WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.520 Welcome to the Fort St. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:03.279 John Alliance Sermon Podcast. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:06.240 I'm Nick Burry, the youth pastor here at the church. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.160 We're so glad you've joined us today. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:20.399 Our desire as a church is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:27.359 Each week we gather as a community to worship, learn from God's Word, and to be encouraged in our walk with Christ. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:31.280 In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:33.840 Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:39.039 John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:42.159 Let's lean it together as we hear today's sermon. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.200 Good morning. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.000 Today we are going to be doing the scripture reading from Mark chapter 1. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:53.039 It's going to be verses 35 to 39. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:56.159 And I have Oliver here to do the reading for us. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:57.840 So let's start. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:01.600 Jesus prays in a solitary place. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:06.560 Right away in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and left his house. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:09.680 He went off to a solitary place where he prayed. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.000 They said, Everyone is looking for you. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:24.159 Jesus replied, Let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so I can bring you there. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.000 Also that is why I have fun. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:34.159 So he traveled through throughout Galilee, preaching the synagogues and driving over the room. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:00.079 Just gonna move this on Alan here to confuse him. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:02.879 My name is Darren. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.280 I'm part of the preaching team here at Fort St. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:05.920 John Alliance. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.840 I'm sure most of you know that by now. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.199 But we're supposed to say it. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.319 If you've been attending Fort St. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:30.319 John Alliance for any length of time, you've probably come to understand that we as a a church body, and for that matter as a denomination, hold missions and international work in high regard. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.479 In the past, we've partnered with people in Niger and West Africa. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:43.039 Last five years, we've had a seamlessly partnership with uh Ben and Rachel in the Middle East, helping them with their relief and development work. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:51.039 And uh on a side note, I am very excited just to say that they will be here with us at Family Camp. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:03.680 So that is just a great opportunity to come to Family Camp to meet them, to get to know them, to learn a little more about what they do, and just to show our love and commitment to them. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:08.240 Their kids are loaded with energy and they're just wonderful people. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.120 So please come out and spend some time there. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.360 And besides that, family camp is a really great time. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.800 And that is saying something for me because I am somewhat introverted. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:24.719 And if you say, Darren, let's go spend a weekend with a lot of people, that is about as unattractive as that can get. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:31.360 But I've never gone to family camp yet where I did not enjoy myself and did not have a lot of fun. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:35.439 So please come out, set that uh that weekend aside. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:41.439 Even if you can't make it for the whole weekend, come down, enjoy the fellowship, and just enjoy being together. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:52.639 Along with our work uh with our seamlessly partner, we also have a long-standing relationship with the uh Alliance Church of Mexico. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.879 It's a relationship that's been developing for well over 20 years. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:05.280 And there's a good chance today that if you're here, you're sitting by someone who's gone, or you are one of those people who have gone on a mission strip down there. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:17.360 One of the places that we sometimes go there is uh an area called Rio Chico, which is a rural municipality in uh the southern uh Sierra Madre. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:26.480 And there in Rio Chico is a ranch which is used as a base for uh the relief and development work done in that area. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:37.279 And if you go there, you might get a chance to visit a nearby heritage site called Cuenta Casa or 40 homes. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:48.480 It's kind of neat, it's about a thousand meters up in cliffs, and there's 40 homes that three different people groups over a thousand years used as a base. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:51.920 And uh it really is pretty neat to go see. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.720 It's a bit of a hike up for those that have been there, they know that, but it is well worth seeing. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:01.120 One time we went, and it was kind of the off-season. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.360 There wasn't a lot of tourists, in fact, there was none. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:05.040 It was only our team that went. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.360 It was a cloudier day. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:16.720 And what's interesting is we were given a guide, and we got a more in-depth tour than what uh is usually given. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:25.279 This guy took us away from the main homes and he took us to the back and to the sides, and he showed us stuff that wasn't actually open to the general public as a rule. