Scripture: Mark 1:29-39
Theme: God Time
Mark shows us the important of Prayer - God Time
I. Prayer is First and Foremost "God Time"
II. Prayer Will Lead Us to New Opportunities
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world.
Let's get right into our passage this morning! It is one that could be labeled a collection passage. That is to say in a matter of eleven verses Mark gathers together five different episodes.
+In verses 29-31 we read about Jesus healing Peter's Mother in Law from a life threatening fever.
+In verses 32 - 34 we read about a number of additional healings and exorcisms that took place just outside Peter's house after sundown when the Sabbath was over.
+In verses 35 we read about Jesus' going off to a desolate place for a needed time of prayer and fellowship with His Heavenly Father.
+In verses 36 - 38 we read about Peter's leading a mass manhunt for Jesus.
+And in verse 39 we read about Jesus coming back and launching a Galilean wide ministry, preaching and casting out demons wherever he went.
Mark's writing style is very much like a person stringing together a pearl necklace. He wants to share with his readers these wonderful and deep truths but he does so in rapid fire snippets rather than in drawn out narratives like John or Luke. You get the idea that Mark wants to share as much as he can with as few words as he can. With Mark, everything is immediate. With Mark, everything is driven. With Mark everything he wants to share about Jesus and the Gospel involves quick actions and reactions.
But that is not to say that Mark does not share with us some big picture items as well. For example, throughout this whole passage he wants us to understand that Jesus' fame was growing exponentially. Immediately following the story of Jesus in the synagogue, Mark tells us in verse 28:
"And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout the surrounding region of Galilee."
And then in verses 33 and 37, Mark is careful to point out:
"And the whole city was gathered together at the door."
"Everyone is looking for you."
Also, Mark wants us to see a certain rhythm happening in Jesus' life. Mark wants us to see a definitive public-private rhythm in Jesus' life.
+Jesus' baptism is highly public but then Jesus goes into the desolate wilderness for a time of solitude, prayer, mediation and testing for a 40 day period.
+Jesus openly and publicly begins His ministry by proclaiming - "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel" but then without a lot of fanfare Jesus privately calls His first disciples along the sea shore.
+Jesus publicly preaches in the synagogue but then privately goes to Peter's home for a time of simple fellowship, a meal and rest.
+Jesus publicly heals and exorcizes many demons and then He goes off to spend some needed time alone with His Heavenly Father.
It is one of the those private times I would like for us to look at this morning. In particular, the one we find in verse 35 which seems to me to be the hinge to this whole passage. Jesus heals, eats and rests, heals some more, spends time with His Heavenly Father, converses with Peter and then leads his disciples to launch a ministry campaign around the Galilean territory.
It is his quiet time with His Heavenly Father that I would like for us to focus on this morning. It's the time that Jesus spent in quiet solitude and prayer. It's the time that some people have labeled - "God Time".
"God time" - those words even sound good don't they? So many times when we speak of Prayer Time we think of such words and ideas as duty, habit, laborious, sin, guilt, tedious, demanding and a host of other words with many of them having negative connotations.
The truth is for many people, Prayer has morphed into being a Thing rather than a being a part of a growing Relationship. Prayer is seen more as an exercise in being able to say certain words the right way. Many see prayer as something that is abstract, an exercise to be conquered, an encounter that we know we need to experience but one which we really rather avoid. We know it is something that we need to do but it is also something that we are not sure does much good.
And if you have been in the Church for any length of time you know that we know more about prayer than we practice prayer. For most of us prayer is not our strong suit. We are more about action than we are contemplation, centering and intercession. We pray at times like we are checking off some list - we say these words, we ask for these things and then we go about the rest of our day only to return the next morning and do the same things. We don't know if it does any good or not, all we know is that we have been told to pray and so we pray.
We read a collection of books on prayer or attend a prayer conference and find ourselves more confused than ever. Supposed experts tell us that there is only one prescribed way to pray and unless we pray this way we are wasting our time. Others tell us just the opposite. If we are not careful we begin to think prayer is some kind of spiritual game in which no one knows the rules if there are rules. Over the past 100 years or so we have so dissected and organized prayer to such a degree that we have nearly killed its beauty, mystery and grace.
