Welcome to all our visitors here.
This is your first time we bless you in the name of the Lord
Jesus. If this is home for you, welcome
home. If you are home here then you
know that we're in the gospel of Mark as a series.
But before we turn to Mark, I asked you to turn your attention
to the prophet Zechariah. I want to make a brief comment
about the atrocious event that took place in Highland Park the
massacre at the parade, where several lives were lost because
of a man who Clearly was influenced by a devil.
Had no fear of God, it just turned to Zechariah.
I'm not going to take too much time here because I can spend
this time explaining biblically. Why these things happen?
And why we're seeing what we're seeing.
But I want to give a message of Hope.
Zechariah Chapter 8. In verse 3.
This is a prophecy of the millennial reign of Jesus
Christ. That means that we believe Jesus
Christ will return. And when he does return
physically, he will establish an Earthly Kingdom for 1,000 years.
And in that we see so many prophecies in the Bible that
give us a little window into what that world will look like.
And here is a snippet of what the millennial reign will look
like under the perfect dictatorship.
Yes, dictatorship. Of Jesus Christ.
Dictatorship. Intimidates.
Us and the reason is because we've had evil dictators, but
he's a righteous dictator and is Zechariah 8, verse 3, I want you
to see something. Thus, says the Lord, I have
return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and
Jerusalem shall be called the faithful City.
And the mountain of the Lord of hosts the Holy Mountain.
Now, look at verse for thus, says the Lord of hosts all the
men and old women shall see. Again, sit in the streets of
Jerusalem, each with staff in hand, because of great age.
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in its streets. Not wonderful.
We saw elderly people shot. In their backs, we saw children
scrambling. If you've seen any footage on,
the news children with their little bicycles and the little
lawn chairs running, not knowing what's happening.
And this prophecy tells us that when Jesus comes and he rules
and Reigns, there will be safety in our streets again.
There will be no fear of looking and wondering if something will
happen or if something will do, somebody will do something.
They will be total Serenity trust Comfort because the world
will know, Christ is King over our Earth.
And so I want you to understand that this is what we're headed
to this is what we will know one day but I want to, I want to use
this text to say If any politician is listening that if
you want this reality in America, again make Jesus
Christ, King of this nation submit to his word that you may
know, peace, like a river that you may know, righteousness that
will rule this land only until you submit to the lordship of
Jesus Christ. Or what we have seen over the
past weeks, and months, and years will only grow and
increase because you push God out.
You invite the devil in, it's plain and simple.
But I praise the Lord that when he comes even children will be
able to play in the streets again and that amazing thing
Jesus when he rose he wants kids to play, that's why I love.
Single children, run around in church sometimes.
Yeah, sometimes it makes us nervous.
We don't want to hurt themselves or do anything crazy.
But Christ himself loves the little children when they feel
free to play in his presence, turn with me to the gospel of
Mark. In chapter one, please.
Mark chapter 1. We're beginning here together in
our Bibles and verse 29, verse 29.
Here's what the word of God says.
And immediately he being the Lord left the synagogue and
entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Now, Simon's mother-in-law, I lay ill with a fever And
immediately they told him about her and he came and took her by
the hand, and lift her up, and the fever left her, and she
began to serve them that evening at sundown, they brought to him
all who were sick or oppressed by demons and the whole city was
gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick
with various diseases and cast out many demons.
And he would not permit the demons to speak because they
knew him. Pray with me, please.
This is your word. We Revere it, we cherish it.
And we asked by your grace that you would help us understand it.
And that Lord, everything that the Holy Spirit intended to say
through these verses would be communicated clearly in this
place. Lord, we have heard of the
authority of your son Jesus Christ, while he was on the
earth. We've heard of his anointing.
We've heard of his power. We heard that when he speaks, he
did not speak like the scribes who are void of conviction and
unction. But Lord, in this place
together, we urge and we plead with you Lord, please let us
know something of your Authority.
Let us know something of that anointing.
The anointing of the holy spirit that brings about a great force
behind Ministry. A great power that reaches
beyond the mind but touches the soul, we ask Lord as we submit
to you with great eagerness that we would know something of your
presence in our midst and we give you maximum praise and
honor through our submission to what we hear today and the
precious name of the resurrected Christ.
