Well, good evening everyone. We are the few, many sick, some traveling for the holidays. It’s good to see everyone here today. We’re going to look at a few passages today. We’re going to focus on Mark chapter 1 first. Mark chapter 1 starting in verse 21. Mark chapter 1 verses 21.

Do you ever wish there were more hours in your day? Do you ever get to the end of your day with a list of unfinished tasks? And maybe your list of unfinished tasks is much longer than your finished task. And maybe on some of those days you never even got to your task list. Maybe there were so many things that came up during your day that you only worked on tasks that you hadn’t anticipated. Life today seems very fast-paced compared to the lives of past generations. Past generations, they seem to have more downtime, whether that’s right or wrong. That’s my perception at least. Our days seem to be filled with responsibilities to jobs, to families, to church, other things that we have going on in our life. So surely more hours in the day would give us extra time. That extra time we need to get the things we need done to relieve the pressure in our lives. If I just had one more hour in the day, I would give up. I would get more done. But would that really be true? If you had more hours, would you not just fill those hours with other things as well? Our responsibilities just seem to increase. You get a promotion at work. That’s great. It’s more income from your family, but maybe it demands more time. Maybe you’re away from your family even more because of that. Children. Children are a blessing when they’re young. They require time and attention. They require attention. And as they age, they get involved in other things. So we’re taking them places or doing those things that we need to do to take care of them.

So we don’t have the time that we think we would have to rest, relax, and refocus. But not only that, not only do we have our own list of tasks, but sometimes other people put things on your task list.

So there’s extra demand. Your boss says, I need you to stay at work late and get this done. It’s got to get done today. So everything else gets thrown aside. You’ve got to get this done today. And you might think, I worked hard all day. I came home. I just want to relax. But the kids need help with homework. Or they need you to drive them to ball practice or another kind of practice. Or they just want to play. Kids just want to play with us when they’re young especially. Or maybe they just want to show you what they did that day. Look, Daddy, at the picture I made. Look, Mommy, at what I was able to create today.

If we stop to evaluate our lives, we would probably find it’s not a matter of hours, but it’s a matter of priorities. Many people live stress-filled lives due to misplaced priorities. We work hard, but we can work hard on the wrong things. We focus on the wrong things sometimes. So I think we need to ask ourselves, are we investing the time God has given us wisely?

Do we sometimes sacrifice the important tasks for those that are or seem to be urgent? Have we left undone those things which we should have done and done those things that could have waited? If we aren’t careful, we can live our lives in a constant tension between the urgent, and the important. So if you’re caught up in this pattern of living, how can you cope? How can you escape that pattern? And I think the answer lies, as it does most of the time, in the life and the words of our Lord. So in our focal passage today in Mark chapter 1, this is going to describe the events of one day in the life of our Lord. So let’s see what kind of day it was for Him as we walk through this passage. So Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, starting in verse 22. Let’s see that Jesus experienced frenzied days, hectic days, frenzied days. And we’re going to kind of walk through this passage, starting in 21. And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, He entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. So we’ll stop there. So, it says, and they, we’re not sure exactly who they are, it was Jesus and some of His disciples, or some of His followers, and they went into Capernaum. And notice the word immediately. Immediately is a word that we’re going to see, I think, four times in this passage. And that word immediately means what we would expect it to mean, without delay, without hesitation. You know, no time intervening. Get it done kind of thing. So we see that Jesus and His followers went into Capernaum. Capernaum was a town on the northwest shoreline, the shore of Lake Galilee. And it seems to have been the headquarters for Jesus during much of His ministry in that area. And so we see them coming into Capernaum. So maybe that was an early start to their day. We don’t know where they were to start that day. Maybe they had to get up really early and travel to be there at the time to be in the synagogue. And then we see when they got to Capernaum, immediately they went into the synagogue.

And Jesus was teaching. And it was common practice in that day for visiting teachers to be invited to read the scriptures and speak. So that fact means that He was probably already recognized as a gifted teacher.

