SPEAKER_00: All right, good morning, church family.
SPEAKER_00: Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have a Bible, there is a Bible in the Purec in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: Please take that as a gift from us to you so that you can have a copy of God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to keep that.
SPEAKER_00: You can mark it up.
SPEAKER_00: That is yours.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest with us this morning, let me introduce myself.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jason Smith, and I have the awesome privilege of being the pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: Church family, we also have uh the incredible privilege of taking the Lord's Supper together today.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so the entire service is gonna be moving towards uh taking the Lord's Supper together, and as Scripture says, we never want to take that in an unworthy manner.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest with us today, okay, you are welcome to participate with us if you are a born-again believer, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you know that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: If you came in and you did not get the elements and lift up your hand, we've got some deacons nearby who will make sure that you get those so that you can participate with us.
SPEAKER_00: Keep it up.
SPEAKER_00: I promise they'll come by.
SPEAKER_00: I promise they will.
SPEAKER_00: They'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so we're gonna be preparing our hearts the entire time.
SPEAKER_00: All right, Mark chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: So, as a father of two teenage boys, there is something that you need to know about me.
SPEAKER_00: All right, and that is that I have seen a lot of superhero movies.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: All right, Marvel has had like a decade run of just dominating the box office, and I have been asked and seen most of them.
SPEAKER_00: So Eli's gonna be so proud of me this morning for the introduction.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so you remember uh Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is way back to the Toby McGuire.
SPEAKER_00: He was the first of like 16 Spider-Mans that they rolled out.
SPEAKER_00: And in Spider-Man 2, he is trying to hold everything together school, work, relationships, and on top of that, saving the city.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't know how tough it is to be Spider-Man, but no matter how hard he tries, he's always late, he's always disappointing someone, he's always behind.
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone is looking for him, and everyone needs something from him.
SPEAKER_00: Right in the middle of our text today, the disciples are gonna say to Jesus, everyone is looking for you.
SPEAKER_00: Now that might be the most relatable line in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone needs something.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone needs a portion of your time.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is expecting a response.
SPEAKER_00: Work, family, church, phones never stop buzzing, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's sometimes it feels like we're juggling so many plates that if we stop for just a moment, they're all gonna come crashing down.
SPEAKER_00: And right in the middle of that sort of chaos, we find Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And today, how Jesus responds may surprise you.
SPEAKER_00: So listen as I read Mark chapter 1, beginning in verse 35 through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
SPEAKER_00: Now Simon and his companions searched for him, and they found him, and they said to him, Everyone is looking for you.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also, for that is what I came here for.
SPEAKER_00: And he went away into their synagogues throughout all of Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.
SPEAKER_00: And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching him, falling on his knees before him, and saying, If you are willing, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I am willing to be cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: And he sternly warned him and immediately sent him away.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
SPEAKER_00: But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas, and they were coming to him from everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Our Heavenly Father, we welcome your spirit to speak to us, to refresh our hearts, to unveil your heart towards us.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we we do confess that one of the greatest tools that the enemy uses in our culture is just distraction and being overwhelmed with noise.
SPEAKER_00: We need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: We long to hear from you as your children.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Now, up until this point in Mark's gospel, he has been running and preaching at a breakneck pace.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to understand immediately Jesus called his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately, immediately, immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Mark's movement is intentional.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom has come.
SPEAKER_00: The king is on the move, and with authority, he calls, he heals, he rebukes.
SPEAKER_00: But suddenly there is a pause.
SPEAKER_00: In the stillness and quietness of the morning, hours before any light from the sun appears, Jesus is leaving the village and going to a secluded place to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me warn you, it's not going to last long.
SPEAKER_00: Because the disciples are going to awake, they're going to search, and they're going to find him, and they're going to exclaim, Everyone is looking for you.
SPEAKER_00: As I said in the intro, we know this feeling, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: The seasons of life where every moment is spoken for.
SPEAKER_00: The constant demand upon our time, and for many of us, that season is right now.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus got up early, went away from the chaos, to spend time praying to his Father.
SPEAKER_00: Now, most of us read this and we think, well, great.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks a lot, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now you've made me feel guilty and added one more thing to my already chaotic schedule.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, don't twist this.
SPEAKER_00: This is not law.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't going here to prevent from getting a scolding by his father.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going here because he wants to.
SPEAKER_00: He's going here because he needs to hear from his father.
SPEAKER_00: Because he needs to give his burdens over and be refreshed.