We pray Amen, and amen. At the end of the Gospel of
John, John leaves us with an interesting phrase, an
interesting statement after giving us the account of his
perspective of the life and Ministry of the Lord.
Jesus Christ, I'm paraphrasing. But he says something on the
long life of Jesus did many, many things, and if all the
things that were written about him, were to be recorded in
books. There would not be enough books,
not enough space to tell us every single thing that the Lord
himself had done when he was in his three-year.
And that statement is is incredible, but it's realistic
because when you and I come to this text that we just read
today, we have to understand that what we learned last week
if you were here last week and what we are about to hear today,
happened all in one day in real time.
And so you can almost say that in the morning of this sabbath
day, Jesus was casting out a double and for lunch, he was
Healing The Sick and it's as though, Mark gives us just a
glimpse on a particular day of what an average.
Average day look like for the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he walked through those streets in Jerusalem and Beyond
and that is exactly what is happening here in marks account.
What Mark is doing by the spirit is that he is Shifting.
Our Focus away from Jesus Christ.
Possessing authority over demons and unclean spirits and is now
showing us that this same. Jesus Christ has authority, over
sickness and disease. That there is nothing in the
body, no matter what the doctor report is, no matter what,
people have said, no matter who signed off on who Jesus Christ.
When he speaks even disease, not just demons have to bow to his
rebuke. And so that's what's happening.
As we come into these verses, here we are seeing the Lord
showing us that there is nothing that can resist his power and
his authority. But a passage like this that we
just read has more to offer us than just a topical study.
Of how God operates in the realm of sickness and ailment and
infirmity. We can take these Texans speak
about how do we understand God's will for suffering and for
healing and does he heal? All why doesn't he heal all?
That's true. We can touch on that, but
there's something here in Mark throughout the gospels.
That is that is important as well beyond that.
If you look at Mark, which is a great emphasis on Miracles as
you heard so many times before, with every Miracle there is a
message and the message is beyond, just the fact that it's
a declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ, that's important.
But the circumstances around the events of his healing and the
different diseases that he's dealt with the situations before
and after teach us something else.
There are there are other nuggets.
There are other Jewels there that would require Meditation.
It's okay. Lord.
What else are you saying? Beyond the fact that you have
the power to heal and that is what you.
And I will explore in a very short way, though we can expand
greatly on them of what these things here that the house and
Simon's mother-in-law and the response and the reaction.
What is that have to say for us as Believers today?
Beyond the fact that Christ is Sovereign over sickness and we
will endeavor to do that by understanding three simple
points. We're going to organize our
thoughts here and three simple ways.
The first One is, we are going to consider the residence of the
healing. The residents of the healing,
where did this healing take place?
Why is that important? What does that say to us?
Secondly, we will explore the request for the healing.
How was it? How was it asked for what's
there for us to understand in terms of how Christ liens and
listens to the way we request something from him.
And lastly you and I will also see you get the, you get the
point here. The third arm, sure, the
response to the healing, the reaction to the healing.
The residents of the healing, we read here in verse 29, that
immediately he being Jesus left, the synagogue and enter the
house of Simon. And Andrew remember Jesus called
a pair of brothers to follow him.
They did, they surrendered everything.
Then we're told by Mark, that Jesus goes into Capernaum, and
he stands in a synagogue and he speaks with authority and a
demon manifest in the middle of his preaching.
And with one simple word, this, this man possessed with a devil
Falls and is rescued and his say Eat from that oppression and you
see that Simon and his brother James and his brother.
They see this. They witness they were in
attendance of that particular service and this this obviously
moved their heart to see this is unlike anybody else that we have
met and so after church so to speak that day, they invite
Jesus. They invite Jesus to come over
to be in their home, namely Peter and Andrew.
And we see here that Jesus is a type of servant through that.
I love this. You look at it through Jesus
perspective and you see the kind of Minister that he was.
You see when Jesus preached in that synagogue, it was a very
public thing. It was a spectacle and I had
such an effect that when you look at verse 28 very quickly,
what you will see is that his Fame spread everywhere
throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
He did something very, very known and it became even more
known. But I love the Lord Jesus in
this because when he was asked to come to a home, he gladly
went to that home When he was about to be asked to serve
within a Galilean house, he was willing to serve within that
Galilean home. In other words, the
demonstration of Jesus compassion was not limited or
strictly reserved for large platforms.