Earlier in Mark chapter 1, in verses 14 and 15, probably a page over, Jesus had described the start of His ministry. And it says, Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. So on this particular Sabbath day, Jesus was doing what He was supposed to be doing. He was focused on preaching and teaching the word to the people. And I can imagine His main message on that day must have been what it says here in verse 15. The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand means that God’s rule over people’s hearts and minds is now being established. And verse 15 says, The proper response, as it is for anyone today, repent and believe the gospel. If you’re here today, and you’re a true believer, a true follower of Christ, there was a day when you had to repent and believe the gospel. And as we go out and evangelize, as we talk to our family and our friends, that’s our message. Repent and believe the gospel. It’s that. It’s short. We have to describe what the gospel is, but it’s repent and believe the gospel. And in verse 22, it says, They were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

So they were listening to the words, words they probably have heard before, but it had a different meaning this time. It had a different impact. And it’s because they were hearing the words of God from the very Word of God. John tells us that in John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in verse 14, it says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So on that day, those people were hearing Scripture from the mouth of the very Word of God. That’s astonishing. We know much more about that than they do in that day. And it was astonishing to them. How much more it would be astonishing to us today.

And then in verse 23, we get the next immediately. Picking up there. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, convulsing him, and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed. So they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And at once his frame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

So we’re not told how long Jesus taught. Maybe it was an hour. Maybe it was two hours. And then it says when he was finishing, immediately he was finished. And he was confronted by this man with the unclean spirit. Now, we don’t really know, was he there listening during the whole time, or did he just walk in off the street at that particular moment? But this man came in into Jesus’ presence. And notice, he cries out, but it’s the unclean spirit within him talking.

And the unclean spirit is not confused about who Jesus is. He says, Verse 24, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. So on that particular day, the demon in the room probably knew really more about who Jesus was than the people listening to him. Because the demon knew he was the God of, he was God of God, a very God of very God. He was the creator. He knows exactly who Jesus is. And he knows, potentially, destruction is in his future. Have you come to destroy us? So then in verse 26, I’m sorry, verse 25, Jesus rebuked him saying, Be silent and come out of him.

The unclean spirit has no choice. If Jesus says, Be silent and come out of him, he had to come out of him, because Jesus is very God. And so we see, we see there, he cast out the spirit. The spirit in 26 convulses the man, but he submits.

And notice that it says, he crowds out with a loud voice. So Jesus told him to be silent, so I don’t think it was words. But I think it was like a cry of horror, or anguish, or pain. The spirit doesn’t want to submit, but has no choice. And that was painful to him. And then verse 27, it says, They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

So the people are clearly amazed. We would be amazed too. And they start looking around at each other, started talking. And it kind of reminded me of, if you’ve ever seen something, and you’re like, Wait, did I just really see what I saw? And you ask the guy next to you, Did you see that too? I kind of think it was maybe along the same lines. It’s like, They saw what they saw, but they could not believe what their eyes were telling them. And so they were talking amongst themselves, and they recognized Jesus’ authority. A new teaching with authority. And then in verse 28, His fame spread everywhere, and throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. So you’ve got to imagine, that word gets out.

So let’s recap what has happened in Jesus’ day so far. He started somewhere outside of Capernaum. He’s traveled to the city. He’s immediately gone into the synagogue. And he’s immediately confronted by this man with the unclean spirit. And in verse 29, we get the next immediately. And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up. And the fever left her, and she began to serve him.

So you might get the idea, maybe Jesus was tired at this point. He’s traveled. He’s gone to the synagogue. He’s cast out this spirit. He may be going to Peter and Andrew’s house, maybe just to rest. Perhaps he’s tired and wants to rest. It kind of reminds me of, you know, back when we were meeting in the mornings. You know, you get up in the morning. You kind of get yourself prepared, you know, for worship. You’re getting yourself ready. You’re getting your kids ready. You’re maybe coming early. You’re doing, you know, fellowshipping with each other. You’re enjoying the time of worship. There’s potentially fellowship after. You know, maybe you go get something to eat, and go home, or maybe you go home and eat. But I remember often all those days you get home, and you’re just like, I’m so tired. You know, I’ve only gone to worship, but I’ve only gone to worship, and I’m just so tired. And so I wonder if that was a little bit like what was going on with Jesus and his disciples at this time. But regardless of the reason, they go to Simon and Andrew’s house, and it was an immediate thing. So you get the idea, as soon as he cast out the unclean spirit and that kind of died down, he’s like, we’re going to Peter and Andrew’s house.

