Mark 1:14-28 Jesus the One with Authority Calls and Teaches

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. Thanks, Ben, and welcome to RECAST as Ben did just a minute ago, but I appreciate his service in ministry.

RECAST stands for, it's an acronym, and it stands for Replicating Community Authenticity, Simplicity, and Truth.

And so as we, these values guide our life as we, you know, worship and seek more worshipers for Christ, and that's our mission.

And so we do pray as an elder board and staff and many others, we pray that you will grow in faith, grow in community, and grow in service.

And so what's a RECAST, right? I mean, that's sort of a name that's unique for sure, and I remember one person saying that to me one time as we were having a conversation with lunch at the pastor.

Today's text, I'm going to continue through Mark. I started that a bit ago, but I wanted to talk about worldviews first today and how they're important.

Worldviews, it's not a new concept. I'm sure you've heard of it. I'm sure you know what

I'm talking about, but it shapes our understanding, right? It colors how we see the world, and it is built upon your experiences, upon your knowledge, upon what education, and a lot of factors go into your worldview.

And so people can study that aren't believers, and they can learn a lot of truth about God through that.

Through the world, they can see that. And this is a lot of the official term like, you know, maybe general revelation, and we can benefit from that as a human race.

Humanity can benefit from that. But we don't have all the information. In fact,

Romans is pretty clear. Romans 1, it says like, hey, you got enough basically to condemn yourself.

Like you were condemned. You know enough for that standing, and so we need more than that.

We need God's revelation to really solve the problem that plagues humanity, and that's sin.

And so Jesus will be coming, and we see in the text, and God provides his son to be the word that saves.

And so as you go through and you think about worldviews, this grid helps us to go through that. And that's why, and you can be objective and say you're objective, but nobody really is objective.

And so that's why the Proverbs, I think, say it so well in Proverbs 9, 10. It said, So there's probably as many worldviews in here in some sense as people, but what

I would love us all to begin to think about is what's a biblical worldview, right? And that's, so today we're going to be mining deep into Mark a little bit, but I want to go over and talk about what every worldview answers, and we can see this in Scripture, this kind of overarching thing, this overarching question that kind of everyone wrestles with and everyone will go into.

So the first question that every worldview will answer, and yours does, whether you realize it or not, is what was there in the beginning?

Like before anything that we know is there, what was there? What's the ultimate reality?

No one was there. No one witnessed it, okay? The second question is what's the source of the world's problems?

Because we all recognize, like people are good at like, yeah, this world's jacked up. It's messed up.

There are problems in the world. What's the source of that? The third question that I think helps form a worldview is, or every worldview tries to solve it.

They fix the problem. What's the solution to the problem? And then the fourth is what's the ultimate end?

What is the ultimate end? How does it, how does the world end? What is the benefit?

What's the goal? What is the future ultimately for humanity, for the world that we know?

So if you are a person that says, wow, answer the first question, matter, that's the only thing that's existed forever.

Well, you take that on faith because you weren't there. You don't know. The second question is, well, what's the problem?

Like, why is there pain? Why is there suffering? Like, they might throw out, if like, if that's your assumption, like matter is it, well, probably ignorance.

Probably ignorance is the problem. Like, or power over, like someone's, you know, wielding power over.

There could be a lot of problems that people would put out to there. The third question, what's the solution?

Well, education, learning, maybe, maybe technological advances that will solve our problem.

And definitely has solved some, many problems that we've faced. And then the fourth question, what's the ultimate end?

That's a pretty desperate proposition because it's nothing. Like, you die and then it's over, right?

If you're a materialist, you're worm food. Okay, now, look, you read history and you find the philosophers.

Like, they deal with all of these crazy things and these ideas and they come up. But I think these four questions, that provides the plot of the gospel, or excuse me, of the

Bible, of God's Word. It applies so that if we were to take that in a

Christian worldview, what is the thing that's existed? Well, God. God's existed.

You know, He says that in His Word. He created everything. Genesis 1 and 2, it talks about that.

And we are blessed. It was perfect. It was made good or very good. The second problem, the problem, Genesis 3, sin.

Sin entered into the world and now it's beyond recognition to some degree, but not completely distorted to leading to, you know, the third question is, what is the solution?