His Spirit empowered Ministry was ready to be exercised
wherever the opportunity presented itself.
And so if Christ was on the hilltops where you saw a sea of
people and he could have just with one word so multiplication
of food, he would do it out of compassion, but when a family
would invite him over to his house and the only audience can
be counted on one hand, he was still with the same compassion
and eagerness willing to bless that family and blessed that
household. What we see here is just another
example of the the awesome humility of Jesus.
This is not a man who is moved by honorariums how much you can
give him, what kind of what kind of press he would get, who knew
what he was doing. He served with the same Vigor,
the same Zeal, whether people saw him or they didn't see him.
And we see that his compassion for people was the same
privately as it was publicly. And this is our example, Jesus
is your example, if you long to serve the Lord know that this is
your, your example to look too. Shouldn't we be just As
passionate about serving and honoring the father.
In private. If nobody's willing to even
witness our sacrifice, are we still willing to sacrifice?
Are we content and honoring God, regardless of whether crowds
hear about it or not, this is the perfect servant capital P
Capital as perfect. Servant who not only gave
himself when he was invited to synagogues or he was invited to
the homes of a Pharisees or a regularly held worship service.
This was a man ready to demonstrate the character and
the nature of God and all places and all times and may, we be by
his grace like But I like to see this verse from the perspective
of Peter and his brother Andrew. Yes, Jesus was a humble servant,
but look at these two brothers here.
After the meaning of the synagogue, we see that they,
they didn't, they didn't want Jesus to be encountered just at
the synagogue. They want to take Jesus home.
They wanted to know more, they want to no greater blessing and
so they called Jesus over to their home.
And that's an incredible thing to see because unfortunately
what you have as many people who attend their local church, maybe
even regularly to worship Christ or at least in the name of
worshiping Christ and hope. That's not you today.
And they're content with that only to dismiss Christ and leave
him at the church that they were just on.
That nominal kind of faith. There's an only robbed God of
Glory. It will definitely rob you and
strip. You a blessing.
I mean, look at these eager disciples and learn from them.
The testimonies that await The life that awaits, that could be
known when we intentionally and mindfully, practice.
Our faith beyond the walls that you.
And I are in right now. When we say Lord, I'm not just
coming here to visit you for a couple of hours.
Would you come home with me? Would you come home with me?
I'm about to shock you with a statement, but brace yourselves.
We don't come here to worship God.
Take a breath. We come here to worship god with
God's people. You and I worship God, we should
at least throughout the week. We should love him.
Adore him pursue him. Be mindful of him.
And when we come here once a week, we do it with other people
who also have been doing that throughout the week.
That's what it should be. And these men here, they want
Christ to come, they don't want to just thank you Lord, for the
service that was powerful and then just walk out.
Not thinking about I'm not engaging him.
Seeking him, not obeying him not being mindful of him, not
practicing his presence only to come to the synagogue and
hopefully, Jesus will be there again.
That is not the Christian Life. That is a defeated life.
That is a less than ideal. That is not the standard for
you. And I and you see this principle
throughout the scripture that whenever cries whenever God is
intentionally invited and to any setting there is always blessing
consider John Chapter 2, a family wisely invited Jesus to
their wedding, that's a wonderful thing.
We almost have these events and things in our minds where we
say, okay, this is sacred, this is not, this is religious and
this is not, that is foreign to standard.
Christianity Christ goes, wherever you go.
If he lives in you then he goes where you go.
And so don't be ashamed, right? Don't be ashamed of his name
wherever you are. Whether it's celebratory or its
somber Christ is with us and Christ longs to be with us.
Let me give you an example of this in the Old Testament.
Cement at one point in Israel's history, the symbol of God's
presence which was known as the Ark of the Covenant was missing.
The Philistines took it and they brought it to their land, bad
idea, God began to curse them, so they send it back to the
nation and there is no sacred place where the ark should be.
And so it was kind of hopping around in different places and
at one point it laid in the home of a man named, I've been a dad.
