0400: Learning to Practice His Presence
Series: 24: A Day in the Life of Jesus
March 26, 2006
In season 5 of the series “24”, Jack Bauer has his hands full tracking down a nuclear missile before it detonates on U.S soil. Every minute of the show is packed with action. However, your name doesn’t have to be ‘Jack Bauer’ in order to be busy this morning. How many of you here today would say you lead busy lives? Yea, the fact is…I can hardly believe how busy some of you are. If married, both of you are working during the day. You get home and….
…Monday is baseball practice,
…Tuesday is Youth group,
…Wednesday is a bible study or some club you’re a part of… …Thursday is meetings & Karate practice,
…Friday and Saturday are game days,
…Sunday is church day and after that you go shopping or clean the house, and then after stopping the kids from killing each other OR helping them with their homework… you have 2 hours before you go to bed and start it all over again the next day! Most of you would be glad to have Jack Baur’s schedule!
Unfortunately, our society makes us feel guilty if we’re not on the run. If you meet someone at the grocery store and ask them how they’re doing, almost invariably they’ll tell you how ‘busy’ they are and start rattling off a list of activities and appointments. Americans are busier than ever. For example, ‘dinner time’ used to mean sitting around the table at six o’clock eating a home cooked meal. Now, when Mom calls, "Dinner time!" and the kids don’t head for the dining room… they head for the minivan! If that’s not bad enough…we’re eating meals while we’re doing other things -- working, driving, watching television. We don’t eat…we graze!
How many of you wish you could slow down? That was the question asked in a recent CNN poll. And 59% of Americans answered by saying, "Yes. I wish I could slow down. I wish I could cope better with the busyness of life." In the 1st chapter of Mark, Jesus is incredibly busy. In fact, all through the book of Mark, we get the impression that everyone’s in a hurry. Mark uses the word ‘immediately” over 50x’s …
· Jesus was baptized and ‘immediately’ the Holy Spirit sent him into the desert
· Jesus invites Simon and Andrew to be his disciples and ‘immediately’ they leave their nets.
· Jesus heals people and ‘immediately’ the news spreads all over town
It’s a fast paced book, yet for all the hustle and bustle, in today’s portion of Jesus’ 24-hour day we’ve been looking at the past few weeks, Jesus shows us how we can cope with the frantic pace of life. It happens right after one of the most hectic days of his earthly ministry. In Mark 1, he preaches all morning. In the afternoon, he heals Peter’s mother in law. And just when it looks like he can kick back and relax, someone comes to the house and says, "Lord, I saw what you did in church this morning for that demon possessed man! Can you do the same thing for my kid?" And then someone else comes over and says, "Lord, is it true that you can heal diseases? My wife’s been sick for a long time… can you help her?"
The Bible says in Mark 1:32 that pretty soon, the whole town was standing outside the door. Because Jesus loved them, he healed everyone he touched. And because more and more kept showing up, he healed them late into the night. I’m sure at the end of this day, when he finally crawled into bed and his head hit the pillow…he was wiped out. The disciples assumed that after a day like that, he’d probably ‘sleep in’ the next morning… so when they went in to wake him up… they were surprised to find that he wasn’t there! They looked high and low… but without result.
They couldn’t figure out where he would have gone, and they were getting a little concerned… when one of the disciples finally found him. You know what he was doing? Praying! “There’s work to do Jesus… why are you wasting time praying?” Yet Jesus recognized a need in his fast paced life to retreat to a quiet, lonely place for reflection, meditation, prayer and communion with God. Which as we’re going to see this morning, is the key to dealing with the busyness of life. Now think about this for a minute, Jesus was the most productive man that ever walked the face of the earth. He got more done, and had a greater impact in 3 years… than most of us will accomplish in a lifetime! How did He do it? The answer is found in vs.35 of Mark 1… “Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus woke and left the house. He went to a lonely place, where he prayed.” To put it simply, the reason Jesus was able to do what He was able to do, was because He had “L.E.A.P” A “Life Empowered Around Prayer”.
When we begin to adopt the habit of prayer in our life, we’ll discover that not only will we be able to accomplish more than we ever thought we’d be able to do… but we won’t be exhausted and frustrated when it’s all done! The benefits of a life saturated with prayer are incredible!
· Prayer releases me from the anxiety of my own agenda
· Prayer brings clarity and purpose to my daily activities.
· Prayer gives me the assurance to say “yes” to some things, and the guidance to say “no” to other things!
· Prayer makes it possible to live a productive, meaningful life…without killing myself in the process!