And so from Genesis 4 through most of Revelation then, much of Revelation, that's the redemptive plan.

And as God's Word, you know, is revealed, we can see that.

We can see God working to save us, to redeem His people, to solve the problem.

And then we have this hope of a new heaven and a new earth. A real, physical, perfect new heaven and earth.

And we'll go into that a little bit later today. So I started with this.

I want to remind you of the biblical worldview and we're looking at 10 ,000 feet. You fly over it, right? Look down on it.

So you see the forest through the trees. I think that's helpful. I think it helps. It helps you understand what's going on.

And then we're going to mine. We're going to look at some trees as we go into Mark. Six months ago or so,

I started preaching the gospel of Mark. And Mark, as such, you know, you can get the background, you can get the history there.

You can go through that sermon if you're interested or read a commentary, find out some of the history.

He often uses words like, and, and immediately, right? So the pace is fast.

So remember that. The second thing, or today I should say, like, or the second thing

I want to talk about, like, previously on, in Mark, right? So if we were to go back and catch up on the show, real quickly,

John the Baptist is coming to the scene. Something different is happening. He says, wow, look, the by John.

He receives the Holy Spirit like a dove. And then he's ushered into the wilderness.

And that's where we were left off. And so in Mark, let's read

God's holy word together. Turn to Mark chapter 1, verses 14 through 28. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, he comes.

And this is what he says. This is what Mark records.

And I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boats, mending the nets.

And immediately he called them. And they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

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 with or who had authority, not as the scribes.

And immediately there was in the 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, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying,

What is this? A new kind, a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all of the surrounding region of Galilee.

This is God's Word. Let's pray. Lord, you are the one who calls, the one who teaches.

You truly, you truly are amazing. Think about your creation and how you started it all and you brought life into the world and you made it perfect and how you then set into motion the plan after sin entered.

Boy, we long for the day when we can come and worship you without sin -tainted lives, being perfect and holy,

Lord, because of your righteousness. I pray that as we worship you today, that it would be, and as Dave and the band, they bring us to your throne, that it would be music to your ears, that it would be a sweet smell.

Thank you for the time that we can come together and worship. We can sit around your Word and we can understand what your

Holy Spirit illuminates. Thank you again for this time together. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

It is a privilege to worship with you guys and we sing in unison words of praise to God. That is glorious.

That is something that we'll be doing in heaven someday. Those who call on the name of the Lord, that's wonderful.

But okay, so make yourself comfortable. If you need to get more coffee or donuts as supplies last, help yourself.

The restrooms are through the doors down the hall to your left and then on your left. So as Don says,

I'm not going to be distracted. You can get up and go or come and whatever. Take care of your needs. That's fine.

I do teach at a, you know, school locally and I'm kind of used to stuff happening.

So don't worry about it. A quick outline for today's text, you know, the first is

Jesus' ministry begins and that's verses 4, 14, and 15. Jesus, the caller, calling fishermen to become fishers of men, verses 16 through 20.

And then Jesus, the teacher, demonstrates his authority, verses 21 through 28.

Jesus' ministry begins here and it's a proclamation. The kingdom of God is at hand.

The kingdom of God is here. In verses 14 and 15, Mark tells us that John the

Baptist was arrested. Like, all of a sudden, like, here we go. He's arrested. So this is the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

John leaves. Jesus comes in. Just a few verses earlier,

Mark saw that Jesus was baptized. Jesus received the Holy Spirit and John was now arrested.

His ministry is over. Like, his ministry is done. John the Baptist is over soon, eventually in the text we'll see, to be beheaded.

Which is a reminder, nations and empires come and go, but you and I will live forever.

We live forever, okay? I study history. I see that.

You see that. And God uses nations, as we talked about, but they're not eternal.

You and I are. That's pretty amazing. It is amazing. So now let's go back to the broad worldview question

I had at the beginning. You know, think about the biblical worldview as seen through the 66 books of the

Bible. Holy Spirit's a great author, right? There's such unity in the diversity there.

It is beautiful. I would encourage you to read through the Bible in a year. Try it chronologically.