And it stayed that have been in that house for 20 years,
finally, David becomes king and one of the first assignments
that comes to David's mind because he longed for God's
presence, he said we need to go back and we need to get that Arc
and we need to bring it back to the city of worship where he
belongs. And so they make this whole
campaign where they go and they fetch for this Arc and is a
whole sermon on that by itself because they did it in the wrong
way. Eventually, because they didn't
do it. According to the protocol of
God's word. God, judges them.
David is afraid and angry at the same time and he goes, I can't
handle it. This is how holy God is.
I got to retract your and rethink this whole thing.
So he sends the ark to the man named obed-edom.
And here's what God's word says, the moment.
The Arcane to this man's house. And second, Samuel 611 and the
Ark of the Lord remain in the house of obededom, the gittite
three months and the Lord blessed obededom, and all his
household. The blessing of God's presence
being in that man's home was so obvious that Outsiders
recognized it, they were able to see it.
So much so that word gets to King David and verse 12 and he
says, let's get it. I want that, I want the
blessings that obededom is experiencing from my life and
for the nation's life. And so he goes and he does it
according to God's word this time, but I find so amazing.
Is that when the ark was an abinadab, his house.
There is no mention that that there was blessing there for 20
years, you don't get one verse one hint that have been in two
halves household was being over overwhelmed with God's blessing.
It's silent. In fact, one of his sons died
for irreverently touching the ark when he shouldn't have, but
for three months, obededom experiences, a shower of grace.
And the only explanation that comes to mind is that Shirley
obed-edom practiced and walked and lived with an awareness of
the presence of God in his home. Unlike a better dad, abinadab in
his sons had an irreverence and I think part of the irreverence
is part of the irreverence that you see, a lot of people who
grow up in the church, They become so comfortable with the
presence of God, with the name of Jesus, with his word that
they are. Able to handle it.
In a way that actually violates the word of God for 20 years,
they grew up with the presence of God and what happens, you
have kids and God forbid, that it would be true here who grow
up and because I'm sure it came from their father who did not
know how to reverently act around the presence of God.
It translated to the children. Perhaps we're now they were
judge instead of blessed, but obededom, I'm sure he had this
Ark and God saw his heart pross. Sure, a man who intentionally
lived with the knowledge that God is in my home.
God is with us at dinner, God is with us at Family Vacation.
God is with us. When guests come over the Lord
saw, his heart, Pasha and blessed him.
And bless them and bless them and bless them.
In the Old Testament, the emphasis of blessing is
physical. The number of children, you have
the wealth that you have the crops that you have in the New
Testament. It's spiritual And you and I
have an opportunity to. So live with an awareness of
Christ in our day-to-day living, that people can actually see
there's a piece in your home. There's a joy in your life.
There is a Harmony amongst yourselves and maybe that are
answered because Christ lives. Here, he doesn't live in some
guest room. He has the deed of this home.
He is the one who is the king of this house.
And so, you see example, after example, of the times, when
people make an intentional effort to say, Lord you are
here, we will obey you. We will walk in the fear of your
presence and reverence to your name that God cannot help but
overwhelm them with his Blessing.
And so we see that here, so, here's my question to you before
you move on, And love. I asked this in my desire for
you to know great joy in life in your walk with Christ, this
Christ abide with you, Or do you just visit him once a week?
Come on, be honest. Please be honest, this Christ
live with you. Or do you just visit him and
maybe once a year? You skip a year or two?
You go on vacation with Jesus at a conference.
Does he live with you? You alone can answer that and if
you're not sure, I beckon you to ask him to come home with you
today and that you would live with him day after day that you
wake up with him, that you go to sleep with him and your mind in
Christ will bless you. I'm sure the residents of the
healing consider. Now, the request for the
healing. We see here in verse 30 now.
Simon's mother-in-law I lay ill with a fever and immediately
they told him about her, Mark loves that word immediately.
Lee and we see here that Peter and Andrew with his, their
friends come over, they're aware of the condition of Peter's
mother-in-law. And after they come from the
service in the synagogue, these men had a strong faith.
Obviously, what they just perceive to bring Christ to a
situation that was also beyond their control.
Therefore, Peter and the rest here, immediately came to the
house and they immediately told the rabbi about a loved one's
need for relief. And if we were encouraged by the
fact that Peter and Andrew brought Jesus to their home, be
further encouraged by the manner of their supplication.