And what happens then? Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with the faith, and immediately told him about her. So we get the next immediately. So you get the sense that as soon as Jesus kind of came into the house, they’re like, oh, Jesus is here. You know, Peter’s mother-in-law’s pretty sick. You know, she may be dying. Jesus, you’ve got to come. You’ve got to heal her.

And in verse 31, Jesus did that. He came, and he took her by the hand, and he lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. And so we get the idea here from Scripture that as soon as Jesus touched her and lifted her up, that was it. It was gone. It was that immediate.

But Jesus’ busy day does not end here. So he’s traveled to the city. He’s preached. He’s cast out an unclean spirit. He’s gone to Peter and Andrew’s house. He’s immediately confronted. He’s confronted with this need for Peter’s mother-in-law, and he heals her. Picking up in verse 32.

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 prevent the demons to speak because they knew him. Because it was a Sabbath day, there were restrictions on what the people could do until sundown. So they couldn’t walk long distances. They couldn’t carry sick people. But you get the impression here from Scripture that as soon as it was sundown, everybody came.

Mark says here, the whole city. Now, that’s probably hyperbole. It probably wasn’t really the whole city, but I kind of get the idea of, you know, there’s a guy over there going, hey, we need to get a head count. You’re going, okay, so I see the Comos, I see the Spray Bears are here, okay, there’s Kathy, there’s the Prices, and they’re like, I think everybody’s here. You know, after a time, you know, you lose count. And so we get the idea that immediately as the sun goes down, everybody came to see Jesus. Everybody came bringing the sick and those who had demons.

Presumably, maybe they were in the synagogue, that morning, and saw Him cast out the unclean spirit. Or maybe they just heard about it, because it said His fame spread everywhere. So maybe by the end of the day, they had already heard. Jesus has authority over sickness and over demons. He speaks and He talks and He acts like no one we’ve ever seen.

Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. How did Jesus respond in verse 34? Again, He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons and would not permit the demons to speak because they knew Him. So Jesus saw the need. He met it. He presumably healed all those that came, cast out the demons. And we’re not told specifically here in Scripture, but I have to imagine that our Lord took the chance. If you’ve got a crowd gathered, He taught the people. You’ve got to imagine He’s teaching. He’s answering questions. So perhaps it’s a late night.

So this brings us to the end of what sounds like a very frenzied day in the life of our Lord and some of His disciples. Just to recap, possibly an early morning to travel to the city. He’s preaching. He’s casting out a demon. He’s going to Simon and Andrew’s house. He’s healing the mother-in-law. It’s sundown. People are coming. He’s healing those that come. And potentially He’s teaching and preaching. That sounds like a really long day to me. And I’m sure Jesus probably had many days like this. We’re not told every detail of Jesus’ life because as John says at the end of his gospel, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. So I’m sure that’s a long day. I’m sure Jesus had many days like this. And that’s what I want us to see from the first point. Jesus had busy days just like we have busy days. He is God in the flesh, but His flesh means that He gets tired. He’s hungry. He gets pulled in many directions. People are making demands of Him. But this leads me to my next point. Despite this, Jesus still lived a focused life. And we’ve seen that in our verses so far in the fact that on the Sabbath day, He’s preaching the gospel. He’s presumably announcing the kingdom of God is at hand. He’s showing His authority over sickness and demons. And then as we pick up in verse 35, I think we see more evidence here that He’s focused. Because what do we see Him doing? 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. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him, and they found Him and said to Him, Everyone is looking for You. And He said to them, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

So if you’ve had a long day the day before, presumably a late night, how would you start the next day?

I confess, I’m going to want to sleep in. I would be focused on how tired I am. All I did yesterday. All I’ve got to do today, even though I’m already so tired. And I would be tempted to skip my time, and I would be tempted to skip my time, in the Word and in prayer, in favor of sleep.