SPEAKER_00: Because he needs wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Because he needs to reset with the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because he needs to be renewed in his mind and be reminded of the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the free pursuit of the Son seeking the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And I cannot help but point out this very simple fact.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus needed to hit the pause button, if Jesus needed silence and solitude, if Jesus needed to get away from the chaos, how much more do we?
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I simply confess my limitations and my dependence upon him.
SPEAKER_00: It is freeing to say, Father, I am overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: I am overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: And of course I am.
SPEAKER_00: I am finite.
SPEAKER_00: I can't see past the end of my nose.
SPEAKER_00: I get confused.
SPEAKER_00: I need naps.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I need you.
SPEAKER_00: I need your wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to remind me of your promises.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to guide me, to forgive me, to lift my head.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to refresh my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need you right now.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, there is something so freeing and understanding that that is an incredible posture of prayer, of running to Him.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you know that two weeks ago I went away to Cody, Wyoming for a week of solitude and prayer and just getting alone by myself, away from the chaos and busyness, to a place where there was no cell phone signal, no internet, just my Bible, journal, and because I needed to hear from my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And can I just confess I was tired?
SPEAKER_00: I was tired.
SPEAKER_00: And I got alone.
SPEAKER_00: And God speaks to his children.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just praise him for the fact that, like, when we get alone, when we get quiet, when we open our word, right?
SPEAKER_00: God speaks and reveals himself in incredible ways, right?
SPEAKER_00: Through his word, through nature, through through even other people that you come in contact with, God speaks to us and refreshes our soul.
SPEAKER_00: Now catch this.
SPEAKER_00: To that week of solitude, just coming back like, oh my gosh, how refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, uh many people have asked me about that.
SPEAKER_00: And so we did a podcast, and that'll be released this week of just sitting down so you could kind of hear some of the things about what I did and uh just how God uh spoke to me.
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to hear from God as a husband, as a father, as uh the pastor of our church, and so uh we'll release that this week.
SPEAKER_00: And if you got 45 minutes, you can listen to it.
SPEAKER_00: Good for you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we wanted you to be able to hear uh from me in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: But so I come back refreshed, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Refreshed.
SPEAKER_00: Now catch this because I leave Cody, Wyoming, and come back to the fact that my car is totaled.
SPEAKER_00: Within two days, my house is flooded.
SPEAKER_00: We take our uh staff to uh a ministry retreat in Dallas for two days, and then men's retreat was this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And then I had to prepare to preach this sermon, and all of it just got hit at once.
SPEAKER_00: And at one point, my wife looks at me and she says, How are you sane right now?
SPEAKER_00: And well, because Jesus filled my cup and he's prepared me for this particular moment, and and just give testimony like it's incredible to be able to walk through chaos of life and just know, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: God, you prepared me and you have sustained me, and that rest has actually allowed me to walk through what I'm walking through right now.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, I do not give you law, but I plead with you.
SPEAKER_00: Steal away and find rest in him.
SPEAKER_00: Turn off the noise.
SPEAKER_00: It is not rest.
SPEAKER_00: I think the greatest tool that the enemy uses in our culture right now is constant bombardment with noise and all the stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus showed me how addicted to my phone I am.
SPEAKER_00: But while I was away, he also showed me that believe it or not, the world still spins if I'm not constantly watching it.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot afford to not steal away and rest in him.
SPEAKER_00: So the disciples find Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is looking for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I love what he says next.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Let's go to the next town.
SPEAKER_00: He's not responding to the noise, he's not running back to the chaos.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he knows, because he's heard from the Spirit of God that he is to keep on moving, that there are others that need to be reached.
SPEAKER_00: And he went into all their synagogues throughout all of Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.
SPEAKER_00: And he's able to pick back up with the mission, with the chaos, pressing on because he got alone with his father.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly the story of sweeping ministry comes to a halt.
SPEAKER_00: Mark slows everything down and tells us about one man.
SPEAKER_00: A leper breaks through the crowd, falls at Jesus' feet, and begs him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, before we feel the weight of that moment, we need to understand who just walked onto our scene.
SPEAKER_00: In the ancient world, leprosy wasn't one specific disease.
SPEAKER_00: It was a broad category for skin conditions, visible skin conditions, scaly eruptions, infections, even mold or mildew that would get on your clothing or in your home, on fabrics.
SPEAKER_00: What we call leprosy today is actually a slow bacterial disease that's not highly contagious.
SPEAKER_00: But they didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00: All they knew was it spreads, it disfigures, and there is no cure.
SPEAKER_00: So there was fear.