They told them about their precious, loved one, when, if
immediately not later, not next week, immediately, there was no
hesitation on their part. There were not reluctant there
reflex by being in the presence of a great need was to bring it
before a great God. And we see here that for many
professing Believers, the relationship between a need a
real need and that causing of faith-filled.
Cry is either an afterthought or non-existent all together.
Why is it that there's so many delays and on our laying of our
requests down before the feet of the master?
Why is it that we don't think about him as our Shepherd, as
the first person to call tuned to ask for to intervene with his
wisdom and his power. Why is it that we sense
confusion? Or we feel lost or we feel
hopeless or in danger that we do not, we do not immediately turn
to the Lord and our hearts, Underneath our breath, maybe
even desperately coming before him on your knees, as you close
your bedroom door and say, Lord, you need to come and you need to
help. I'll give you two reasons.
I believe. Number one, many believers, do
not comprehend the capability of Christ.
They don't comprehend the capability of Christ.
Could it be that the faith of these men was fueled by the fact
that they just saw him speak to a man filled with the devil and
that devil immediately had to leave?
And they said this, this is something, this is something?
Do you think he can heal, mom? Do you think he can call that
fever to come out the same way? He called that demon to come out
and they had this image so fresh in their minds that they brought
the Lord, and they informed them of a personal challenge that
they could not control. And I believe the reason, So
many Christians do not pray much, it's because they have a
small view of God. A little view of God.
He's the source of everything that we have and he is able to
provide everything that we need everything.
There's not one Avenue want, not one area in life that Christ is
I don't know if I can help you. There every aspect he has a
remedy for every situation, he has a solution for.
So let me ask you. This are any of you suffering
today this afternoon from a broken heart, a broken heart.
I'm not talking about a broken arm.
I'm talking about a crushed Spirit.
I'm talking Emotional distress. I'm talking about something that
is so profound that you wish you would had a broken arm instead
that can be true. Here's what I say to you.
According to Psalms 147 verse 3, he heals the Brokenhearted.
And he binds up their wounds. He doesn't just heal bodies.
He heals hearts. He doesn't just put skin
together. He doesn't just put fresh power
and legs that couldn't walk for years together.
He's able to breathe life into your soul where you can know a
joy again and you can know something of a satisfaction
beyond the fact that you are being distressed by something
that is lacking. Do any of you need wisdom as you
endure trial. Well, James 1:5 says if any of
you lacks wisdom let him ask of God, ask God.
Who gives generously to all without reproach and will be
given him. this fear harassed you this anxiety attack you
constantly And that precious verse in Philippians 4, 6 & 7
verse 7 says, and the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts.
That's your emotional state, your hearts and your minds.
That's your thought process. He will guard both of those
things in Christ. Jesus.
What's the diagnosis? He has the Cure.
What's the problem? He has a prescription.
So why is it that we hesitate? I believe it's.
It's because we don't know the capability of Christ.
We don't know how much he is able to zoom in on a particular,
in a particular situation and deal with it accordingly with
surgical precision. People do not comprehend the
capability of Christ. And secondly, they don't realize
the compassion of Christ. They don't realize the
compassion of Christ. I can't help but think that
these disciples not only learn something of the power of Jesus.
I believe they tasted something of his tenderness.
I believe they walk with him, though.
It was brief up to this point, but they caught on very quickly
that this Jesus does not serve people under compulsion, he
chooses with compassion. I when you look at him in the
eyes and when you see the way he handles people, you cannot help
but think that he genuinely loves those that he serves.
And so, they did not hesitate to bring this person.
Their mother-in-law who was Ill who is sick, because they knew
that this was not cause Christ to sigh, but like a great
physician, he would be moved in the innermost parts of who he
was to provide some kind of healing.
Is it good? Doctor have a patient come in
ago. Another 10K, come here, do this?
No, they love what they do, and yes, they have bad days but
Christ does not have bad days. He is perfectly loving and we
see here that they believe that to some degree and Jesus is
willing to move quickly upon our needs though.
He does know as a great physician would went to allow
for painful resistance to remain knowing that it will produce a
greater strength and maturity as a result.
That's why Jesus doesn't answer every single prayer, every
single time because sometimes the best thing is, for that,
burden to stay there. Guess what?
Because he put it there. I bring this point I because you
have many people who have this thought this false impression
that God is just too big to care about the little things.