It gets a little tough in some parts, you know, like Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, but it is really cool if you can see that, the whole counsel of God and how he's moving through.

It is encouraging. So we know God created everything and it was either good or very good.

We know that we sinned and we wrecked it, okay? Bummer.

I mean, think about Adam and Eve, like, just, you know, the big picture, like, they experienced perfection.

They experienced literally walking with God physically, okay?

And then sin entered into the world, you know, like, unfortunately.

Anyways, but God promises to deliver us, redeem us, to solve the problem by paying for the sin, bringing us back into relationship.

You know, when Romans 1, 15 through 17, I think, the just will live by faith.

I mean, that's the gospel in a nutshell. That's good news. That's the gospel.

That's encouraging. It's like, oh, sweet, because if I try to do it,

I'll fail. And then we have the hope. So Jesus came, right?

And that's what we're learning about. That's what we're studying in Scripture. Jesus came to earth and he starts his ministry.

Guys, he's coming again. He's coming again. And that's the ultimate fulfillment, you know, as we go through.

And so he says, the kingdom of God is here. This is a big deal, right?

Him being here, that's a big deal in all of history, in all of humanity. Okay, so I don't want us to lose sight of that.

And that's why I started with worldviews. That's why I started with this idea, overarching, like, here's what biblical worldview, kind of like flying over 10 ,000 feet, helps us understand.

It helps ground us. So with that in mind, Jesus said, the time is fulfilled. It's fulfilled.

It's like someone waiting for the birth of a child. Now, it's been quite a while since my children were born, but I remember the anticipation of that.

Or it's like my children, when they were waiting for Christmas, counting down the weeks and the days and the hours and the minutes, or their birthday.

Or like me, and I know a couple of fans in here waiting for that Lions Super Bowl.

The timing is perfect. The timing is, and Jesus comes, it's fulfilled, okay?

So there's that expectation, and they recognize this. It was just right for the kingdom of God.

And listen, God's time, His timing is perfect. I mean, so the kingdom of God is here.

The language here is like a herald announcing a regime change, but it's not.

It isn't like, oh, hey, a king passes away, and then, hey, we're announcing the new king, or an empire conquers another, and, oh, hey, here's a new empire.

And, you know, we see that historically all the time, but this is not like that earthly change in government.

Rather, this is a big event in God's redemptive history, in God's redemptive work.

And this is the right time. Finally, the kingdom of God is here.

The hope of Abraham, the hope of Moses and David, and you just name all of the people you can remember from the

Old Testament, and like their hope, it's finally here, right? I think in one sense, it's really cool that we're on this side of it, and that's really cool.

We can look back historically and see that. So we wait, expecting for the second coming and the final coming, where Jesus will establish a new heaven and a new earth, where sin and the impact on us.

And John records this in Revelation, you know, kind of what to expect.

In Revelation chapter 21, verses 1 through 4. You could read, you know, more and take in more, but I'm going to stop here.

It says, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their

God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more.

The former things have passed away. That's a beautiful picture of what we have to look forward to.

Don't miss the connection between the kingdom of God is here. God said there in Revelation, like,

Hey, you'll be my people, and I'll be your God. We have that now.

We have that now. Now, I know sin is still there. Sin, I mean, if anyone tells you they were sinless last week, they just probably sinned.

So, it's amazing to think about. That's our expectation.

That's going to be cool, right? Just like what Abraham was looking forward to, we look forward to that, but we are blessed to have the benefit of history.

So, what does Jesus say in the midst of all this? He says, Hey, repent. Believe in the gospel. Turn to God.

Repent. When you realize that you're a sinner, you know, that time when you said, Wow, I'm jacked up.

I need a Savior. When you realized the filth that, you know, was in your heart, and you came to God when

God called you, you were changed, right? And some of you, you go like,

Yeah, I had a joy that I had never, and a peace that I had never. You have that.

The kingdom of God is here. So, repent. Declare your allegiance to God. Do you believe

God? Do you believe Him? Do you trust Him? When He says, like, follow me, right?

We'll get to that in a minute, but do you trust Him? It's easy to say it.

It's harder to do, okay? In fact, Joe Newton, I love one of the quotes.