SPEAKER_00: Because in many ways, think about leprosy.
SPEAKER_00: The visual is it's like watching death slowly take over the body.
SPEAKER_00: It's the visual corruption of this world on your skin.
SPEAKER_00: And over time, passages from the scripture, like Miriam being struck with leprosy after her rebellion, it led people to assume: listen, this isn't just sickness, this is judgment from God.
SPEAKER_00: So to be labeled a leper meant didn't just mean that you were sick, it meant that you were cut off, cut off from your family, cut off from your community, cut off from worship.
SPEAKER_00: God's word, Leviticus 13, required that you live outside the camp, wear torn clothes, leave your hair unkept.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't a doctor who diagnosed you, it was the priest.
SPEAKER_00: The priest who was required to make sure that that worship was holy because the priest declared you unclean.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning no access to the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And if you ever came near to people, you were required by God's law to cover your mouth and to cry out to protect other people and say, unclean, unclean.
SPEAKER_00: So don't miss what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: This man doesn't belong in the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: He shouldn't be anywhere near Jesus, and yet here he is, breaking every boundary, risking everything, falling at Jesus' feet, and listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_00: If you are willing, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear it?
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_00: That's a statement of faith.
SPEAKER_00: If you are willing, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: Verse forty-one Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and touched him.
SPEAKER_00: It's been years, possibly decades, since he's felt the warmth of human touch.
SPEAKER_00: No pats on the back.
SPEAKER_00: No one holding his hand.
SPEAKER_00: No hug even from his own mother.
SPEAKER_00: Just distance, silence, and rejection.
SPEAKER_00: Can you picture it?
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus kneels down, moves towards him, wraps his arms around him, looks him in the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Something that everyone has avoided.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus moves towards, and Jesus looks at him and says, I am willing to be cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: You say, but wait.
SPEAKER_00: That shouldn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the way it happens.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone knows how this works.
SPEAKER_00: When you touch dead things, when you touch sick things, when you touch unclean things, you become unclean too.
SPEAKER_00: Uncleanliness spreads.
SPEAKER_00: But not with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus touches the unclean, he doesn't become like them.
SPEAKER_00: They become like him.
SPEAKER_00: When he touches the sick, they are healed.
SPEAKER_00: When he touches the broken, they are restored.
SPEAKER_00: When he touches the unclean, they become clean.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately, the leprosy is gone.
SPEAKER_00: Not managed, not improved, gone.
SPEAKER_00: He is cleaned.
SPEAKER_00: See, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus just didn't heal his skin.
SPEAKER_00: He restores his life.
SPEAKER_00: He gave him back his family, his community.
SPEAKER_00: Worship.
SPEAKER_00: In a moment, everything that was taken from him is given back.
SPEAKER_00: But friend, this miracle is more than just showing us what Jesus can do.
SPEAKER_00: It's showing us what Jesus came to do.
SPEAKER_00: To bring life, to bring healing, to bring cleanness to each one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is, every one of us walks in here today with something much deeper than a skin condition.
SPEAKER_00: Sin that runs beneath the surface.
SPEAKER_00: Shame that we try and cover.
SPEAKER_00: And just like this man, we need Jesus to make us clean.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know what the great news of the gospel is?
SPEAKER_00: What the great news of the gospel is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't stay at a distance, does he?
SPEAKER_00: When everyone else runs away, Jesus draws near towards the sinner, towards the broken, towards the unclean.
SPEAKER_00: And not just with a touch, but with the cross.
SPEAKER_00: With the cross, he takes our uncleanness onto himself.
SPEAKER_00: He who knew no sin became sin.
SPEAKER_00: So that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
SPEAKER_00: On the cross, the direction reverses.
SPEAKER_00: The one who makes the unclean clean becomes unclean for us.
SPEAKER_00: He's making payment so that we could be made clean before God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what we remember when we come to the Lord's table.
SPEAKER_00: So right now I want you to prepare.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to begin with the bread.
SPEAKER_00: Hold it.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to take it together as a family, but I'm going to give you moments, a few moments for you, believer, right now, to have moments with your King and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Hear his word.
SPEAKER_00: This is my body that is broken for you.
SPEAKER_00: Will you, like this man, cry out, Jesus, if you are willing, you you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: Will you confess your sins to him right now?
SPEAKER_00: While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing, he broke it.
SPEAKER_00: He gave it to the disciples and he said, Take eat.
SPEAKER_00: This is my body.
SPEAKER_00: And now would you prepare the cup?
