INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• I am glad you are here today as we continue on with our Next Steps series. The other 2 messages are on our web site or you can access them with the church app!
• Thus far in this series, we have discovered that God wants us to grow into spiritual maturity. He loves you as you are but desires for you to reach your potential, much like a parent desires a cute baby to grow to maturity.
• We also learned in week one that in order to grow, it is about Training, not Trying! I could try to enter the Tour De France, but without the proper training, all my trying would do is to get me to the first massive hill.
• Spiritual grow requires one to train.
• Last week we explored two of the top spiritual disciplines that will help you to grow spiritually, studying the Word of God, as well as prayer. We even explored an action plan to help us on the path, so that we could overcome spiritual A.D.D.
• I hope you were challenged to exercise the plan from last week.
• Isn’t it easy to get motivated to do something, only to fall flat after a few days? Maybe last week you got the You Version app for the first time, or you bought a journal. You set the alarm to go off a little earlier on Monday.
• Then you hit the snooze. You were tired. As the week progressed, maybe you lost some steam.
• Before we go on today and talk about some other really exciting ways to encounter God, I wanted to address the elephant in the room: Why do we so often struggle with making time with God a priority?
• BUSY!
• HOW MANY times have you heard someone tell another person, “I have nothing to do?”
• I want to give you a quick test, do not answer out loud, and do not copy off your neighbor.
• I took a test, and I want to give it to you. Warning: It might be little challenging or convicting.
1. Are you haunted by a fear that there are not enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done?
2. Do you find yourself nodding faster when listening to someone else to encourage the talker to accelerate? I AM WATCHING!
3. When approaching a stoplight and there are two lanes, do you find yourself guessing which lane will get going the fastest?
4. At the grocery store, if you have a choice between two checkout lines, do you find yourself counting each person in line and assessing how many items are in their cart? Then do you watch the line you did not choose just to see if you picked the right line?
5. If tomorrow evening were unexpectedly freed up, would you use it to do work or a household chore?
• If you can answer “yes” to any of these, then today is for you.
• You might be thinking, “Yeah yeah yeah. I know I’m too busy, and you are going to say some things that are going to make me feel guilty about being busy, and I’ll get convicted to slow down to make time for God.
• That will totally work until tomorrow when my life happens. (Preacher), you just don’t know all the stuff I have going on. I can’t just stop being busy.”
• I’ve got some good news. I’m not going to give you a lecture telling you to be less busy. Now you do not have to tune me out; I’m not taking you on a guilt trip. Here’s one of the reasons: Jesus was busy.
• In fact, an examination of one 24-hour day in the life of Jesus that would put your busiest days to shame.
• Regardless of what you believe about who Jesus was, there is no denying that he was a man that got stuff done.
• Think about it. You try in the course of three years starting a movement that would last for over 2,000 years, and, oh yeah, also pay for the sins of all mankind so that they could spend eternity in Heaven.
• The day I want to cover is found in Mark 1:21-35. I will not read it all, but this happened after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, and after He called Simon, Andrew, James, and John.
• This was Jesus first recorded day of his public ministry.
• It was the Sabbath. It is the beginning of His Galilean Ministry.
• SLIDE #2
• MAPS
• This was Saturday in the Jewish culture. In Mark 1:21-28 Jesus enters the synagogue and began to teach. The folks were taken by the way He taught, then in the middle of His teaching, He cast out an unclean spirit from a man. News spread quickly.
• Right after the casting out of the spirit, in Mark 1:29-31, Jesus went to Peter’s mother-in-laws house. His mother-in-law is sick and Jesus heals her.
• When evening came, which would have been after 6 pm. on Saturday, in Mark 1:32-34, we find that the town was lined up for healing. Jesus probably is healing people late into the night.
• We don’t know how late he stayed out, but you have to think quite possibly it was well after midnight.
• This was quite a day, wouldn’t you think?
• Jesus was busy with everybody else’s needs. Ever felt like all you do is help one person after another? If you are a parent, I guarantee you do. If so, Jesus can relate with you.
• Jesus was also busy with immediate affirmation. Have you found that the stuff that gets you immediate affirmation usually gets moved to the top of your to-do list?
• “There is not going to be any immediate results whether I read my Bible today or not, BUT if I knock this presentation out of the park at work tomorrow, I will probably get the promotion—sorry, Jesus.”
• What was Jesus’ secret? Let’s look at verse 35-36.
• SLIDE #3
• Mark 1:35–36 (HCSB) Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there. Simon and his companions went searching for Him.
• I want to walk through three disciplines Jesus exercised in this passage that enabled Him to live a life driven by God.
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. The discipline of solitude. V35-36
• What was the difference maker for Jesus? He was busy, He had a lot to do. But in the midst of His busy schedule, He MADE TIME FOR GOD!
• We are told that it was VERY early in the morning, it was still DARK! Jesus probably had very little sleep. He had an extremely full day. HE is the Son of God, yet He knows He needs to spend time alone with God.
