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Kingdom Building Key
Written by on March 16, 2017
Each of the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) focuses on the Gospel. And if you were a student of the Word and attend Bible study and/or Sunday school, you would know that the Gospel is "good news", that is the life Christ in a different manner. Quite simply these are different points of views that describes the same event, the "Birth, Life, Teachings, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ".
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah, the King of the Jews. Matthew contains five great collections of Jesus’ teachings. Matthew was written to convince Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The book opens with a genealogy to prove that Jesus was an heir to King David. Matthew goes through effort to help the Jews understand their savior.
Luke, being a physician, presents Jesus to the Gentiles as the savior of all mankind. Luke contains numerous references to the activity of the Holy Spirit. Women are given special attention in Luke. Luke takes attention to details, similar to how a physician takes notes of all your ailments before giving you the prescription. Luke lets gentiles know Christ Jesus is the medicine for our Ailments.
John is the gospel of belief, and was written to show the world that Jesus was the Christ, the "Son of God. " Jesus was sent by the Father to give eternal life to believers. John’s purpose for writing this gospel was expressly stated in John 20:31, "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
Then we have, Mark. Mark is a fast-paced gospel that portrays Jesus as the powerful, suffering servant of God. When I say fast paced, Mark covers the facts and has covered most of Jesus’ early ministry to one chapter (birth, baptismal, wilderness experience etc). Mark shows that Jesus taught with authority, as affirmed by the miracles He performed. Jesus’ life of service was completed when He sacrificed Himself on the cross.
Looking at the Book of Mark, we can learn some things very quickly. Jesus hit the ground running in His ministry. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry can be likened to a product launch, introducing a new product to the market. The difference is Jesus introduced a Key product, one we all need. There is a market assessment. John the Baptist, who Mark teaches, prepares the way for Jesus. John let everyone know who’s coming, he was Jesus’ hype man. In Mark, after Jesus is baptized by John, then Jesus goes to the wilderness for fasting, prayer, and lastly to get tried. Everything you do, especially when you are starting something new, you will get tempted. Tempted to quit. Tempted to give up. Tempted to do it the "fast and quick way". Tempted to not pay your dues. Tempted to not give your offering and tithes. Jesus used the scriptures to handle that test, just like us.
After being tried, Jesus began to put his board of directors together. He called together his brethren in the
ministry. They didn’t know they were going to get called, but they didn’t just answer in Words, they answered in action. They left everything they had, and followed the Son and Man of God, Jesus. Can we follow the man of God? When he says go, we go? Stop doing, move to this part of the kingdom. Stop doing Sound and now become an usher. I need you to become a teacher, on top of being an usher. Do we have utter complete faith in God, to know that He will
never steer us wrong?
I’m not asking for blind faith in the our leadership or putting your trust in it. I am asking you to trust Christ.
This is His bride, will he not care for His bride? Will he not care for her? Has He given us a guide to which to
understand Him and His ways? The Bible? If we aren’t asked to something illegal, immoral, why not do it?
Getting back to setting the stage in Mark. Jesus casts out an unclean spirit in Capernaum. On a day that is
traditional a day in the Jewish tradition, Jesus casts out an unclean spirit. The demon knew who Jesus was, and begin
to tell it. The devil will try to buffet you, and try to destroy your plans before you get them in motion. What do you
say to those unclean spirits? Tell them to be quiet in Jesus’ name and move on. People were amazed. When you do
something new, fresh, you will may have to work on your day off. When others will say, it "don’t take all that
". However, as you do as God commands, even when it goes against the grain, people will talk. They will call it an "ism", some new doctrine.
Jesus then heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Caring for those around him. Even though you are doing God’s business, don’t forget about your co-laborers. They provide you with the support, prayers, and strength. Even when they are not fully trained yet, they got your back. What happened after Jesus healed her, she "served them" She supported their business of Kingdom building.
God does things decently and in order. In this one day, folks came to see what was going on. Many came for Tea, many came to get healed, to get delivered, but all came to see. One thing that stands out, is Jesus gave no place to the unclean spirits to speak.