He's a famous cross -country coach in Illinois. He's passed away, but he said, one quote from him is like,

Hey, talk is cheap. Dirt is free. Don't tell me.

Show me, right? So, our faith in God, like, talk is cheap, but if it comes from your heart, the

Holy Spirit's worked in you, and you are alive again. Repent. Put Him at the center of your life.

Repent. Put Him on the throne. In contrast, we've seen false repentance, right?

You've seen people repent, like, Oh, yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. And I love the one commentary, just a really fun example from Huck Finn about his alcoholic pappy.

And so, you know, Mark Twain writes this about a type of repentance that's false.

He says, And that night, he got drunker than he had ever been before.

If his true repentance is from the heart, it comes from the heart, the Holy Spirit working on you.

And that's been my prayer. Like, as the word goes out today, his word,

I pray that it will touch fertile soil, to reference, you know, a parable that we just learned about.

Declare your allegiance to God. That's what we celebrated with the baptisms a few weeks ago. That's what we have, actually, a celebration coming up.

So, if, like, you want to make that statement publicly, you know what? I am turning to God. He, I'm going to die with Jesus, raise again, you know, sign up, you know, be baptized.

If God is calling you today to join Him, follow Him, you know, you are on the winning side.

It may not look like it here and now as we struggle through the world that we live in that's been tainted by sin, but you are on the winning side.

So, turn away from putting anything above God on the throne of your life, whether it's,

I mean, we don't, we're good at it, putting other things there. Sin, self, spouse, friends, sports, entertainment, church.

There's so many things you could put on the throne other than God, and He's saying, repent, follow me, right?

Believe the gospel. This is an important reason I believe that community groups are critical, you know, and we do promote them.

They'll kind of be a big push in the fall, but if you are not known by others here and don't know others, it's going to be real difficult to grow.

It's going to be very difficult to battle sin. One of the things I appreciate with some of the great relationships

I have here is that accountability, you know, and just openness. This is part of keeping

God -centered. You know, we're here for a reason to help one another grow in Christ. This is the good news of the gospel, right?

That we can be saved, that you can have a relationship, you can walk with God, and He will walk with you.

That is beautiful. So the kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is at hand, even though we wait for another time when it'll be perfect.

The second part, you know, so real quick, Jesus inaugurates His ministry. Second part,

He calls some disciples, and these four disciples, they're your average

Joe. Now, so I coach cross -country and track at the school, and so I'll go recruit, right?

Now, I'll make a call. It's like, hey, such and such a person, right? I'll say their name. Hey, follow me, and I'll make you runners of races.

And like, let me tell you, it's been less effective than what we see here with Jesus, okay? Especially running.

Like, oh, hey, why don't you come and be tortured for a while? Yeah, sign me up. I'd rather shoot a hoop or whatever.

Anyways, okay, so that side, notice side. Jesus moves along the Sea of Galilee, and He sees some fishermen, and they're fishing, right?

Calls a couple of pairs of men, Simon and Andrew, and then James and John. You know, I'm not going to make a ton of, a big deal about the fact that some were, the first two were fishing in the shallow water.

They're just in the, you know, they're fishing. The others were in their boat, you know, mending the nets and, you know, fixing things.

So, obviously, some maybe were a little more well -off than others and, but they were essentially all small business owners, and they were doing their work.

They were fishing. They were mending the nets. They were making preparations for more fishing. They were casting. They were what

I would call, they were embracing the grind, right? I mean, I imagine that, at least. Just doing their thing, daily task.

Like, maybe you and I, we go to work, and we do our thing, and this is nothing spectacular, but yet they're called to something spectacular.

And so, Simon and Andrew, they hear Jesus say, or call, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.

Now, I'm not a fisherman, but I have fished. And from what

I can gather, it takes a lot of skill to be good at it. Now, I have a good friend, and he's really good at it.

He's a good angler. But they're good enough to make a living at it, and they're working, and they're making it happen.

Jesus' sovereign call is, it's a sovereign call, and I think it's one distinction

I want to make between what you would see prophets in the Old Testament. They would make a call, like gathering sheep or gathering in a harvest, and they would call people to God.

Notice what Jesus is doing. He says, follow me.

This call is definitely different. This is not, you know, like my call for runners.

