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I want to welcome you to our final day of our look through Mark chapter 1 and
daily drive time devotions, and I'd like to begin by reading for you verses 35
to 39 of Mark 1. "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. 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. ' So he traveled throughout Galilee,
preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

" Now I want you to notice what happens the next day, after a very busy day the
day before of healing and teaching. Jesus arises very early, very early, after a
very busy day, and he goes to a place where he can pray. Jesus knew the
significance of time alone with the Father.

No matter how busy his life got, he spent this time alone with the Father. And
as he spoke to the Father, he heard from the Father, and he followed the
Father's direction. Then there's this conversation between Jesus and his
disciples.

They come out and say, "Everyone's looking for you. " Now remember, the day
before, Jesus had served in Capernaum, Peter's town, from Peter's house, but it
ends up that he only serves there one day. It had been an amazing day.

They'd gone to church together, they'd heard the best sermon they'd ever heard
from Jesus, they'd seen a demon cast out in church, there's this amazing
teaching that gripped people's lives. And then from that, they went to Peter's
house, and his mother-in-law was healed and served them all a meal. And then the
entire town heard, and they began to come by the house, first one by one, and
then dozens, and then the entire town was there.

And Jesus healed many who had various diseases. What a day! But instead of going
back to Capernaum, instead of building on that day, as you and I would, Jesus
went elsewhere.

Instead of staying to heal those who came on the second day, Jesus got up in the
morning, he prayed, he received direction from his Father, and he knew that he'd
come to preach in other towns also. Jesus knew who he was. He knew the Father's
direction.

And that gave him the wisdom to choose what to do and to choose what not to do.
It showed him what to say no to, and it showed him what to say yes to. Jesus had
to say no to awesome opportunities every single day in order to do the work of
the Father.

Now, you and I, we're never going to have to say no to some of the awesome
opportunities that Jesus had, because he's God in human flesh, but he does still
serve as an example to us. If you're going to follow the will of the Father,
there are opportunities you're going to have to say no to. You can't say, I
can't say yes to everything.

And sometimes when I try to say yes to everything, I'm actually saying no to
God's will and my life. Some of you need to hear that again. Sometimes when I
try to say yes to everything, I end up saying no to God's will in my life.

I don't intend to, but that's where I end up. What do you need to say no to
today in order to say yes to God's will? Here's what happened.

Because Jesus said, I need to go somewhere else. You have what happens beginning
in verse 40, verse 40 to 45 in Mark chapter 1. "A man with leprosy came to him
and begged him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.

' Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am
willing,' he said, 'be clean. ' Immediately the leprosy left him and he was
cured.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning. See that you don't tell this
to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that
Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them. Instead, he went out
and began to talk freely, spreading the news.

As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in
lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. " Before we
talk about the healing, let's talk first of all about why did Jesus tell him not
to tell?

Why wouldn't Jesus want everybody to know about this healing? The reason Jesus
did this here, and he often did this, especially early in his ministry, is
because Jesus always had in front of him the right timing for the cross. Jesus
came to die.

He knew he had come to die on a cross. And he knew that there was a right time
for him to give his life on the cross. And Jesus knew that once the news began
to get out about his healing, that it would begin to get into the lives of the
religious aristocracy and that that political religious establishment would
become more and more angry and that their anger would turn eventually to their
call for him to be crucified on a cross.

The earlier the news got out, the sooner that call would come for him to be
crucified. And so Jesus early on said, "Be quiet about this. " Everyone wasn't
quiet.

In this case, this man just couldn't help but tell. He told everyone. And
because of that, Jesus could no longer serve in the towns.

The crowds were so big he couldn't get through the towns. He had to go outside
and people come to him. That's what happened with why Jesus told the man not to
tell.

But let's look now at the beginning of the story. Jesus healed this man. He
healed this leper, this ugly skinned disease of leprosy, this skinned disease of
leprosy that was ugly not just because of how somebody looked on the outside,
but also because of what it did to their lives.

A leper in this day was unclean. It meant he couldn't enter a city. It meant
they couldn't be a part of the community.

Lepers had to be outside of the city wandering alone or maybe in small groups of
other lepers because they were unclean according to the Jewish law. And Jesus
sees this leper asking for healing. And Jesus' heart is filled with compassion
for this one who needs healing.

And then he does something radical. He reaches out his hand and he touches the
leper. Now Jesus is a rabbi.