• Jesus needed a quite time with God. When we take the time to do the same, it allows us to slow down and allow God to start changing us from the inside out.
• The more time we spend with Him in prayer and in the Word, the more like Him we will be!
• We can be fearful of solitude; we normally do not want to slow down long enough to just spend time with God.
• For some, we can equate solitude with loneliness. Here is the funny thing concerning loneliness, we are more connected than ever, but as lonely as ever.
• God calls us to a place of inner peace, we are never alone because God is with us.
• From our smart phones that have all of the world’s facts at the push of a button and all our 1,000 closest friends constantly posting what they just ate on Facebook, it’s nearly impossible to find silence.
• God calls us from loneliness to solitude.
• But loneliness or clatter is not our only options.
• We can cultivate an inner solitude and silence that sets us free from loneliness and fear. Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.
• My first Master’s program class was call Foundations of Spiritual Leadership.
• The class was designed to give the students tools to be able to develop a deeper spiritual foundation.
• One of the assessments we had to do was to spend FOUR HOURS in solitude.
• Let me tell you, that was HARD, I have so much to do, yet I found the overall experience to be good.
• I shut off the phone, it was not easy, and I was glad I did it. It was not easy to be still and Know He is God.
• For us, we must understand the connection between inner solitude and inner silence. The two are inseparable.
• God grows in us the ability to really listen when we train ourselves not to constantly fill our minds with noise.
• We must seek out the recreating stillness of solitude if we want to be with others meaningfully.
• I know we are all busy; so maybe we can take advantage of some of the small times of solitude, times waiting in line, waiting at the stop light on Fry. The time before the family wakes up.
• Let’s look at verses 37-38 to see a second discipline Jesus exercised so that He would live a life connected to God.
• SLIDE #5
• Mark 1:37–38 (HCSB) They found Him and said, “Everyone’s looking for You!” 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.”
• SLIDE #6
II. The discipline of submission. V38
• The first day of public ministry in Galilee was a success. The people were excited, Jesus was drawing crowds in and they waned more!
• The disciples were searching for Jesus so that He could do more!
• I would imagine they were riding the high of the previous day also.
• It seems a though the disciples were focused on satisfying the people.
• You have to think all the disciples fully expected they would spend the next day, maybe even the next week, in Capernaum because they had been so well received there.
• Why did Jesus have different plans then the rest? He was the only one that had spent time in solitude with God.
• There is a huge difference between a GOOD IDEA and a GOD IDEA.
• Going back to Capernaum was a good idea, but it wasn’t a God idea. Jesus was the only one who was capable of knowing the difference, because he was the only one to make a priority of spending time listening to God.
• If we are going to be connected to God, we have to exercise the discipline of submission.
• Those who you who were in the military understand this, there comes a point in your basic training where you are taught to submit to authority. Imagine what it would be like not to do so.
• When we go into a time of training by using the discipline of submission, God builds in us the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way.
• The obsession of demanding that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today.
• People can spend weeks, months or even years stewing on something small that didn’t go our way, but in this discipline we are released to drop the matter and forget it.
• This is why children rebel against parents, spouses get divorced in part, they are not willing to submit to one another, and they see every issue as a major issue.
• God wants us to rely on Him, He does not want us to sweat every little detail of life. Let Him take care of you.
• Jesus gave us the ultimate example of living a life submissive to God’s will.
• SLIDE #7
• Philippians 2:8 (HCSB) He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
• Let’s see a final discipline Jesus exhibited to us in verse 39.
• SLIDE #8
• Mark 1:39 (HCSB) So He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
• After you have submitted your day to the Lord it is time to exercise….
• SLIDE #9
III. The discipline of service. V39
• Jesus did not treat His time with God as a checklist, SOLITUDE, CHECK, SUBMISSION, CHECK.
• For Jesus, it was not simply about duty, it was about love. Jesus was on a mission for God, He sought out the lost.
• SLIDE #10
• Luke 19:10 (HCSB) For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
• Jesus was about His calling to serve God and serve man.
• Jesus was not a HERE I AM kind of person. The kind that says I am here, now the party can begin. Now let me tell you more about myself.
• Jesus was focused on God’s call to reach people for the Kingdom!
• He walked into the room looking for those who are on the fringes and disconnected from the whole.
• Jesus would go out of His way to make that person feel like they are the most important person in the room. They ask great questions, listen intently and lift other people’s spirits.
• Jesus was focused on service!
• When you are filled with love from the Father, you will be able to exercise the disciple of service.
CONCLUSION
• Solitude, Submission, Service.
• Can you incorporate these disciplines into your life? Yes, you can. Will it be easy. NO. Will it be worth it? YES!
• SLIDE #11
• Philippians 2:12–13 (HCSB) So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
• Are you ready to connect with Jesus? Today is the day!
• Just Try It!