I believe it is time that we look at prayer with new eyes. It is time that we allow Jesus to show us how to relax, how to share and how to experience God talk. This morning let's share a couple of truths about prayer in general
I. Prayer is First and Foremost God Talk - God Time
Talking to God is actually one of the most natural things that we can do as humans. You and I were created for prayer. We were created for God Talk. We were created to have an ongoing relationship with God that naturally includes talking to one another - God Talk.
Oh, not what today we hear as God Talk or Prayer. Too often what we hear as prayer is full of just "highfalutin" stuff. Some people are apt to words that are meant to impress those around them instead of really speaking to God. This is what happens in many public prayers. Instead of people praying to the LORD they end up making public speeches. They try to use words that are refined, polished and sophisticated. On the surface it appears that they are more interested in impressing their peers and others than having an actually conversation with God.
True Prayer, Read Prayer is merely God talk. It is an ongoing conversation between us and the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY who created us in the first place. It is to be open, peaceful, enjoyable, challenging, insightful and transformative. At times it involves debating and testing while at other times it involves thanksgiving and rest.
Talking to God is never to be a chore. It is never to be stuffy or laborious. At times I am afraid we approach God as someone today would approach an ancient King or Queen - they feel that there is all this protocol to maneuver around and one has to use precise language as not to offend or to cause misunderstanding. At other times I feel like we believe that when we go to the LORD we are going into some kind of battle in which we are doing our best to wrestle from God some answer, some healing, some blessing or anointing that deep down God doesn't want to give us.
The Fall has done a great deal of harm to our God Talk. Sin has skewed the way we look at prayer and what the true purpose of prayer is to be in our lives. Many people think that the primary task of prayer is solely to appease God. There is this idea that if we say the right things to please God then we will get our answer, blessings or miracle. And if we don't say what pleases God, well, then we are just out of luck.
Let's take a time out here and examine this a little bit.
First off, we are talking to Our Creator. We are talking to the One who formed us in our mother's wombs. God didn't have to create us. He didn't have to allow us to either be conceived or born. He did so because we are important to Him and He loves us.
Secondly, we are talking to the One who Came in Flesh to rescue us, redeem us and restore us into being authentic human beings. We are talking to the One who seeks to live within us through His Holy Spirit. We are talking to One who loves us so much that He died for us so that He could be in a right fellowship with Us.
I believe this morning that we would be better off if we looked at how Jesus prayed and we looked at what prayer was before the Fall of Man. Genesis 1 - 3 reveals to us that God would come down and spend time with Adam and Eve walking in the Garden. God would talk to them and they would talk back to the LORD. There was this Creator-Creature relationship but there was also this Friend to Friend Relationship. Adam and Eve enjoyed the same kind of relationship that Moses is said to have experienced thousands of years later; a relationship of friendship and intimacy.
As you read the Gospel stories you realize that Jesus didn't get hung up on all the intricacies of prayer. I seriously doubt that Jesus gave us the LORD's Prayer for us to spend all our time doing our best to dissect it and discover some type of magical formulas out of it. I firmly believe Jesus was doing the exact opposite. He was teaching His disciples - "Look, speak to God as you would your father/daddy. Open up your heart to Him. Let Him help you live out your day as a growing and progressive disciple of holiness. Don't focus on each word, its tense - instead, focus on the relationship and what that relationship will for you and for all of creation."
However, if we think that way then we are not able to make prayer a difficult thing. And if prayer is not difficult then we can't promote some kind of spiritual scorecard where my prayers get answered while yours hit the ceiling and fall down. We can't promote the idea that if only you knew this or that then your prayer life will be better than someone else's prayer life.
Prayer is just God-talk. Pure and simple - God Talk. Abraham talks to God and we see that they argue, they fuss with one another, they reach out in love to one another and enjoy one another. David enjoys the same type of prayer life. Daniel prays the same way. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel pray the same way. Paul prays the same way. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Thomas Merton, Richard Foster and Mother Teresa pray the same way. They just talk to God. Sometimes they unload their frustrations, sometimes they pout, sometimes they rejoice, sometimes they complain, sometimes they ask for things that they cannot have, sometimes they praise and give thanksgiving and sometimes they laugh, weep and celebrate.