E.M. Bounds (the great prayer warrior of the 20th century) once said…“What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods… but people whom the Holy Spirit can use – people of prayer, people mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through method… but through people. He does not come on machinery, but on people. He does not anoint plans, but men and women of prayer.”
If you want to have the kind of great impact that all the great people of the bible had… then you’re going to have to learn to do what all the great people of the bible did. From Abraham to Noah, from Moses to Joseph, Elijah, David, Daniel… all of them had one thing in common… they’d learned the power of consistent, persistent prayer! Of course the greatest example of all was Jesus! And here in this passage we learn 4 great benefits that come from establishing a time of prayer into your hectic schedule. As we’re going to see this morning, everyone of us, are actually too busy NOT to pray! As busy as you might think you are…I guarantee you… that you’ll never get done what you need to get done in life… without prayer!
The 1st benefit of a daily prayer life is that…
1. Prayer is EMPOWERING
Jesus could have slept in that morning, but He doesn’t. Why not? I’ll tell you why not… because God’s power flows primarily to people who pray. (Did you hear that? Let me repeat… ) If you’re wondering why you don’t sense the power of God working in your life… it can probably can be traced back to your prayer life (or lack of it!). Jesus realized that without God’s power He was dead in the water… so He went to that ‘quiet and solitary place’ in order to recharge his spiritual batteries. Over and over during His ministry Jesus revealed that ‘on His own’, He could do nothing, but that the power He had… came directly from His relationship to His Heavenly Father. In John 5:19 he states… “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. “ –John 5:19 (NLT) Later in John 15:5 he tells us that on OUR own, we can’t do anything either! (READ) “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without me they can do nothing.” –John 15:5 (NLT)
See, the power to live the Christian life and do anything of any significance comes as a result of the time we spend with God. Let me ask you which of these common household items you’d rather use…
· Drill vs. Screwdriver
· Mixer vs. Spoon
· Vacuum cleaner vs. broom
· Electric fan vs. hand fan
When you compare the electric powered tools with the human powered tools… it’s really no contest. But when it comes to choosing God’s power over our power… we do the silly thing and choose our own human power. We trade the wisdom, the guidance, the comfort, the insights, the peace, the strength that God gives us (in time spent with Him), for our own weak, hand- powered tools! By neglecting to spend time with our Heavenly Father, we’re in effect saying ....”Excuse me God, I think I can go it alone today if you don’t mind. .I’m not going to be needing You!. Thanks but no thanks.” What a foolish thing to do!
It’s like the strong young man who approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. “That depends,” replied the foreman. “Let’s see you fell this tree.” The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman said, “Start Monday.” Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and by Thursday afternoon, the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.” Startled the young man replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.” “Normally we do,” answered the foreman, “but we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you dropped from first place on Monday, to last place on Wednesday.” “But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “ I arrive first, leave last, and even worked through my coffee breaks!” The foreman, sensing the boy’s integrity thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening you axe?” The young man replied, “I’ve been working too hard to take the time to do that!.” Sometimes we get so busy, we forget to sharpen our axe – the result is, while we may be working harder, we’re getting less done. Prayer is sharpening the axe!
A good rule of thumb is… The greater the stress, the greater the pressure in your life… the more time you need to spend with God. But we do just the opposite don’t we? The more pressure, the more stress… the less time we spend with God! Martin Luther (the great mover and shaker of the 16th century) shared his secret of effectiveness…he said… ‘If I fail to spend 2 hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending 3 hours daily in prayer.’ Luther learned that lesson from Jesus’ example! The reason Jesus spent so much time with His Father in prayer, was that He lit. had weight of world on His shoulders… but instead of being discouraged and all stooped over… He carried His burden with grace and joy. See, when we work we work…but when we pray… God works!
Prayer really is the power source for every effective person, and every effective church. For example… there’s a marked difference between a church that merely ‘prays’… and a church that is DEVOTED to prayer!
A Church That Prays… A Church Devoted to Prayer…
1. Prays at its convenience. Prays at God’s command.
2. Prays when there are problems. Prays when there are opportunities.
3. Has guilt—knowing it should pray more. Has joy—wanting to pray more.
4. Announces a prayer meeting— Announces a prayer meeting—the
some in the church show up. church shows up.
5. Asks God to bless what it’s doing. Asks God to enable it to do what He is
blessing.
6. Thinks it’s too busy to pray. Knows it is too busy not to pray.
7. Frustrated by financial shortfall— Prays through financial shortfall—
cuts back on ministry. & receives funds miraculously.
8. Uses God. Is used by God.
See the difference? The bible tells us in Col.4:2 to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Why are we told to be watchful and thankful? Because when we DEVOTE ourselves to prayer… watch out! … because God is going to move in a powerful way in our lives!