But what do we see our Lord doing? He’s getting up very early. Not just early, very early, and it’s still dark. So there’s no sleeping in for Him. And He presumably leaves all the others who are probably sleeping in. And what is He doing? He’s going to find a quiet, a desolate place, to spend time communing with His Father. And that’s His sole purpose for getting up early, spending time in prayer with His Father. So He may have been tired. I’m sure He was. But He still went to a private place and prayed. Why? Why would Jesus do that? Why would He do that?

I think at least two reasons. One is, He saw the importance of communing with the Father and getting His direction for the day ahead.

And two is, He’s our example. He didn’t come just to die on the cross for us. He came and showed us how to live as well.

So His example for us is, get up, sacrifice your sleep, spend time with your Father, because that’s important.

So we have to ask ourselves, how important is our time with God to us?

Are we willing to sacrifice sleep and other things to spend that time with Him? Is it that important?

Verse 36. And Simon and those who were with him searched for Him, and they found Him and said to Him, Everyone is looking for you. So Jesus goes away to a quiet place. Presumably the others get up. Hey, Jesus is not here. We’ve got to go find Him.

And Peter says, Everyone is looking for you. My wife is an office manager. She comes home at the end of her day. And some days that sounds like what her day was. Everywhere I went, people were looking for me. And sometimes there was a line. There are some days when everybody is looking for you. I think of, you know, especially maybe young moms. You have kids at home. You just want a moment’s peace. You go to the bedroom, shut the door. You go to the bathroom, shut the door. And the next thing you hear is, Mom, Mom, Mom. And maybe you see the little fingers under the door. I know you’re in there. Come out. I have a need. I want you.

But what was Jesus’ response? Verse 38. And He said to them, Let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also. For that is why I came out. And He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. So it sounds like Jesus’ response was, Let’s go. Let’s go to the next town. That’s what I was sent to do. We need to go and be about the Father’s business.

I figured I would have given a different response. Leave me alone. We’ll go later. Maybe tomorrow. You know, maybe the weather might rain. You know, let’s go tomorrow. Let’s do it tomorrow. But Jesus was focused on the Father’s business. And it says in 39, He preached and cast out demons. He cast out demons throughout all of Galilee. That was His pattern. His pattern of life continued. And we see Him doing the same things we saw Him doing at the beginning of our passage in 21. He went to where the people were and He taught the people.

I also want us to consider another example of Jesus living a focused life. And that’s in the story of Lazarus. John 11, 3-6.

It says, So the sister sent to Him, saying, Lord, He whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, He said, This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

So in verse 3, we get what sounds like an urgent request. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus. Lord, He whom you love is ill. It’s Lazarus. Lazarus is sickened to death. He is someone you love. And I think the implication is they thought, they’ve maybe seen Him heal, they’ve heard about Him healing. Okay, Lord, it’s time for You to come and do what we need to do. That’s what we’ve seen You do before. Come and heal again. Heal your friend. After all, these were people He loved. It says in verse 5, He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So why did He delay two days after that?

Was it a lack of love and compassion? I don’t think so. So,

I think back, to what we talked about a minute ago, His time in prayer, His daily praying and waiting for the Father’s instructions allowed Him to be able to ward off the urgent and accomplish the important. Mary, Martha, and those with them needed to see Jesus in a different way. They had seen Him in one way. It was time for Him to be seen in a different way. And Jesus tells them why in John 11, 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.

Do we allow the people we love to sway us from what God wants? It could have happened in this case, right? Mary, Martha, come heal Lazarus. Jesus is like, okay, I’ll go heal Lazarus. But that wasn’t the Father’s plan. That wasn’t the Father’s purpose. Jesus didn’t allow the people, even His, loved ones, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, His love for them to sway Him. He knew there was a greater purpose in delaying and allowing Lazarus to actually die. In verse 25, He was going to show His power over death itself. They needed to see that. That Jesus has the authority over the sickness. He’s got authority over the demons. He’s got authority over death itself. Who is this?

He’s got authority over death itself. So I think it can be easy for us to allow those we love the most to distract us sometimes from the important with the things they might consider urgent.

Just a couple of examples I’ve thought of. You know, maybe you’ve got a brother. He’s been in trouble. He winds up in jail. And that urgent request comes in, hey, you’ve got to come bail me out.