That's what we do when we spend time with one another as human beings. The worst thing we could do to one another is try to dissect all of our communications with one another. Can you imagine what would happen if we took the time to parse every verb, to look at each and every adjective and then do our best to figure out each and every word. It would take us forever to share life. That is not what we do. We talk. We share. We understand. We misunderstand. We say it again with better words. We say it with a great deal of emotion or with a little emotion. We argue. We fuss with one another. We enjoy one another. We laugh and smile and celebrate. We cry, we hurt and we hold one another. We share life together. We share space together. We talk - Human talk.
God talk - Humans talking to God, God talking to Humans is the core essence of prayer. Talking, listening, listening, talking. Sharing life with God. Opening up our hearts, minds and our souls to be in one another's presence. Experiencing what it means to be one with God and allowing God to be one with us. At times those talks are quite serious and at other times they are pleasant or even comical and silly.
Have you ever sat in a restaurant or in a mall and listened to the conversations around you? It's amazing what you can learn by simply listening. You can hear people sharing their life stories, their hurts, their joys, their complaints and their celebrations. You can hear people learning from one another and people helping one another.
Now, of course there are those conversations where both people are talking and no one is listening. The only reason for their sharing words and space with one another is to tell one another off. The only reason they are communicating is to demean one another and to put a curse upon one another.
Those conversations are not the kind that we have with God because for One - God listens. We don't have to shout over God or vie for His attention. God has the ability to hear everyone's prayers. He is the Creator of all creation. God has the ability to hear our prayers and handle each one of our situations. The only thing God cannot do is to answer an unasked prayer.
The book of Job lets us know that God will hear our prayers even if those prayers tend to accuse God of being unfair. The book of Job also lets us know that prayer is to be a two way street. We are to talk, listen, receive, absorb, correct, talk some more, connect and enjoy. If we take the time we will hear God respond. It may not be with a shout, it may well be with an whisper but God will speak to us.
A pastor friend and I get together every couple of weeks and spend some quality time together. Sometimes it is over breakfast and at other times it's just over coffee. We both enjoy our time together. We share life. We share scripture. We share stories about family and friends. We share stories about things that cause us joy and sorrow. We correct one another and hold each other accountable. We are free to disagree and to agree. We sharpen one another and at times that sharpening creates sparks. We pour our lives into one another and we pray for one another.
It's this kind of relationship that we are to understand our prayer time can be with the LORD. It's can be a time when we pour ourselves into the LORD and He pours Himself into us. Of course it is an unequal relationship. He is God and we are fallen yet redeemed creatures. But it doesn't matter to the LORD. He opens Himself up to us to connect with us, have communion with us and enjoy wonderful times of fellowship and friendship.
If God wanted to destroy us He doesn't need us to speak to Him. The mere fact that God opens up Himself to speak to us, to hear us and to work in and through us should let us know that God loves us and desires our best not our worst.
We don't ever be afraid to talk to God. All we need to do is to open up our hearts and talk to God. All we need to do is to share from the depths of our beings. God knows what we are going to say before we say it. If the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY wanted to harm us He could do it before we ever uttered a word. Instead, God wants to walk with us, talk to us and help all of us become the best persons He has created us to become.
II. Secondly, Prayer (GOD TALK - GOD TIME) Will Lead Us to New Opportunities
Have you ever noticed what happened each time Jesus prayed? Heaven and Earth came together. Heaven and Earth connected and Heaven impacted Earth in a wonderful and marvelous way. Jesus goes out in the wilderness to pray and Heaven and Earth touch one another. As a result Jesus comes out of the desert and begins to rescue, redeem and restore all of creation. Jesus comes out of the wilderness and begins to proclaim the Kingdom of God, preach repentance, forgiveness, redemption, calls some disciples, heals and casts out demons.
The same is true after our verse this morning. Mark tells us that Jesus goes to a desolate place - a place without distractions. Jesus goes out early in the morning while everyone is still asleep and spends some time in prayer, meditation and contemplation. Then after spending time with the Father Jesus begins pouring out His life into the lives of others all around the Sea of Galilee.
I believe this morning that Jesus' time with His Heavenly Father refreshed Him, empowered Him and gave Him direction, wisdom, discernment and knowledge. Throughout the Gospels we see this happening over and over again. Jesus spends time with the Father in prayer and then afterwards Jesus comes out refreshed and renewed for ministry. Prayer (God Time) gives Jesus renewed authority, strength and balance to do the will of His Heavenly Father.