Now we get to our text. Jesus gets up early in the morning. In the midst of his Kingdom Building, he stole away. And Prayed. Had a conversation with His Father. New United Faith, as we are building God Kingdom, a fresh with a new renewed dedication to the Father, Preaching the Gospel, allowing the Holy Spirit to use us, don’t forget to recharge for time to time. Preferably every day. Make it the first part of the day.
Start your day with prayer. Jesus had a very busy Saturday. He cast out an unclean spirit during a worship service in the morning and in the afternoon, he healed Peter’s mother-in-law. At night, the whole city gathered in front of Peter’s house and Jesus healed many who were sick and cast out many demons. I imagine that He was exhausted and it would have made perfect sense for Him to sleep in.
But that’s not what happened according to verse 35: "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still
dark he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed." In the gospels we see Jesus praying some 25 times. We see three things about Jesus’ prayer life from this passage.
It was planned. The phrase "very early" means, "exceedingly early." The time reference that Mark uses places this time of prayer during the fourth watch of the night, which was between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. There’s precedent for early morning prayers in many other passages of Scripture. Psalm 5:3 says, "O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice." Psalm 119:147: "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. " Isaiah 50:4-5 says, "Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. " When we pray early we get our marching orders for our day.
It was private. Notice that Jesus found a private place to pray. The word "desolate" is the same word used for the wilderness and means, "lonely and deserted." Luke 5:16 says, "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." Do you have a private place for prayer? Jesus encourages us to find one in Matthew 6:6: " But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Have you seen the War Room yet? The main point of the movie is that we’re called to do battle in prayer and that we should find a private place to do that.
It was prolonged. The tense of the phrase, "and there he prayed" means that He "continued in prayer. " Luke 6:12 tells us that at times Jesus would pray all night long. This axiom is helpful: "Little prayer, little blessing. Some prayer, some blessing. Much prayer, much blessing."
Prayer becomes so much so needed as we begin to grow. People will be looking for us, looking to us. Our call is to be the church on the hill. But understand, our reach will be so much more than just this neighborhood. Yes will will be used as change agents within these blocks north, south, east, and west of us. However, God did not limit a church on the hill to small blocks. We need to do as Jesus said, go in to the next blocks and into the next city. We are to preach. You may not sit in the "office" of a preacher in the pulpit, but you are to preach according to Matth 28. Preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons. We called beyond the boundaries of this edifice.
To achieve the plan that God has for us, we need to be seekers of God, from the moment we rise. We need to hear from God so we don’t get "stuck", stagnated not sharing or being God’s hands and ears to all those who He has called us to be.
Prayer earmarked every instance normal day to day, but definitely during major transitions in Jesus’ life. Jesus
acknowledged the Father in went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. I took his inner circle with him to pray. He prayed and sweated great drops that were like blood. For what he was going to do for us. He agonized, but said nevertheless to God the Father, "not my will but yours be done"
He then the soldiers came to take him away. They tried to find fault with Him, and could not. He went from the Herold to Pilate and back. Similar as going from the state trying you to the federal court and back again. He was faultless.
He was offered to the people, to be killed or released. The people wanted a murder and terrorist freed, and Jesus to Die. They yelled crucify Him. After being beaten, whipped, made to carry a wooden cross, Jesus stayed the course.
After having iron spikes placed in hands and feet and hung high. Jesus prayed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". Prayer. Forgiveness. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He prayed, and commend His spirit into the father’s Hands. His final prayer.
Finish the gospel.
The power we want to move to the next step, courage to achieve, begins everyday with prayer. It ends every day with prayer.
Have a Quiet Time every day with the Lord. Simply put, you will not grow if you do not develop the discipline of a daily time of Bible reading and prayer. We’ve seen a lot of people get saved recently so it strikes me that some may not know how to do this. There are two big things to accomplish in a daily appointment with Christ – talk to God through prayer and hear from God through His Word. It’s helpful to follow a Bible reading plan and we have some available in the lobby. Or you could read a chapter from the Gospel of Mark every day. Determine to do it. Schedule it now. If you don’t, it won’t happen. If you wait to do it when you have the time, you won’t find the time. Remember this: time spent with God is time well spent.
Psalm 143:8: "Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." When we dial in with God we receive direction for our days.