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:38.720 See a picture up there, there's we got to see a spring, a kind of a well that the the people would use if they were being attacked from below or couldn't get down, they had water to drink, and you can see Josh drinking out of it, we all got to drink out of it, it was kind of cool. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:49.519 And then another thing we saw at the edge of a cliff was a little wall that jutted out, and we didn't know what this little wall was. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:06:06.160 And our guide's English wasn't the best, so he went over to the wall, he got down on his knees, and he folded his hands, and he showed us that this was a place where those people groups prayed to their gods. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.399 That moment stuck with me. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.879 The wall was a place where they prayed. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:26.079 You know, on other trips I've been on, one trip took me to the edge of the Sahara Desert, and I saw and I heard people bowing towards Mecca and praying. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:32.560 In the Middle East, with our seamless link partner, I witnessed pieces of cloth with prayers spoken into them. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:42.399 They were knotted, and then they were hung in an ancient temple with the hopes that someone would come by, undo the knot, and release the prayer. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.759 Every day, billions of people pray. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.079 There seems to be a natural human longing to pray. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:56.000 It's worth pausing for a moment to think about this. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:04.319 Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote, prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:07.600 Maybe. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:22.079 Canadian psychologist David Benner describes prayer as the soul's native language, observing that our natural posture is an attentiveness to the divine. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:29.439 Our natural posture is an attentive openness to the divine. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:32.560 Now that's interesting. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:40.959 From the dawn of time, we see the evidence of all cultures and civilizations engaged in one way or another in prayer. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:51.040 Peter Gregg, in his book, How to Pray, points out that there are cave paintings dating back more than 35,000 years in Moros and Indonesia and in Chovei, France. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:55.040 And it's believed that they functioned as spiritual invocations. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:12.240 In modern-day Turkey and the hilltop of Gobletake, there are remains of a temple 6,000 years older than Stonehenge, which may itself have been a place of prayer some 3,000 years before Christ. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:22.639 From cave paintings to ancient temples and shrines, from ancient Egypt and Greece to modern times, prayer is the gaping need. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:28.000 Sorry, prayer is the gaping need of every human soul. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:36.000 Peter Gregg points out, it's no exaggeration to say that to be human is to pray. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.159 To be human is to pray. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.440 Jesus was fully human. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:09:04.240 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:06.480 Let's bow our heads. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:18.639 Heavenly Father, I pray for renewed expectancy that your living word speaks truth into all of us today and every day. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:26.720 Open our minds and hearts to your spirit, teach us, change us, and shape us into your image. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.039 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:30.000 Amen. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:44.879 In his book, Missions, How the Local Church Goes Global, Andy Johnson says this the work of missions is urgent, but it's not frantic. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.559 And that's good. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.120 That's a good statement, but I think we can change that. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:54.159 And we can say the work of the church is urgent, but not frantic. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:02.080 And the same is true of our Christian life and of the health and growth of ourselves and our souls. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.840 It's urgent, but it's not frantic. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:13.360 Jesus was not idle, nor was he frenzied. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.480 Jesus' days were full. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:21.120 When I read through the Gospels, it seems to me that he was busy. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:24.639 In his short life, he lived to the full. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:29.759 And yet, when you read through the Gospels, he never seems to be in a hurry. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:34.080 Jesus had a habit. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:45.279 Some call it a pattern or a rhythm, a habit of retreating from society and then entering back into society to do the work of ministry. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:51.759 You know, I mentioned before that Jesus was fully God and yet fully human. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:58.720 As God himself in human flesh, Jesus prioritized time away with his Father. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.000 He chose to give his first and best moments to seeking the Father's face. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:12.559 Jesus made space in the demands and pressures of his human life to sit quietly with the Heavenly Father. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:22.320 Blaise Pascal says, all humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quiet in a room alone. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.399 That's a sweeping claim. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:38.159 But in today's world of constant scrolling and a relentless stream of distractions and diversions, I think it's true. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.919 We are unable to sit quiet. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:51.519 If 400 years ago Pascal recognized humans' inability to sit still, how farther off or how harder is it for us? 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.120 The competition for mine and yours' attention is ruthless. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:06.799 Jesus himself modeled for us the very kind of habits and rhythms of life we need in any age. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:21.120 When we look at our passage in all four Gospels for that matter, we find a posture that can be imitated and applied by any follower of Jesus in any culture, anywhere in the world, at any time in history. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:31.840 Jesus made a habit of withdrawing from the world and then re-entering later to do good. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:40.639 To quote David Mathis, the healthy Christian life is neither solely solitary nor constantly communal. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:45.519 We learn to withdraw like Jesus to a solitary place to commune with God. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:49.679 Then we return to daily tasks to try to meet the needs of others. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:13:03.919 We carve out a season for spiritual respite, and in some momentarily sacred place to feed our souls, to enjoy God there in the stillness. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:11.759 Then refilled, we enter back to be light and bred to a hungry, harassed, and helpless world. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:17.039 Christ got away from people. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:28.639 He regularly escaped the noise and frenzy of society to be alone with his father, where he could give him his full intention and his undivided heart. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:46.799 You know, in the verses prior to our passage, in Mark 1.28, it records that Jesus' fame had spread everywhere the day before, and the whole city was gathered at the door of the house he was staying. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:58.000 And that's when we find that Jesus was up before the sun and slipped away from the town to restore his soul in secret communion with his father. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:10.159 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went to a solitary place where he prayed. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:25.840 You know, when I watch the news and check current events and just talk to people around me, I see how the whole world seems chaotic and on fire at times. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.759 The harvest fields are full. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:32.559 Just as they were in Jesus' time. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:36.720 There seems to be so much to do. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:50.399 Yet when I read this, I see how I how much I need the presence of mind and a heart to discern and prioritize prayer, just as Jesus did. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:01.600 This habit of retreat and re-entry was not just isolated to this one instant in Christ's human's life. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:09.919 Luke 4.42 tells us that Jesus departed and went to a desolate place, not just once, but regularly. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:15.519 Luke 5.16 said, He withwithdraw to desolate places and pray. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:24.080 Even after the death of John the Baptist, his own cousin, Jesus withdrew in a boat to be by himself. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:29.120 The crowd still pursued him, and he didn't despise them. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:35.279 He puts his desire to retreat on hold, and he has compassion on them, and he heals their sick. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:41.360 Then after feeding them, he withdraws again. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:50.159 Matthew 14, 23 says, after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on a mountain by himself to pray. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.519 Christ withdrew to commune with his father. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:02.399 He got away from the distractions and demands of daily life to focus on and hear and pray to his father. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:04.879 He went away by himself. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.440 His disciples would see him leave to pray and then return. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.360 But Jesus did something else. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:19.200 He also drew others into his life of prayer. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.200 The disciples had seen him model prayer at his baptism. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.279 We find that in Luke chapter 3. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:29.519 He modeled it as he laid his hands on the children, Matthew 9. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:34.799 And he modeled it when he drove out demons in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9 as well. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:44.720 And what I find really interesting is that sometimes when Jesus went off to pray by himself, he brought his disciples with him. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.759 Jesus brought his followers into communion with his Father. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:56.399 There are verses in the New Testament that show even when he prayed alone, his disciples might be nearby. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:04.480 Luke 9, 18 says, once when he was praying in private, and his disciples were with him. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:15.839 In fact, it is recorded that one day when Jesus was praying in a certain place, the disciples gave him one of the greatest petitions ever requested. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:21.200 Lord, teach us to pray. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.599 And of course he did. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:28.079 He gave what we now call the Lord's Prayer. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:37.920 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:44.319 Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to us. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:49.440 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:56.960 For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, both now and forever. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:57.920 Amen. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.640 He gave them the greatest prayer in world history. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:08.559 Think about that for a second. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:16.319 From that first lesson in prayer, that simple prayer, these men would go on to have extraordinary prayer lives. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:19.759 They would intercede until buildings shook. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.079 They would spring Peter from high security jail by the power of prayer. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.319 Their very shadows and handkerchiefs would sometimes heal the sick. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:32.799 They would receive the kinds of revelations that changed history. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:43.279 And most remarkably of all, they would one day find the grace within themselves to pray for their torturers at the very point of death. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:47.519 All the apostles were martyred, except for John. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.119 He was banished. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:19:03.599 Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ taught his disciples to do the same as he did, to bring this dynamic of retreat and return, communion and compassion into their own lives. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:12.640 I think this point gets really driven home when we read about the story of when Jesus sent out the twelve. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:29.200 After the twelve were came back, it says the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:41.839 Then, because so many people were coming and going, they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:49.200 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:20:07.119 And in the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus teaches all his hearers, including us today, to give and fast discreetly, but also to find a private place to seek out our Father's face. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:13.839 When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:18.079 And your Father who sees you, sees in secret, will reward you. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:19.920 Matthew 6, 6. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:28.960 The reward is not material stuff later, but the joy of communion with God there, then, in that moment, in your secret place. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.960 So where's your secret place? 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:35.119 Do you have a wilderness? 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.799 An isolated place? 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.559 A desolate place? 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:49.519 You may have noticed that when I walked up here that I limp, I have a bad knee. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:53.680 Kneeling in prayer is not a viable option for me. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:58.480 That rocking chair is in my living room at home. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:04.160 In the last 20 years, I spent more time in prayer sitting in that chair. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:06.880 I'm an early riser. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.000 I get up quite early in the morning. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:19.039 I sit in that chair, I put my feet on the piano bench, which is right beside it, and I drink a coffee and I pray. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:26.880 Have you set aside a place and a time where you commune with the living God? 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:29.519 Maybe it's a daily walk. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:31.920 Maybe it's a local coffee shop. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:34.480 For some, it's a commute to work. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:38.799 There's a bunch of young mothers here today say, Yes, I do. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.279 It's called locking myself in the bathroom. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:44.480 But hey, it works. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:51.359 You know, even when you don't really want to pray, a place of prayer can often make it easier. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.960 Merely by showing up, you make a declaration of intent. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:22:00.640 You say, in effect, Lord, I don't want to be here, but I'm here. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:08.720 I may not always want to pray initially, but you know, most often these are the times that God meets me powerfully. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:13.519 Sometimes God just wants you to show up. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:20.720 Making the effort to become consciously present to the God who is constantly present to us. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.599 Prayer is relational. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:32.640 A real relationship with God means walking with him daily, like Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:41.519 It means talking with him intimately, like Moses, with whom the Lord would speak face to face as a friend. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.319 And it means listening attentively to his voice. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:50.559 Because as Jesus said, my sheep listen to my voice. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:51.839 I know them. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:53.839 And they follow me. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:02.480 Some years ago I went to Notre Dame and Paris to that great cathedral. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.440 While we were there, I witnessed people lighting candles in prayer. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:09.839 Theologian George A. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.759 Butterk says, prayer is more than a lighted candle. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:18.640 It's the contagion of health, it is the pulse of life. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:26.880 It is needed not only for an effective Christian ministry, but simply for healthy Christian lives. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:37.920 To quote Peter Gregg once again, he says Jesus prayed and he prayed and he prayed. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:43.039 The greatest person ever to live was a man of prayer. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:51.599 He retreated, he spent time with his father, then he preached and healed and drove out demons. 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:57.599 He invited his disciples to do the same. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:01.119 And he's inviting us as well. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:08.000 Jesus said to his disciples, come away with me and rest. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:17.680 As the worship team comes forward, let's just bow our heads in prayer. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.559 Lord, make us a people of prayer. 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.319 Help us live with conviction. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:36.000 Help us not to compromise our faith or our time to commune with you. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:47.279 Let each one of us feel your presence, be filled with your spirit and your word, that we may go out into our daily lives and win others to you by how we live. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:49.039 In Jesus' name. 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:50.000 Amen.