Jesus, The Man Of Surprises Series

A. Have you ever thought you knew someone, but then you were surprised by something interesting that you learned about them?

1. What’s true about our friends is also true about celebrities.

B. Let me share some of the surprising hobbies that some famous celebrities have that you probably were unaware of:

1. Tom Hanks is one of the best know actors and has been in some of the most successful movies.

a. What does Tom like to collect? Answer: vintage typewriters.

b. In an essay he penned for the New York Times, the actor discusses everything about the hobby, from getting his first model at 19, to the 250+ that he now has in his collection.

c. While it’s been a joy to collect them, he revealed that he plans to slowly give them away, eventually only owning one.

2. How about well-known actress Penelope Cruz, what does she like to collect?

a. This is one falls into the bizarre category.

b. Cruz admitted to having collected over 500 coat hangers in various shapes and sizes—none in metal.

c. But guess what? None of the hangers in her collection are used for hanging up her vast designer wardrobe.

3. What about actor Ryan Gosling? What does he like to do in his spare time?

a. In an interview with GQ Australia, Gosling revealed that he learned how to knit on a movie set and then kept up the hobby.

b. The actor even admitted, “If I had to design my perfect day, [knitting] would be it. And you get something out of it at the end. You get a nice present. For someone who wants an oddly shaped, off-putting scarf.”

c. Some of you might add that your perfect day would be knitting with Ryan Gosling!

4. We could go on forever, but let me share one more that might make sense – what hobby does Beyonce have?

a. During a recent interview, Beyonce revealed a surprising fact about herself, she said: “I know it’s random, but I have two beehives. Real ones. I’ve had them at my house for a while now. I have around 80,000 bees and we make hundreds of jars of honey a year.”

b. Beyonce’s nickname is “Queen Bey” and her fanbase is called “The Beyhive”, so it’s easy to think that that’s the reason why she’s chosen this hobby.

c. However, she began keeping beehives because two of her children have terrible allergies, and honey has countless healing properties.

C. So, people can be full of surprises, for sure, and as we will see in today’s study in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is a man of surprises.

1. Last week, we discovered that Jesus was a man of wonder and amazement, and that the things He did caused the crowds to be astonished and amazed.

2. Today, we will see that He continues to amaze, but that the amazement gets bigger and deeper as the question about His identity comes into focus.

D. We start our exploration of the text today in Mark 1:36-38: 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying. 36 Simon and his companions searched for him, 37 and when they found him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let’s go on to the neighboring villages so that I may preach there too. This is why I have come.”

1. What a surprise it must have been for those disciples to wake up after the busy day before and find that Jesus was missing.

a. Peter went into a wild panic and at once lead his friends in a wild search for him – the Greek words used to describe that search occur only here in the NT and literally mean they “hunted” for him.

2. But here we see Jesus doing something that we will learn was a great priority for Him, which was spending time with His Father in prayer.

a. The NT records 10 times that Jesus retreated from His apostles and the crowds to be alone in prayer with His Father.

b. Does it surprise you that Jesus needed to be in prayer and knew He needed to be in prayer?

c. This is certainly such an important lesson for us: If Jesus needed prayer, then we need it way more than He did.

d. I pray that all of us will spend more time alone in prayer with our Father for there will be far less ministry, fruit and power without prayer.

3. Mark tells us that Peter and his companions were good hunters, because they eventually found Jesus, and when they did, they said with exasperation: “Everyone is looking for you!”