We see this same principle occurring in the life of the Early Church. Luke shares with us several times when the Early Church went to prayer and then out of that season of prayer, out of that season of God talk/God time some amazing things happened:
+The Church went to prayer and God Poured out His Holy Spirit - Acts 2:1-14
+The Church went to prayer and needs were meet through God's people sharing with one another and for one another - Acts 2:42-47
+The Church went to prayer and a multitude of miracles took place - Acts 3:1-10
+The Church went to prayer and the Body of Christ received new strength to face increased opposition and persecution - Acts 4:23 -31
+The Church went to prayer and instead of chaos happening when a crisis occurred the Word of God increased and the number of disciples increased - Acts 6:1-7
+The Church went to prayer and people who were once considered enemies and outside the Gospel received the Holy Spirit - Acts 8:14-17
+The Church went to prayer and a new ministry was opened - Acts 10:1-18
+The Church went to prayer and Peter was miraculously released from prison - Acts 12:6-19
+The Church went to prayer and Paul and Barnabas were commissioned to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles - Acts 13:1-3
+The Church went to prayer and the Council of Jerusalem opened the doors to include both Jews and Gentiles - Acts 15:22-35
+The Church went to prayer and people saw visions (Acts 22:17-18)
Did you get all of that? That is a great deal of information. Each time the Church prayed and connected with Heaven, the Earth around them was impacted in a positive and restoring fashion. Outpourings of the Holy Spirit happened, miracles happened, new ministries were launched, people's needs were meet, people became overly generous, people were added to the Kingdom of God, sin was removed and lives were radically transformed.
For that is what prayer (God talk) does. It causes God's Good Earth to connect with God's Amazing Heaven. And when Heaven and Earth connect wonderful and incredible things happen. Whenever those on Earth allow Heaven to connect with them we see healing, wholeness and restoration happening.
God time/God talk - Prayer, connecting with the LORD is so powerful that the Devil will do everything he can do to stop it, confuse it or delay it. He wants us to be afraid to talk to God. He wants us to think that God is up there in Heaven just waiting for us to open up a line of communication so that He can judge us, accuse us, ridicule us or ask us to do something that we would never want to do in our whole lives. He wants to share lies about God.
We need to understand that God will never ever seek to bring us harm. I know I have said that multiple times already but it is necessary for us to get his fact down in our hearts, minds and souls. God will never harm us nor does God accuse us. Yes, He will convict us but it is a conviction that is designed to lead to repentance which in turn put us going back towards Him so that we can be the recipients of blessings. When God does something it is for our good and never to harm us, create chaos in our lives or destroy us.
Prayer (God Talk) leads us to being in God's Presence. Prayer leads us to be empowered by God so that we can co-partner with Him to help rescue and redeem those around us. Prayer lead us to open our hearts to reach out and receive those who need to find Jesus. Prayer opens our minds and our resources. Prayer leads us to understand that we can trust God, depend on God and know that God will lead us the right way.
Billions of dollars, billions of labor hours and billions of lives are being wasted as we speak today because we are trying to do things in our own strength. All over our land God's People are not connecting with God and for all our books, our conferences, our programs and plans we are not seeing very much done here in the Western World in the area of evangelism and transformed lives. We seem to be depending on a certain style of music, a form of preaching or a particular way of doing worship to accomplish something that the Bible tells us that only Prayer/God Talk can do.
The answer to all we need this morning is to connect with God, to talk to God, to share with God, to then hear what God has to say and obey God. Even though the following words were directed to His People long ago the words of God to Jeremiah I believe apply to us all:
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." - Jeremiah 29:11-12
Now, the Devil does not want us to know those plans. He wants us to be so busy, so preoccupied that we will never hear God's plans, never flow with the Holy Spirit in those plans and therefore never enjoy the fruit of those plans. He wants us to either listen to his lies or at least to do what we think is right because he knows we are broken and more often than not make poor choices.
We must acknowledge that we all need God Talk - we need prayer more now than ever before. We need to know what God knows. We need to know God's plans and God will tell us what He knows and will tell us His plans if we are desperate enough to hear Him and obey Him.