You know what I love about this, there's a debate about what the
fever was. How intense was?
It was, it was it a deadly fever with it, just a mild fever.
I was enough for this person, not to be able to move, but when
we hear fever in comparison to the dead being raised and in
comparison to the blind seeing in the deaf hearing for the
first time, I mean, if we had a scale of sickness, this isn't
seem that big of a deal but it is to the Lord He cares.
He cares about the little things.
He cares about the things that hinder us, even at a small
percentage and the Lord shows up here and he wants to prove that
he actually does have this deep longing for us to be whole for
us to know something of his touch.
And so this idea that God is too distant, and he only cares about
like, big things in our lives is false.
It's absolutely false. And what's amazing?
I was having this conversation with a couple of Brothers last
night is when you look at mark from the cover of it and the
start to the finish, what you will see is Jesus ministering
often with his hands with his hands over and over.
You see several times the Lord using his hands too.
Watch those who are in need of that touch.
Let me ask you a question, you have to answer it audibly and I
hope we can all agree with this. Cannot the Lord Heal any disease
or casts out. Any Devil by just his word.
We've seen a more than one occasion where he's just sends
his word. He doesn't need to even be in
the same space as the person who is suffering for them to be
relieved and rescued. And yet what you see in the
Bible is that Jesus intentionally comes close to
people and he holds them by the hand or he lays his hand
wondering Why would the Holy Spirit?
Show us that? Let me prove it to you first.
You have your Bibles right? Good Mark chapter 1 we read it.
Verse 31, and he came and took her by the hand.
Scroll down to verse 41, here's a man with leprosy Moved with
pity, he stretched out his hand and touched them.
A leper and said to him, I will be clean.
Go to Mark, chapter 5 verse 41, Mark 5:41.
Taking her, by what the hand, he sets her Talent Akuma, which
means little girl, I say to you arise, Mark, 8, chapter 23, and
there are other places, but I'm just coming to just a few of
them Mark 8:23. And he took the blind man by
what by the hand and led him out of the village.
And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he
asked, do you see anything by the hand, by The Hand, by the
hand? Why, why does it matter for one
simple reason? His touch would communicate that
he is not only able to heal, but he was deeply willing to be
involved. The hand of God willing to be
near a variety of fragmented lives.
Shows us that he is willing to be near not in a compromising
way. But in a way in which He is
wanting to make us whole regardless of how broken we are.
So why hesitate to come broken before the Lord when he is eager
to embrace you in that state of Brokenness?
Why hesitate to come with your concern?
When he launched to put the pieces together, this is Christ.
We should not hesitate. We should not be reluctant for
one simple reason. Through this action alone, we
see that he is showing us that he's ready to be near hand in
hand. If you will, here's what
Spurgeon said, quote, make a practice Spurgeon said, make a
practice of telling the Lord all about your family concerns,
bring sicknesses and other troubles to your best friend.
Do it at family prayer but do it also at your bedside alone.
If Jesus has come to stay with you .1, bring them home.
If Jesus has come to stay with you, he will not hold himself
aloof. From your anxieties.
He comes with his great sympathetic, heart to be
afflicted in your afflictions and quote.
Mark, here wants us to see the faith of these men by saying
immediately, Lord, hears our mom would you do something with her?
Please. We saw what you did in that
synagogue. You can surely do something
here, but I love what Matthew does.
He tells the same story, but he puts a different emphasis and I
want you to see it because it will encourage you to do
something that we call people. The practice, read your Bible
slowly. Matthew chapter 8, verse 14.
Look at this in your Bibles and it's so comforting.
When you realize the detail that he adds to the scene, Matthew
8:14, the same story. Same Miracles, same Jesus,
different emphasis. And when Jesus entered Peter's
house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
Matthew doesn't mention the faith of these men, Matthew
doesn't mention their prayer. He doesn't mention their
request, the focus turns to Jesus that when he enters into
that same house, he himself sees the Mother-in-law who is sick,
and then acts accordingly Mark. He was told he was asked and
then he moved upon their faith. Matthew, he saw it and he did
something about it. Teaching us what?
That in Matthew, we learn Christ is already aware of the
situation that you need to be answered.