This is definitely a sovereign call here. And so, we have the response, which is amazing to think about.

The response goes, they don't count the cost. It was immediate. They don't say, hey,

I need to pray about it a little bit. Let me just take a pause. It's immediate.

Listen, we live in a world where you always do cost -benefit analysis. I'm going to come into church, and I'm going to do this.

I'm going to make that decision. That's the world that we live in. That's really,

I think, a result of sin, but it's real, and it's not necessarily wrong. They didn't count the cost.

They responded to the call. So, they didn't understand that necessarily all they were signing up for, and Mark doesn't record a lot of the details.

You could read others. So, I don't, I want to stay true to what Mark is saying. Like, hey, listen, Jesus called, and they answered.

I just want to leave it there, right? So, you can look at other Gospels and kind of see some different information, but John puts it another way, this calling, as Jesus is bringing it to, bringing the hammer to Laodicea in Revelation, and, you know, there's words like spitting out and lukewarm, and like, they're just like, ooh, this is not good, but he says this in Revelation 3, verse 20.

It says, This is the friendship, a relationship.

This is a wonderful hospitality -type picture. Hey, let's eat together.

Let's have relationship together. I'm standing and knocking.

Come, open the door. Do you want to dine with Jesus, or do you feel like, you know, before we dine,

I need to clean. I need to sweep. I need to clean the bathroom. I need to, you know, get stuff ready.

Listen, that's a natural inclination. I'm the same. I'm like, okay, I'll follow you when this, when

I get this done or that done, or I would encourage you to listen to the

Holy Spirit's call. If he's calling you to whatever, I don't know. I can't imagine.

Follow, follow him. If you're going to count the cost,

I think Jameliot said it best when he said, So if you are being called, whether it's to salvation or,

I don't know, respond like Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Respond like that.

Discipleship is, by Jesus' own words, not easy. Being a disciple is not a self -improvement program.

It's a self -denial program. It's a call for service.

Jesus said in Matthew 8, he goes, hey, if you're a disciple of mine, you're not going to have a life of ease.

You're not going to have a life of ease. And then in John 15, he said, 18 through 20, he said, the world's going to hate you.

Are you greater than Jesus? Are you greater than him? No. See, they persecuted me. They will also persecute you, verse 20.

That's the sobering reality, okay, of discipleship.

A little bit of a disconnect, I'll be honest. I can follow

Jesus and I don't feel like I've suffered. I don't feel like I've been persecuted, okay.

I'll be honest. We can anticipate times and we can see things and, you know, you can maybe see where it could happen, but I'll confess that here.

Well, they left their nets, their wealth, their families. They followed Jesus. They followed Jesus' authoritative call.

Think about that call versus the call of God in Genesis, like end of chapter three when, in verse nine, actually

God's calling out to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the fruit, just after they have sinned. What's their response?

They hide. They're in shame. Totally different response, okay.

Praise God that the gospel today, we can follow God. We can actually respond to God in the

Holy Spirit. We can actually walk with him now and Jesus can take our shame.

Jesus can take our sin as he did on the cross. We live in an exciting time, to be honest.

We can look back at the cross. We can have shritty, like that happened.

He doesn't, he isn't still there, okay. The tomb is empty, like we have that.

And if you're kind of that doubting, that's why Thomas said, hey, I gotta touch you.

Like, listen, I won't, right, I gotta, we have that in scripture to like, for people that like, that's what they need.

God is so gracious. He gives us all that we need. So, Jesus calls,

I mean, I have prayers that you and that I would be quick to follow. The last segment,

Jesus, the teacher, demonstrates his authority in verses 21 through 28.

The final section here we're going to look at is Jesus goes to the Now, interestingly, you might think, and I thought, kind of like, as I was thinking about this, it might make sense to go to the synagogue to call your disciples.

This might be the place that you have the people that know scripture, they're the teachers.

He did not, okay. Now, what he's going to go there and do is really interesting, but it's just, that thought kind of went through my mind.

He called the fishermen. Mark tells us in verses 21 through 22 that he went to the synagogue on the

Sabbath and taught. And we don't know what he taught, we don't know the content, but we do know he taught as one with authority.

