i really resonate with what you're saying that we're talking to two different people here um but but but when we're talking about being busy and getting to work i think we really just need to understand why do we want to have compassion it should be from the overflow of our of our relationship with god because he loves us he's patient with us he's not expecting all kinds of perfection and an effort he would rather us be close to him there's many people out there religious people that do a lot of work a lot of holy work and things that might even be fall owing the some of the commandments in the bible there's a lot of people that are doing a lot of good work but yet aren't any closer to god and so really what jesus is doing in here is he's he's showing us that it is good to work it is good to expand yourself but you need to have some times of rake you need to get recharged and you need to get re focused and i think about this time that jesus is praying we don't know what he prayed
bryan:
m
eric_sitterud:
but i want to think it reminds me of a famous prayer that he taught his ciple's how to pray and it was the lord's prayer and starts out you know um father in heaven hallowed be thy name but then the next verse verse ten it's in matthew chapter six it says your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and so in this prayer maybe maybe jesus is talking to the lord and he's like lord is this what i've come to do and be busy el people should i be should i be staying in this town and and healing people and just taking care of everybody's physical needs their afflictions their ailments but he says this prayer your kingdom come your will be done and so maybe it gets him re focused and well really we see that it gets him re focused this prayer time because then we moved to the next versus peel back the layer of the day and in the prayer and everything that's going on even a little bit more and we see that jesus priority shifts now and we're getting to the real priority in versus thirty eight and thirty nine it says but jesus replied to peter who is asking where have you been you know he says we must go on other towns as well i will preach to them to that is why i came so we travelled throughout the region of galilee preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons
bryan:
really this is it's so good that we're including this in this lesson because i think there's a temptation for people out there for the doers for the workers there's a temptation to be out there you know doing the doing the feeding the poor and helping with medical care for those in need and those things are really orton jesus certainly did those things and and i think we should do those things i know for our church we've really tried to think about our our responsibility to to help the community in that because that's a biblical thing to do but i love i think everyone needs to come back to jesus's words here he says we must go on to other towns and i will preach to them to it's not doing good works it's not just helping someone's physical needs jesus understood that his main priority was to meet people's spiritual needs his main priority and i think there's just a balance that we need to always strike here that we're we're
eric_sitterud:
oh
bryan:
doing good for the community we're doing good for people who need their physical needs met but if we if we ever detach that from the gospel message ever detached
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
that from sharing the good news about jesus which let's make sure to do that today in this episode for people who don't know what we even mean by that but if we detach it from that then i think we're i think we're missing the point i think our spiritual disciplines have missed the point because right coming out of his time with the father and and being on mission with the father that's when he re focuses and says i want to preach the good news also i don't want to just cast out demons i don't want to just heal the sick i don't want to just feed the hungry all those things are great but all those things are empty at the end of the day we're not meeting people's spiritual needs not just their physical needs
eric_sitterud:
he makes sure again to to let the disciples know you know peter who had asked him to let him know this is what's most important and we see that jesus had just come off preaching at the synagogue then he cast out a demon there he heals peter's mother in law he heals more people and casts out more demons but now sand i could stay here and just i
bryan:
like
eric_sitterud:
could heal the entire town and take care of all their needs and bring the kingdom of heaven on earth to this little place but he says but that's not the main goal i've come to preach in other towns also i've come to spread this message is what he's saying and so he's he's he's saying that all those those things the heart of jesus is coming out through his healings and his deliverance but they were secondary to what he really cared about the most what his mission was was to come and to seek and to save the lost and not just heal and and and make people better but to say ve them to save their souls not just their bodies
bryan:
yeah let's let's talk to that just for a second i mean again for many of our listeners this is old hat everybody knows the gospel but there might be some listening to this who are learning some new things about jesus today and i just i don't want to miss this opportunity jesus in fact at the very end of the gospel of mark jesus tells his disciples go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone so here we are on a pot cast talking about the good news but let's actually preach the good news just for let's take a minute to preach the good news and here's here's how i like to say it the good news has to start with the bad news the bad news were broken we're sinful we're not basically good were basically broken and
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