He already recognized that he already sees it, he's already
there with the problem in mind completely mindful of you as you
deal with it. And that comforts me because as
I come before the Lord and pray, I'm not asking about something
that he is not aware of. He's already there, he already
perceives it. He's already calculated, he's
actually there. He sees it.
Well, then if he sees it, why doesn't he just do something
about it? Well, Mark tells us because he
moves by faith, your faith, and he awaits for you to call upon
him. He waits for you to seek him, to
honor him with that request. So that he can move and bring
glory to him. Through that prayer, being
answered. But I love to know that the Lord
sees it because even though I pray about something because I'm
not going to use a text like this and say, everything you
pray for, Jesus will immediately answer, but I can be comforted
when I come to Matthew to see that even though he doesn't
answer it immediately, at least he's aware of it, and if he
doesn't answer it, then it means that he knows that it's best to
delay. It.
And I rejoice in the Lord because of that, we see the
request of the healing last. So, we come to the response
after the healing. Let's go back.
Mark together as we close on a moment.
In Mark, chapter 1 verse 31. And he came and took her by the
hand and lifted her up and the fever left her and she began to
serve them. You see the reaction of the
woman? Humble domestic service was the
response of the woman. After she received fresh
strength, she got up and she saw Christ, and she realized the
healing came from his hand. And she said, I want to serve my
healer. And so she begins to do so and I
believe that the reaction should be no less for those who have
experienced way more than healing from a fever.
She was raised from her sick bed.
You know what you were raised from the dead spiritual death
and you were raised into New Life.
How much more should we be willing to immediately?
Say Lord, you've touched my heart.
Now, I want to serve you from the same heart.
You are worthy of my life being surrendered, for your service,
whatever it is. And in the case of this woman,
like a good middle eastern Mom. I'm sure the service had to do
something with food. What else do you do in the home?
Hosting people here. She begins to host, she begins
to show honor and glory to the one that touched her.
And I find it very difficult for people who claim that Jesus
transform their hearts while showing no evidence of service
to him. How?
That would be like this woman being healed.
You getting up and leaving the house immediately to go about
your own affairs. It seems also almost insulting
there's an it. When you hear it that way.
And yet you have so many people who claim.
Yeah. Jesus he's my, he's my Lord and
He transformed my life. I when And they just there's no
evidence of service. There's no evidence of
gratitude, there's no evidence of Lord.
Here's my life, here's an aspect of my life that when I dedicate
to you in a particular Ministry but here's my whole life.
For what you have done. But what I find amazing here is
that Peters mother-in-law did not only direct her service to
Christ. She ministered to his followers
as well. What does it say?
She began to serve them. Not just the Lord them his
followers, his disciples she spread out a banquet and how
you? And I love and serve the body of
Christ is a major indication of what Christ has done in you.
And who Christ is to you? She served them.
And for those who are discouraged because they think
that they cannot serve Christ unless it's in a particular way,
realize that this woman serve Jesus in her home.
The very same place where she slept every night, the same
place, where she cleaned the same place where she had many
responsibilities is a very same place where Jesus Christ was
served. And glorified.
And I think that is an encouragement to many people who
feel limited, because they have a desire, great desire to do
great things, but they feel like their life is at home, mom's pay
attention future, mom's pay attention.
Jesus can be served at home. He can be blessed at home.
He can be pleased at home. And I want you to see that these
disciples also were blessed at the home of these men.
And Peter's family was Pious, indeed, Peter invited Christ to
the house and his mother-in-law hosted Christ in that same house
and what became of this home as seem to be just an average home
in the streets of Capernaum. Look at verse 33 and the whole
city was gathered together at the door.
Imagine that one day, you've a handful of people and it within
a few hours you have the city at your door, lined up to meet with
the Jesus. That is at that house.
I'm not saying that will happen every single time but there is
no knowing listen. What can happen to a person who
says Lord even my home is yours, Even where I live.
Is yours, my resources are yours, whatever it is that you,
you asking me belongs to you, there will be no telling what
Christ will do. As a result of that.
For some it will look like hosting disciples from time to
time with good Middle Eastern food.
For others. It may be using that home and
blessing. Ministers who are out there
serving on the streets serving in the synagogue's, I am a
recipient of many people who have said, I'm sending something
to your house. It's at the front door, I hope
you enjoy it and you know who you are.