The 2nd benefit of prayer that we can’t afford to do without is that…
2. Prayer is ENLIGHTENING
If you’re a busy person this morning, one of the toughest battles you struggle with is what to say ‘yes’ to, and what to say ‘no’ to… It’d be easy if some things were clearly bad and some things were clearly good. But what do you do when the choices are all good?
In vs. 37,38 we find the disciples searching for Jesus… “Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Why do you think they’re looking for him? Most likely because they have some more people that need to be healed! Jesus was faced with a tough choice between 2 good things. Either stay in Capernaum and help people, or move on to a nearby village and help people. Both, good things to do. But Jesus says ‘no’ to staying, in order to say ‘yes’ to moving on the next village. How did he decide which choice to make? Through prayer. By spending time with His Father, Jesus gained clarity about what he was supposed to do next.
Let’s get real. The reason some of you are burning out this morning is because the word ’no’ isn’t in your vocabulary! If somebody asks you to do something, you’re like "Yeah, I’ll do it." And then when the time comes to carry it out, you’re saying to yourself, "Why the heck did I agree to do this? I don’t have time! I’m already way too busy!" Jesus knew when to say ‘no’. The disciples are pressuring Him, “Hey Lord. Everyone’s looking for you! Let’s get back to the village." How many of you know that ‘everyone’ doesn’t always have the best plan for your life? Jesus responds, "No. I’m not going back. God’s got other plans for me." God’s will was for Jesus to branch out and preach in other villages. And in order to be faithful to God’s plan for his life, he had to turn down some good opportunities in other directions.
How many of you know that saying ’yes’ to God…sometimes means saying ’no’ to people? In fact, many times, saying “no” to people… makes it possible to say “yes” to God! Before you make any commitments to anybody, you need to spend time with your Heavenly Father in prayer… asking, "Lord, is this opportunity the best possible use of my time? Will doing this particular project help me to achieve my larger goal in life? Or is it merely an attractive distraction along the way?" Don’t say ‘yes’ until you’ve spent enough time with Him to get an answer! Because if you keep living your life at your current pace… mark my words… there WILL be a crash! The reason Jesus accomplished so much in his short life was that He was able to say to ‘no’ to some of the good opportunities that came his way. Finding and fulfilling His Father’s agenda was more important to Him than making people happy.
If we’re truthful, isn’t that why we don’t say no? Because we fear people more than we fear God! We don’t want to ruffle any feathers. Some of us can’t say “no” because our sense of self-worth demands that we make ourselves indispensable to everyone. We feel that our existence is justified, only when we’re doing something. But listen…’healthy people’ have learned to say “no” far more than they say “yes.” Saying “no” means we realize we have limitations, that we have to make choices with our time… that I’m not valuable only because of what I do… I’m not a human DOING, I’m a human BEING! The bible says in Proverbs 29:24 that, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but to trust the LORD means safety.” –Prov.29:24 (NLT). I’ve personally been caught in that trap more times than I want to count! And I don’t want to be caught in it anymore!
Jesus prayed to get God’s direction and guidance in His life. It’s during our time with God that we gain the courage and the guidance to say ‘yes’ to what God wants, and ‘no’ to what man wants! If you want to know the secret of Jesus’ effectiveness… there it is! Prayer brings clarity and purpose to the daily activities of my life!
If you want to get the most out of your prayer time, you need to do 2 things…
1st…. Pray with a pencil. As you’re reading your Bible, talking to God and listening… write down the impressions God gives you. He WILL speak to you if you’ll spend enough time with Him listening.
2ndly, Pray the “Show Me Prayer”
”Lord, please show me the way today. Show me some aspect of Your greatness I tend to overlook. Show me what makes You smile and what makes You sad. Show me people I can touch with Your love.
Show me who I need to forgive and who I need to ask forgiveness from.
Right now I especially need you to show me your will for my life… so I can say ‘yes’ to what You say ‘yes’ to, and ‘no’ to what you say ‘no’ to.
Amen.
The 3rd great benefit of prayer to busy people is that…
3. Prayer is ENCOURAGING
We really have no way of knowing how long Jesus spent with His Heavenly Father that morning… all we know is it that it was early enough to be dark when He left, and it was probably light out when they found him. But what we DO know is that Jesus was in a solitary place…He was alone with God. Now to most of us that seems crazy! I mean, He was ‘burnin’ daylight’! We’re too busy to stop and pray for a few moments, let alone a few hours! We confuse ‘busyness’ with being productive, successful, efficient, meaningful. So it comes as a surprise to find Jesus, in the midst of a very busy schedule sneaking off to a solitary place to pray. After-all our time as way too valuable to waste, doing nothing but just sitting there talking to God. (Pastors in community). But Jesus saw life differently. Instead of seeing prayer as a inconvenience… He saw it as a necessity. It was during that time that He was able to get His soul refreshed and renewed.