But maybe there’s a more important lesson to be learned. Maybe you’ve bailed them out before. And now maybe it’s time to let them suffer the consequences of their behavior. If we jumped in, bailed them out again, maybe there’s a lesson. Maybe there’s something more important that wouldn’t be learned. And another example, nothing quite as serious. You know, maybe your kid comes to you at their bedtime, and says, mom, dad, I forgot to do my math. I’ve got to go get this done.

But maybe there’s a greater lesson to be learned about being more responsible, about not procrastinating. So maybe instead of letting them do it then, maybe you send them to bed at regular time and make them get up early to get it done. And maybe that allows them to more clearly see the consequences of their action.

Jesus was busy, but yet I don’t think he ever allowed his life to get what we might call feverish.

He was focused. And he certainly had time for people. Those divine appointments in his life were given priority. Think of the woman at the well. He goes and he sits and he waits for her to come. He didn’t go look for her. The appointment is here. I’m going to go. I’m going to sit and wait because I know this is what the father wants. I thought of the woman with the issue of blood that touched his robe in a crowd. He stops. He knew power had gone out of him. And he says, who touched me? And they’re like, what do you mean who touched me? There are people everywhere around here, but no, someone touched me in a different way. It was a touch of faith. And he stopped and he spoke to her. How many times do we rush past these kinds of appointments in our life, working on or focusing on things that seem more urgent? I’m guilty of that. I’m going to rush in here, get what I need out of the store, and I’m out of here. I’m going to go in here. I’m going to eat. I got to do it quick. I’m out of here. Do we stop and ask the Lord, is there a divine appointment here? Our lives are busy. And things we work on sometimes seem urgent. But sometimes there’s more important things. And Jesus was not swayed in his earthly life by the things around him that others considered urgent.

So you might be thinking, we’re not Jesus.

Jesus lived that perfect life that we could not live. Even on our best days, even on what we think are our best days, we fall well short of any appearance of perfection. Except maybe in our own eyes. Sometimes we can’t see ourselves clearly. Others can. So how can we lead more focused lives? Live freer from the tyranny of the urgent. Urgent things can be tyranny in our life. They can dominate our life. And that brings stress. How can we free ourselves from these things? And be more focused? What is the practical way of doing that? The way of leading a balanced life? And that brings us to my next point. It’s dependence on Jesus that frees us to live properly focused lives. Freedom from stress and the tyranny of the urgent is found in a dependence on Christ and his word. And we’re going to see that in two passages in John. The first one is, John 8, starting in 31.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you can say you will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

The first thing I want us to notice is in verse 31, is the if. There’s a conditional here. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. True disciples are the ones that abide in my word. And I don’t think there’s any getting around the clear teaching of Scripture here. It’s a sign of true discipleship that we abide in God’s word. So what does that mean? What does it mean to abide? Literally, the Greek word means to continue in a certain state, condition, or activity.

So I think we abide by reading, studying, memorizing Scripture. We abide in His word throughout the day when we apply those teachings of Scripture to whatever we’re going through. Since we’ve been talking some about stress and the stresses of life and the tyranny of the urgent, stress is something we all deal with. Here’s a couple of verses that I thought were good to think of in a stressful time in your life. Isaiah 26.3 You keep Him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because He trusts you. He trusts in you. There’s a promise of perfect peace when we’re stayed on… Our thoughts are stayed on God, on the Father, on the Son, on the Spirit, His work. And that is a sign of trust. And then in Deuteronomy 31.8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31.8 So in those times when we’re tempted to fear, we’re tempted to be stressed out, when our minds are scrambling and we can’t really… We’re not sure what to do.

We need to remember it’s the Lord who goes before us. If we’re His, we’re following Him. He’s going before us. And He will not leave us or forsake us. Now we’re prone to wonder, as the song says. And I think all of us would confess there’s times in our life when we’re prone to wonder. But He will not leave us or forsake us. And in that, we can have comfort. We can have peace.