I say thank you from this Pulpit because that has helped me study
more that has helped me Council more and your services unto
Christ for others. It may look like you being at
the synagogue regularly and teach It may be like the
disciples going out into the streets, going out into the
city's, to preach, whatever it is, that it looks like Christ is
worthy to be served wherever his Providence places us.
And in this case, this Highbridge Galilean home with no
Revival in their living room, And that excites me and not
shows me that you have no idea what awaits when you take this
thing beyond the meeting. Please do that.
I'll end with a story when I was in college, I moved into an
apartment after I first got saved.
A my roommate was a Christian first Christian roommate, he's
from The Young Adult Ministry that we were part of that was
not too far from our church. And so we began to move in and
we began to ask what we needed to purchase and all that.
And finally, it came down to the living room.
Some of, you know, this story, some of you don't I hope it
encourages you. And so we were there in the
living room and he looked at me. He says, well I think we need to
get a TV. What do you think?
And I looked at him, I said, I don't know.
Why don't we not? Let's do something.
This is what we stood there. In the empty living room.
We looked at each Isis. Why don't we why don't we pray
and dedicate this living room to the Lord?
And he did not even hesitate. He says listen to it.
So he grabs my hand this and we put our foreheads against one
another. This is the first time for me,
but I went with it. And there was an earnestness in
that prayer. Lord.
This living room is yours. Not very big, not much.
We're going to leave it empty for you, do as you please.
Within a few weeks. We had a regular meeting in our
apartment. We weren't too far from the
college. We weren't too far from the
downtown area of Toronto. And five people came and we
worshipped in that living room. We read our Bibles.
We would go into the college campus and witness a few weeks.
Came 15 people few weeks came 20 people it became a meeting of 50
people on a regular basis. And Not only was there.
No room for a TV. We didn't even use the TV.
We had one, we had to get rid of our couches.
And our living room was filled with foldable black chairs.
That's all look like. So if you walked into the
apartment you would just see black chairs stacked up in the
living room with nothing else because we reserve that space
for those meetings we would pray on Friday night, go out on
Saturday. And that prayer that we prayed
didn't come to mind, but when we were leaving that apartment, we
didn't have much to move out. It dawned on me, he heard that
prayer. He heard that prayer and he
filled it with people. And it was an easy all the time,
it wasn't because we would have people sleep over a lot to go to
church on Sunday morning. We didn't have space.
We have to serve people, we have people would come late, people
would all these different things.
People would stay late to be prayed for and all these things,
and it's just like this. I mean, you see these people
coming to the front door as a much of that.
That's a blessing, there's natural burdens that come with
that. So worth it.
Am I saying if you leave here
tonight and you go to your living room, put your head on
somebody else's head and you pray They have to get rid of
your furniture. And your, I'm not saying that
I'm just giving you one real example. but if you really
sanctify, it unto the Lord, He might blow your mind.
And he is faithful. Bring Jesus home.
And watch what he'll do with it. Let's pray.
We thank you for this this study.
In a few verses. That has shown your Supremacy
over sickness. You can still heal today.
But thank you for the lessons underneath.
Lori ask. That with the difficulties of
different scenarios even from this church where you have one
spouse, who's a believer? And the other is not.
Or you have one sibling who's a Believer.
And the others are not. Whatever the situation may be
Lord. We just ask that on the
individual basis, you would be more real in our day-to-day
lives. And that whether or not a spouse
wants Christ in that home or the children want Christ in that
home. Your word tells us in First
Corinthians 7, that when a believing spouse remains in the
house of an unbelieving spouse, they are sanctified.
And those children are made holy because of the presence of that
believer in that house. We asked for that Christ would
be more real even in the homes where there is not a unanimous
decision for Christ to be in that home.
And Lord, we just ask that you would have your way Beyond these
meetings, but that Lord, they would be testimonies in our
living rooms. In our kitchens and our
conversations over dinner. And Lord, we just pray that you
would be magnified. And that you would be glorified.
Where we sleep, and where we eat, and where we have memories
and where we celebrate Christmas and Easter Lord be there.
Today, we make a conscious decision that as we leave this
place, you will come with us. You'll be worshipped and praise.
And lugged where we do life, you are the author of life.
We give you praise in Jesus name.
Amen. Can we stand and Worship the
Lord together?