William Buffett made the comment that someone today is able to sit in the shade because someone years ago decided to plant a tree. I daresay that all of us here this morning have been able to sit in the shade somewhere at some time because some did just that - they planted a tree in the right place at the right time. And now we are able to enjoy its shelter and comfort. We are the recipients of someone else's hard work and foresight.
Some years ago my family and I had the privilege to visit the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park that is located in northern California. That park was established back in 1929 when a small parcel of forest was donated to Save the Redwoods League by the family of lumberman Frank Stout. It all started from this family's generosity and love of nature. From that initial donation the park now covers over 10,000 acres of pristine Redwood forest full of redwoods, banana slugs, pollywogs, luscious ferns and a beautiful river. My family was able to enjoy a day in all the beauty of the world because of Frank Stout family's generosity and the continual work of the State Forest Department of the State of California.
What am I trying to say? It is this - God knew that man who was going to plant that tree that provided us shade. God knew that Frank Stout's family was going to donate that land. So too does God know what the future holds. He knows what land will be used and what land will not be used. He knows what trees will be planted and what buildings will be built and not built. God knows everything. So, why not spend some time with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY to know what He and only He knows?
In 2 Kings chapter six (6) there is this rather odd little story. The King of Syria was doing his best to defeat the King of Israel and take his land. However, each time he tried to ambush or attack Israel the King of Israel knew about the attack beforehand and would move his troops. At first he thought the King of Syria thought he had a traitor. He thought he had someone in his army that was feeding information to the King of Israel. What was really happening was the LORD was telling the King of Israel what was going to happen through the Prophet Elisha. God would tell Elisha where the King of Syria was going to attack and so the King of Israel would move his army to safety.
It's an amazing story. It's an example of how Heaven and Earth connect and how the LORD can help us avoid disasters if we listen. It's an example of how God will help us in all our endeavors if we spend some quality time in God Talk (Prayer).
In Acts chapter 16 the Apostle Paul has everything ready to go on a missionary crusade to Asia. He has his plans, his supplies and his workers already to go east. But then God changed his direction or more to the point - Paul talked to God and God told Paul He had other plans for Paul. God told Paul to go east instead of going west.
Paul did what God told him to do. And by doing so, Paul opened up new churches in Philippi, Berea, Ephesus, Colossae, Corinth and Thessalonica and other vital places. By being open to God, by talking to God amazing things happened for Paul, for his team and for the people who were transformed by the God's grace.
Today, I think all of us know that we are at a spiritual cross roads in our country. We don't know what kind of Christianity we want. We don't know if we want liberal, conservative, progressive, Bible based or human based. We don't know what direction to take at times. The Church is experiencing a deep time of confusion on so many issues. You get the idea that the church is doing its best to throw anything and everything it can at the spiritual wall to see what sticks and then it will go along with that for a while until it falls apart.
The answer to all of our issues is rather simple - God Talk/God Time
+When Jesus wanted to know if he needed to go to the surrounding area of the Sea of Galilee what did He do - He went alone and spent some time with His Heavenly Father.
+When Jesus wanted to know who to appoint as apostles what did He do - He went and spent some time with His Heavenly Father.
+When Jesus wanted to know anything what did He do - He went to a place of solitude and spent time talking to His Heavenly Father.
Today, more than ever we need to get away as individuals and as churches and go to a quiet place and invite God for some God talk. We need to repent, confess, surrender, open our hearts, minds and commit to God to do whatever He says to do. We need to commit to the LORD that we will do and go and be whatever, wherever and whoever He wants us to be.
This morning, as we come to a close I want to challenge you to spend some time today, this week in God Talk. Just talk to God - when you wake up, while your are getting dressed, while you drive to work, throughout the whole day, while you eat, while you walk, exercise, shop or study. Just talk to God - just connect with Him. He created you to talk, to connect and to share. He wants to talk to you, to connect with you and to share with you.
Let your mind be open, your heart open and your ears be open. Prayer is not scary thing, it is the exact opposite - it brings peace, a calm and a rest. The more we talk to God the closer we will be to God and the more we will know how to live a wonderful life.
Now, let's sing a song of joy as we close the service and then let us begin those conversations with the LORD as we close in a time of doing what we have been talking about this morning - let's share some time with God - talking to Him as we close in prayer. Our altars are always open and our prayer workers are ready to pray with you this morning!
Hymn/Prayer/Blessing