So I think if there’s a particular sin in your life that you struggle with, memorize verses in that area. So when that temptation comes, you see it coming, have some verses that already speak to that stronghold in your life, that sin in your life. Prayerful meditation and study of God’s Word gives us a proper perspective in each situation in life. It is only through God’s Word that we can get that perspective.

And in verse 32 it says, abiding in that Word allows us to know the truth and that truth will set us free. Apart from this book, we don’t know the truth. We don’t know what real truth is. As believers, we have to filter everything around us through Scripture. That’s our only way of knowing who we really are, what our condition really is. What’s going on in society around us. Even in looking at creation and interpreting it properly, realizing there’s a Creator.

The Jews couldn’t understand that they weren’t already there. They weren’t already free. In verse 33, we’re offspring of Abraham. We’ve never been enslaved to anyone. How is it you can say, you will become free? And Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

So the Jews didn’t understand. So I think what Jesus is saying here, you’re not true children of Abraham. Because they didn’t realize they were still in bondage to sin. And everyone who practices sin is a slave.

And then Jesus says, the slave is not going to remain in the house forever. It’s the son that remains forever. In verse 36, it’s the son that sets us free. So we’re free indeed. So I think abiding in God’s Word reveals the truth about our sin and our need for a Savior. Jesus is the son, the son that sets us free in every sense of the word. Freedom from our sin, the weightiness that it can bring in our life. Certainly a freedom to live a life that’s devoted to the Lord. That’s the life that Jesus modeled for us, a life devoted to his Father. And then I also want us to look at John 15, 5. This is the passage where Jesus used the imagery, the vine and the branches.

And in John 15, 5, he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. So in chapter 8, we talked about abiding in the Word. And here we talk about abiding in Christ. It’s that abiding in Christ that allows us to focus on and accomplish the important things. Because I think it’s important for us to focus on the important things. I think this verse tells us without him we accomplish nothing of true significance. We may be busy. We may be doing things. We may be accomplishing things in our own eyes and the eyes of our boss and the people around us. But it’s only through abiding that we know that we’re truly accomplishing the Father’s will. We’re following our Savior and the way that he’s leading us.

Remember that we were once dead. Ephesians tells us we were dead in our trespasses and sin and had to be made alive. We’re alive in Christ. So we’re truly dependent on him and must abide in him because it is he who gave us true life. It is he who gave us spiritual life.

So I think we must abide in Christ and in his Word. But we also should not neglect prayer. We saw Jesus prayerful in the Mark passage. So we follow his example. And I think if we look through the Bible, through the pages of the Gospels, we see Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. There are often times he’s praying. So it wasn’t just a one-time thing. It was a pattern of life. P.T. Forsyth said, the worst sin is prayerlessness.

The worst sin is prayerlessness. So we might go, oh, wait a minute. There’s a lot worse things. There’s murder. There’s adultery. And we could come up with a list of things. But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency and independence from God. So what is prayerlessness? It’s walking as I’m self-sufficient that I’m independent from God.

I’m walking through life based on what I think is the way to go, what I think is the way to do. How can we know if we don’t spend our time in prayer what the real priorities of the day are?

And I think those go hand in hand. We need time in the Word and time in prayer.

You know, it can be easy in the morning, get up, running late. I’m just going to pray on the way to work. You know, I’ll read Scripture later or something. But, you know, I think the pattern that we see in the New Testament is, it’s valuing that time abiding with our Lord in Word and in prayer.

So when a situation comes up in your day, do you react? And react means to meet one action with another. So if this happens, then that happens. Or, they do this, I do this. Or do you respond? Which is, means that you’re considerate and deliberate. As believers, we want to respond. We want to be considerate and deliberate. Because it’s only, you know, doing that in the power of the Spirit that we really know is this urgent or not. You know, how does this fit in, you know, the Lord’s plan. So we need a lifestyle of dependence on God as Christ showed us throughout His life on earth and we follow His example. As I said earlier, He’s the example. He set the example for us. So as we think about points of application, we need daily communion with God. I think we’ve seen that clearly as we walk through these passages. I think we should also take a spiritual inventory on a regular basis to make sure we’re focused on the assignments God has for us. To make sure we’re not working hard on things that may seem significant to us, but not to Him. The tasks that may seem urgent or important to us are ultimately meaningless if they don’t line up with our will. Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. We accomplish the Father’s will by abiding in Christ and abiding in His word.