SPEAKER_00: Like the bread, I'm going to give you a few moments, but here's the thought I want you to have in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: The leper fell at Jesus' feet and said, if you are willing, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: And what was Jesus' response?
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing.
SPEAKER_00: Be cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: Be cleaned.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, your Savior is willing.
SPEAKER_00: The moment we come to him, right?
SPEAKER_00: Simply by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Simply by asking.
SPEAKER_00: You leave.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: Cleaned.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians says, He knew He elected you from before the foundation of the world that you would stand before Him holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_00: You before His throne.
SPEAKER_00: Holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_00: I am willing.
SPEAKER_00: Be cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Back to him and rejoice in his heart towards you.
SPEAKER_00: For this is uh for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, you set those aside.
SPEAKER_00: I know what you're thinking, but wait, Pastor, you can't be done.
SPEAKER_00: What about the ending of the text?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 43, and he sternly warned him and immediately sent him away.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer for uh an offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
SPEAKER_00: But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city but stayed out in unpopulated areas, and they were coming to him from everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: The text is clear, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives him a specific command.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the priest, follow the law of sacrifice that's required of you, say nothing to anyone.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we're honest, that feels pretty strange.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't Jesus want this spread?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we can feel this man's excitement.
SPEAKER_00: His life has just been given back to him.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone needs to know what just happened to him.
SPEAKER_00: We get that.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what Jesus told him to do.
SPEAKER_00: So what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He went out and began to proclaim it freely.
SPEAKER_00: He spreads the news, and in this moment, that is called disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: Now you can almost hear the reasoning in his mind.
SPEAKER_00: Surely Jesus didn't mean that.
SPEAKER_00: This is too good not to share.
SPEAKER_00: I know better in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: But look at what happens.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds swell, the masses come rushing in, but they don't understand who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus can no longer enter a city.
SPEAKER_00: He is pushed out onto the margins, onto the lowly places, unable to freely move amongst the people and do the ministry that God has called him to do.
SPEAKER_00: So do not miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Earlier in the passage, the leper was outside the camp, cut off, alone.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus moved toward him.
SPEAKER_00: But now by the end of the story, the man is restored, but because of his disobedience, Jesus is the one on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, there are consequences.
SPEAKER_00: Even when the intentions feel right, even when it doesn't make sense to you.
SPEAKER_00: So hear this, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: It is possible to be amazed by Jesus, grateful for Jesus, even helped by Jesus, and still disobey Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: As we leave here today, may that not be said of us.
SPEAKER_00: That we trusted our instinct more than his word.
SPEAKER_00: That we believe that we were wiser than him and walked in disobedience to his clear commands.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, your word is so good, my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: King Jesus, that that you would draw near to such a one like this to such a one like me to take away all of our uncleanness.
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful picture.
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful picture of what you do in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: But Father, so often we are just as foolish as this guy.
SPEAKER_00: Because we do not obey you.
SPEAKER_00: We do not trust you.
SPEAKER_00: When things don't add up in our mind.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us.
SPEAKER_00: Give us.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, just the will and the fortitude to say, you know what, God, you have said it.
SPEAKER_00: I believe.
SPEAKER_00: I trust you.
SPEAKER_00: I trust your word.
SPEAKER_00: You are clear.
SPEAKER_00: I will follow.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Church family, at the conclusion of each service, we we always provide a time of response.
SPEAKER_00: The worship team is going to be up here leading us in songs.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things for that, listen to me, this close of the service is it's not a time for you to collect your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a time for you to think about where you're going next.
SPEAKER_00: It is a time for us as a body to respond to God.
SPEAKER_00: Is anyone among you sick?
SPEAKER_00: Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord will raise him up if he has committed sins, and they will be forgiven him.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
SPEAKER_00: The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
SPEAKER_00: We'll have a prayer team that's down here at the altar that would love to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: If you come in with a burden this morning, let us pray for one another.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like genuinely slow down and pray for one another.
SPEAKER_00: And if you need healing, I would love to pray over you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be clear theologically.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on the cross has accomplished all healing, all healing.
SPEAKER_00: That will ultimately give into us when he returns.
SPEAKER_00: But, but doesn't mean he doesn't heal now.
SPEAKER_00: It may it never be because we didn't ask, because we don't pray for it, because we don't ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: So me and Pastor Mark and Pastor Chad will be down here at the front, and if you need healing, we would love to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever God's word has said, whatever the Spirit of God has spoken to you, you be obedient to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand up?