He's a teacher of the law. He's a holy man. It was against the law.

For anyone to be in contact with a leper, that's why they had to stay out of the
towns. They had to run through the countryside even calling out lepers, lepers,
lepers, unclean, unclean, unclean so that people could get out of the way. But
Jesus intentionally reaches out and touches this leper.

By that he was taking his uncleanness upon himself. It is a foreshadowing of
what's going to happen on the cross when he takes our sins upon himself. Jesus
Christ wants to reach out and touch my life and touch your life.

You look at your life, you see the uncleanness in your life. Maybe it's not on
the outside as a skin disease, everybody else can't see it, but you see it in
your heart. You see the bitterness, you see the jealousy, you see the lust, you
see the anger, you see the pride, you see it.

And Jesus says, "I'm willing to touch that place in your life. I'm willing to
heal you there. " As you and I have walked through this first chapter of John,
we've seen how God wants to work in our lives.

Jesus is our example. Here's the sequence in the life of Jesus in John chapter
one. One, John the Baptist came to clear the way.

Two, God gave Jesus his blessing. Three, Jesus was challenged and tempted by
Satan. Four, Jesus called disciples alongside him to minister.

And five, Jesus's ministry explodes as he introduces himself into the world.
Now, you're not Jesus, I'm not Jesus. But he is our example.

And if you follow Jesus, you're going to go through the same things as Jesus.
That just makes sense. If I follow Jesus, I'm going to go through many of the
same things as Jesus.

What Jesus went through here in Mark chapter one is an example of what you'll
often go through in ministry. One, God will clear the way. Not through a John
the Baptist, but through some open door.

He'll clear the way for you to do some new thing, enjoy some new relationship,
join some new community of believers. He'll clear the way. It's an open door and
you go through it and there's great joy.

And two, God will give his blessing. Even as God gave his blessing to his son
that day, you don't get the blessing of a dove coming down from heaven and a
voice from heaven. But you get the blessing of God's word.

And you get the blessing of the affirmation of God's spirit in your heart. God
gives his blessing to you walking through that open door. And then three, Satan
challenges your faith.

And you think, what in the world happened? I'm just following God's direction.
Why am I being tempted now?

I thought I would be coming into a place of total blessing and no temptation.
Jesus is our example. And you can talk to literally tens of thousands of
believers about this, millions and billions down through the years.

The blessing of a new calling of God in your life is always followed by the
temptation of Satan trying to make you trust in yourself instead of trust in
God. Blessings are followed by temptations because blessings tend to make us
want to trust in ourselves. So you choose in the temptation.

No, I'm not trusting me. I'm trusting God. And then the fourth thing that
happens is others will walk along with you in what God's doing.

The disciples walk along with Jesus. You don't do it alone. You don't do
ministry alone.

This idea that somehow if I'm going to follow Jesus, it's just me and Jesus.
That is nowhere in the New Testament. It's nowhere in the example of Jesus.

And then finally, you share with the world. You have an explosion of ministry
into the world. It may be noticeable like Jesus was noticeable.

It may not be as noticeable. It may not make its way into the papers or other
people may not write about it or hear about it even. But God knows.

And in eternity, there is an explosion of your ministry into the world. Here's
the pattern once again. God clears the way.

God gives you his blessing. Satan challenges you with temptation. Trust
yourself.

Don't trust God. You choose to trust God. Other disciples walk along with you.

You don't do it alone. And then ministry explodes during your life out into the
world, making a difference through your life and in your life for Jesus' sake. I
want to live that pattern.

I want to live that life. My guess is that you do too. Let's pray to Jesus whom
we're following that he give us the strength and power to live that life.

Jesus, your life is to be our life. You want to give this life to us. So instead
of trying to fashion life for ourselves, help us to follow you.

Help us to see where you're clearing the way. Help us to enjoy your blessing in
our lives. Help us to call upon you when tempted to find in you alone the
comfort that we need spiritually and physically.

God, help us to see the others you've sent to walk alongside of us in this task
of ministry of service. And Lord, help us to see the joy of the fact that you're
doing things in this world when we serve you that are far above and beyond what
we could imagine. Jesus, help us to follow you.

We ask this in your name. Amen. Well join us next week.

We're going to be looking at Mark chapter 2, more amazing works of power, and
Jesus meets up with the religious leaders whose jealousy will one day send them
to a cross. Next week, Mark chapter 2.