It’s not God who loads us down until we bend or crack with ulcers and heart attacks and strokes. And certainly, there are other reasons for those things in our life. You know, when our mind gets twisted, we’re depressed. You know, there’s medical reasons for some of these things. But if you go to a doctor with an ailment, the first thing he says, I run a couple of tests, okay, it’s stress. That seems to be the default answer. Oh, this is stress-related.

And those things can be the result of a lifestyle that’s not dependent on Christ, but rather on our own abilities or ideas coupled with the normal pressures of life. So we’re doing what we want, normal pressures of life, things coming in. It can lead to even physical health issues. Jesus doesn’t mean for us to lead stressful lives. And a passage we often talk about here, because I think it’s very comforting for us as believers, Matthew 11, 28 and 30. Come to me, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So the question I think we have to ask, are we shouldering burdens that aren’t meant for us? Jesus promises rest in these verses, but we must come to him and lay those heavy loads down. It’s only then that we find the peace and the rest for our souls.

On the night before he died, Jesus was able to say in his high priestly prayer that he finished the work the Father gave him to do. That’s John 17, 4. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. So you may notice that at the point Jesus says that, there were still things to do. He was still in the garden at that point. So he still faced betrayal, abandonment, beating, mocking, and ultimately the cross. And because of that in the garden, I think he did experience a stress that was manifested in sweat drops of blood. As Dr. Luke tells us. But it wasn’t from the kind of stress we’ve been discussing that results from being out of step with our Lord. It was rather the opposite. He realized the physical cost of obedience and that he would be separated from his Father on the cross. And that stress brought the sweat drops of blood. Our Lord experienced a stress we never will. I don’t think we can really understand it, what he went through. But praise God that he endured that for us. He paid the debt. That we could not pay and that stress on the cross so that we might be set free.

And I think we can, we notice from Scripture, we know from Scripture, even though Jesus said, I finished all that you’ve set me to do and there were still things to do, there was still no doubt. Because what have we been talking about? He has set his mind and his heart on completing the Father’s will. So there was no doubt he was going to do the Father’s will and that meant the cross. And that’s ultimately where the work was finished. So just in closing, so friends, if you find yourself in this pattern of a stress-filled life, if urgent things seem to always come up and crad out the important things, if you find yourself in that situation, I would encourage you to follow the prescription of Scripture. First, we confess and we repent the sin that maybe the Holy Spirit has even revealed to you today.

I pray that you would deal with that, not just dismiss it. If the Holy Spirit’s convicted you have something you need to change, based on what you’ve heard today, I would encourage you to not just mentally acknowledge it here, but go out, go home, pray, ask, Lord, how can I implement this in my life? Because, that’s what we need to be doing, abiding. Abiding in the Word, abiding in the vine, who is Jesus, abiding in prayer. These are daily things. There’s no shortcuts in the Christian life. It has to be a daily dying to self and abiding in Christ. Jesus said, take up your cross daily. He didn’t say take it up, you’re good to go, daily. So there’s a daily dying to self, there’s a daily choice to abide, abide in Him and in His Word. And by following these disciplines, we equip ourselves to better handle the stresses of life and the power of Christ and the power of His Spirit working in us. Because that’s where the power is. It’s not in us. It’s in Him. Let’s pray. Let’s pray.

Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that in it, we find truth. In it, we find out who we really are. Find out who we were before Christ, find out who we are, find out who we are in Christ. Lord, we confess to You that sometimes we go our own way. We don’t spend the time that we see our Lord doing in these passages in prayer. We don’t spend our time abiding in Your Word.

So Lord, we ask You to take these words and apply them to our heart, our life, that we would not just be hearers, but doers of Your Word. Lord, show us where we need to abide more in Your Word. Show us where we need to abide more in prayer. Show us where we need to trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior more.

Lord, we thank You. Father, we thank You for Jesus. It’s astonishing what He’s done for us on the cross. Lord, I just pray that we would

dedicate ourselves to Him. Dedicate ourselves to living a more focused life and following the Father’s will. I pray those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.