War Room
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Good Morning Church.
Today’s message is called “War Room”
We will be focusing on the importance of making time for prayer with a busy schedule.
We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
So, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 1.
We will be examining verses 32 through 35.
From these passages, we will find:
1) Work Hard
2) Start Early
3) Make Time
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider the text, please join me in prayer...
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Colonel Gardiner used constantly to rise at four in the morning, and to spend his time till six in the secret exercises of the closet, reading, meditation, and prayer; in which last he acquired such a fervency of spirit as, says his biographer, “I believe few men living ever attained.
This certainly very much contributed to strengthen that firm faith in God, and reverent, animating sense of His presence, for which He was so eminently remarkable, and which carried him through the trials and services of life with such steadiness and with such activity; for he indeed endured and acted as if always seeing Him who is invisible.
If at any time he was obliged to go out before six in the morning, he rose proportionally sooner; so that, when a journey or a march has required him to be on horseback by four, he would be at his devotions by two.”
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
32 When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.
33 And the whole city had gathered at the door.
34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
1) Work Hard
1) Work Hard
Verses 32-34: When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered at the door. And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
The reason the crowds came to Jesus after sunset had to do with the Sabbath.
In Luke’s account of the same event we get a little more detail:
42 When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.
43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Jesus was focused on His work, the preaching the Kingdom of God
The miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons pointed to the authority of His main purpose of teaching.
These miracles also fulfilled prophecy:
16 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”
This is in reference to:
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
2) Start Early
2) Start Early
Verse 35: In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house,
There is a consistent theme in the Bible to rise early to pray and serve the Lord:
3 In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.
This is how we should start our days.
13 But I, O Lord, have cried out to You for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Cry out to Him.
Plead your prayers to Him.
Before you face the world on a new day, go to Him in prayer first.
But, we are not just to pray in the morning:
17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice.
Pray to Him all throughout the day.
Daniel was faithful to this model even if it broke the law of man.
10 Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.
He was thrown into a dean of lions for his dedication to prayer.
How important is prayer to you?
What would you sacrifice to have a chance to pray to God?
Have we taken this gift we have, this great opportunity, to have an audience with the King of Kings, for granted?
The Scriptures are clear we must pray everyday and everyday we must praise our mighty God:
30 They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening,
Meditate on the words of the psalmist:
16 But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress.
3) Make Time
3) Make Time
Verse 35: and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
In our translation we are using, the NASB, we find the word, "secluded”
In the original Greek it is “eremos” and it is rendered as desert, wilderness, desolate, deserted, solitary and isolated in other English translations.
This is the same word for the “wilderness” where John preached (Mark 1:4) and where Jesus was tempted (Mark 1:12).
Mark’s use of the word does not express a desert wasteland but, in fact, reflects Israel’s journey into the wilderness following the Exodus.
It is a place of repentance, restoration, and fellowship with God.
This is a place to prepare for great spiritual battle.
This is, to the believer, our war room.
A room where we can thank our God for His great faithfulness and seek His direction for our future.
Jesus was constantly in prayer as recorded in Scripture:
46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Jesus would spend whole nights in prayer:
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
And Jesus prayed often when Him work was done for the day and preparing for the next day, depending on the Father’s direction:
23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Jesus was very intentional about finding time to pray.
Even to the point of finding opportunities to slip away, which He often did:
16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
He also modeled prayer for His disciples.
Although He was often alone in His time of prayer, at times He also brought along His closest disciles:
28 Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
His disciples likewise also humbly asked how to pray:
1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
Jesus prayed before anything He did including before His ultimate task, volunteering His life for the sheep:
32 They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”
Jesus prayer at Gethsemane should be a model for us in all our requests:
39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
The brother of a seminary student came to visit him one day.
Unsure of directions, he turned to the first person who passed by and asked, “Is this Davidson Hall?”
On hearing the man described later, the seminary student asked his brother if he had realized that he had been talking to a world-famous theologian.
The brother couldn’t believe it.
He had the opportunity to ask any question—and he asked only where a building was.
Unfortunately that’s how many of us pray.
We talk to God and ask for inane little things that are really insignificant.
Closing of Service
Closing of Service
As we start to close this service, please consider this parable by Jesus:
9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Consider how Jesus commands us to pray:
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Also, consider the ultimate model for prayer, the Lord’s Prayer:
9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Finally, I leave you with the words of the apostle Paul:
16 Rejoice always;
17 pray without ceasing;
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
All the Glory to God.
Amen.