One of the reasons we burn-out so fast, is because we’re not spending the time we need in God’s presence to get re-charged. But if we’re going to serve God for the long haul, we need to learn to slow down, and just get quiet before God.
I heard the story of a traveler who was making a long trek in the deep jungles of Africa. Natives of the area were hired to carry the loads. The 1st day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But on the 2nd morning the jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. When he asked the leader about this strange behavior, He said, “One the 1st day we went too fast…now we are waiting for our souls to catch up with our bodies.”
I think we could learn a lot from these tribesmen, because our lives move so fast, we need to slow down and let our souls catch up with us. That’s what prayer is. Some people’s idea of prayer is telling God all the things they need. (heal my headache, fix my car, send me money) But that’s not the best part of prayer. The best part is just spending time with God! Have you ever spent time with somebody where you’re both just quiet. Not really saying anything. Just quietly being together. (Spouse, holding your child, bedside of your sick parent). Those can be amazingly meaningful times. We need to do that with God! We’ll walk away from that time re-energized and ready to go…
Which leads to the last benefit of prayer that Jesus models for us…
4. Prayer is EMBOLDENING
Jesus wasn’t a monk. He didn’t go to his solitary place in a monastery somewhere and just contemplate life. (hmmmm) The bible says that when he was done praying… He said… “Let’s go!” and “He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” –Mark 1:39 Empowered, Enlightened, and Encouraged…from his time with God… Jesus was ready for a new day! He boldly launched out to carry out the purpose of His life. See, when we say, “AMEN” at the end of our prayer, it doesn’t mean ‘I’m done”, it doesn’t mean we’re hanging up the phone…and disconnecting with God… NO! It means it’s time for action! “Amen” is an action verb! It’s time to get on with God’s agenda. Have you ever wondered how Jesus always said the right thing in the right way, at the right time for the right reason? How did He know how to encourage people He encountered day after day? How he was always focused, but never frazzled? It’s because morning after morning, He was with His Father listening. His Father knew who He was going to see that day. So, He gave Him what he needed to know, to help people along the way.
We need to spend time with God in the morning so we have the strength and wisdom to help that person, or deal with that situation later this afternoon! I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve thanked God for the time we spent together early… because later on I get in a situation that was way over my head! I know I wouldn’t have had the power or the words to say, if I hadn’t been with Him. Being in a solitary, quiet place with God enables us to carry out the mission He wants us to do. Prayer isn’t wasting time… it’s using it for the maximum benefit. Just like the tithe, if we’ll give time to God… He’ll multiply it back to us in amazing ways! We’ll see things happen in our lives that would have taken us months…even years!
Now if you think that living life in the fast lane is only a problem to the modern age, think again. In the Gospel of Luke, there’s a great story of Jesus being hosted by the sisters Martha and Mary. (Luke 10:38-42) When Jesus visits their home, Mary’s content to quietly sit at his feet, spending time listening and just talking to the Lord. But Martha couldn’t sit still. She had to be busy. Eventually she notices Mary just sitting there, so she complains to Jesus, that her sister isn’t helping out with her work. Luke tells us that, Martha becomes "distracted and upset at many things". Jesus tells her in effect to ‘chill out!”
He’s telling us to do the same thing this morning. Jesus wants us to spend time just sitting and getting to know each other. But we’ve become ‘distracted and upset at many things’.
Our world is so busy, our lives are so full. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could slow down just a bit, and be still, and simply experience the presence of God in our lives? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could, in the midst of work, family pressures, school work, and just turn off the television, turn off the cell phones, leave the pagers at home…and just pray?
We live in a “Martha World”, but we need to just be still and spend some time living in a “Mary World”. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. It’s good for our own soul, it’s good for our relationship with others, and it’s good for our relationship with God. Several years ago, newspapers told how a new Navy jet fighter shot itself down. Flying at supersonic speed, it ran into the cannon shells it had fired only a few seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast! Some of us are like that jet. We’re traveling through our lives too fast. And if we’re not careful, we’re going to find ourselves spinning out of control. Start your days the way Jesus started his… spending time, praying to the Father, getting direction, gaining perspective, preparing yourselves for the day ahead. You’ll be amazed at how much calmer, focused and productive you’ll be!
PRAY