the good news now you have that context for the good news the good news is that jesus lived a perfect sinless life we're getting a glimpse of a day in the life of jesus here today but
eric_sitterud:
yeah
bryan:
it wasn't just one day every day jesus lived a perfect sinless life he went to the cross he died on the cross because somebody to pay for this sin debt somebody had to pay for this great offense that the whole world is racking up and jesus
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
is the one who did it he died on the cross he didn't have to die for his sins because he
eric_sitterud:
yah
bryan:
wasn't a sinner so he died for our sins three days later he wrote him the we're gonna learn all this by the way later on in the gospel of mark this is what everything is leading to in the gospel of mark but three days later he raises from the dead he conquers sin and death for every single one of us but but here's the here's the catch the catch is this that you have to trust in jesus for salvation every individual has the has the responsible lityththe huge responsibility the heavy
eric_sitterud:
ah
bryan:
responsibility of personally responding in faith to jesus christ because the good news is that we are not saved by our works we are not saved by our business
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
we are not saved even by our compassion for people we are not saved by doing we are saved by faith the bible says that when we trust in jesus for salvation that in an instant we become a child of god we be instead of do become something before you do something where we become children of god by faith so the bible says when we place our faith in jesus christ we trust what he did on the cross and in the resurrection he did for us well says that when we do that something something mysterious like unlocks in the court of heaven and all of a sudden now
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
we are saved that's the good news that's what all of this is leading to and that and that we become followers of jesus as a result
eric_sitterud:
ah
bryan:
and that and then everything changes after that but that's really the good news
eric_sitterud:
thank you brian for that yeah i want to stay true to one of the themes of the gospel of mark as you're talking about that and just this whole idea of the gospel in action there should be immediate response there's an immediate call there's an urgent cry for us to make decisions about what we're learning about jesus and so if if you're listening to this and you you're a person who's not quite at their their moment of faith i would say that your main priority in your pursuit of god although you're feeling things out i would say i'm not going to leave out the fact that there is an urgent call there is no telling you know what tomorrow will bring how long our lives will be or when jesus will come back one day and so there is an urgent call and immediate um response that is required from us that i think that we should compell people and so i'm asking you instead of you know feeling out your way through religion and trying things out what are you going to do with this person jesus we looked at a busy day in the life of jesus we see his heart we see his love we see his come passion for people um and and you know he loves to save people he loves to change people's lives and and we know that about him so will you make a decision to trust in him for salvation today that's for the that's for the unbeliever but
bryan:
yeah
eric_sitterud:
for the
bryan:
really
eric_sitterud:
believer
bryan:
don't
eric_sitterud:
here today
bryan:
well yeah now i'll say let's just say one more thing to to the seeker the unbeliever don't you now go back to this passage don't be like the whole town of capernium
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
and only seek jesus for temple blessing and relief i mean really that's a lesson for though there are so many people that even in jesus's day that just sought him for what he could
eric_sitterud:
ah
bryan:
do sought him for his for his for his i guess his hands they were seeking
eric_sitterud:
mhm
bryan:
the hand of god like i want you to touch me and heal me
eric_sitterud:
yeah
bryan:
because i'm desperate for you that i think what we're saying to you if you relate to that is he wants he's compassionate he wants to heal you he wants to meet your physical needs but turn to him for the biggest need the greatest need um and that's a spiritual need and so maybe some of you today that's your take away from today's lesson is
eric_sitterud:
m
bryan:
is to seek his his face not just his hand to really seek him for what he really wants to give you and he wants to give you something that lasts forever not just something that lasts for fifty or seventy years here on the earth m
eric_sitterud:
yeah and then and then you know shifting gears and focusing on the christian the believer the one who has trusted in jesus sometimes we get complacent right and we forget our priorities and we make excuses we get busy we we spend a lot of time doing this this busy work that's good um but sometimes we need to take a step back re focus you know plug into the lord and and get energized to do what he said is the main priority as brian said one of the last versus in the book of mark when jesus had died and rose again and then right before he's going to leave earth as he ascends to go back to heaven he says go into all the world and preach preach the good news to everyone and so my question is do we use our hands and feet a lot for jesus but never use our mouth will we
bryan:
yeah
eric_sitterud:
get on mission for god and start preaching the gospel no i don't want to say that everybody is called to be a preacher but really that word ich is just to share to proclaim this can be you know called discipleship this could be called evangelism this could be called mentaring relationships conversations with our family with our friends with our small group and so this is what we're called to do at the end of the day the main priority as jesus followers is to go share this good news
bryan:
okay
eric_sitterud:
with everyone in our world