And I think of, I think I can relate when I think about my experience. I go to a seminar, I go to some training, and you may have done that as well, to learn about, you know, for me,

I might go to a coaching seminar and learn some, you know, some training techniques, like, and the names like Pavel or Igloy or Bauer or, you know,

Liddyard, excuse me, those names rise to the surface, and you're probably saying, like, I have no idea who those people are.

But listen, okay, so maybe, like, Wooden in basketball, if you were still alive, or Landry in football, like, he's going to talk to you about football.

You know, he's an expert. Like, he's forgotten. Like, they have forgotten more about their area of expertise than I know, which isn't much necessarily, maybe, but that is, that's the type of expertise

I imagine Jesus going into, which makes sense. Who created the world?

Sunday school answer? Yeah, Jesus. Yeah, I mean, he created the world so it makes sense that he would know and he'd be the expert.

Like, he could actually say all of the

Pentateuch. He could probably recite the prophets to them. I mean, like, he wrote it.

I would think he would be the expert. So, I think that's something that is noted in the synagogue.

He teaches as one with authority. Yeah, it makes sense.

So, how amazing is that? So, he can rightfully teach with authority and, at the same time, call fishermen.

In all humility, these are the people, you humble fishermen, kind of average, I'm going to use you.

He can use me and you. We see

Jesus coming back to redeem his people. It's no wonder that he teaches with authority. He is working his redemptive plan, something that angels marvel at, actually, the cross and the redemptive plan.

In verses 23 through 27, it's a little more difficult to handle. If you have a worldview that is a materialist worldview, you're going to, like, dismiss it.

And that's why I said, you know, Proverbs, the reverence to Proverbs I made, like, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the

Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Your assumptions will do matter.

And so, this biblical worldview, in our postmodern eyes, or in our modern eyes, you know, we could say, yeah, yeah, there's this guy causing a ruckus.

Probably, probably, psychological health is an issue. Probably, you know.

I mean, that's how we can rationalize it. That's what you would assume. So, it can really color us. And we can look back in history and say, oh, man, those backward people, like, wow, they just were so much more advanced, you know.

That, as C .S. Lewis puts it, that chronological snobbery is rampant. I could see it regularly.

The other side is not good, either. Like, you look back and say, they were so much better. No, they were sinners, too.

They were, I mean, they were, they're made of dirt, also, like you and I. I mean, they're, you know, they're not better.

So, you look back on nostalgia, with nostalgia, the good old days. No, they really weren't always so good.

Okay, so, your perspective, you look at this text because we have a biblical worldview.

God created a material world, physical world that we can touch and feel and we look forward to a new body that's physically real.

But yet, there is an invisible realm. There's a realm that, as Paul will put it in Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, you guys know this passage, that's where the battle is, is fought.

In Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, he says, what is our weapon in battle?

Prayer. Prayer. Because we don't, I mean, I can bring, well,

I can bring the sword, I can bring the word, right? Sword of the Spirit. I mean, I can, I can, you know, and so definitely become skilled at that, right?

Know the word. But prayer is that place where we do battle.

A non -biblical worldview can't get there. Like, we can.

And it's cohesive and it's consistent. So, we need to cultivate that attitude of prayer daily.

You need to set aside time. Okay, all that, like, I'm not gonna, you know, you evaluate whether or not you're walking with the

Lord. Cool. Prayer is good. Cool. If not, pray more.

I don't know. Pray when you drive. Pray without ceasing, it says.

So, a demon -possessed man, he comes, he causes a ruckus and this demon has control of the man and he speaks through him saying, what have you to do with us,

Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. So, once again, he pays lip service.

He recognizes him like, I know who you are. I know who you are. Okay, I think he's not offering praise, just recognition.

And this is combative. So, the demon recognizes Jesus and says, are you here to destroy us?

It's not our time. So, they know that they will be destroyed. They are correcting the content, but the timing isn't right.

It's not the right time. You think about it. It's another cosmic event.

Maybe like, this is huge. They recognize Jesus and I'm glad that the timing isn't quite right because I'm glad Jesus didn't fulfill the second advent yet.

Like, if he had done that 1000 AD, like, I wouldn't have been born. So, if the Lord tarries, that's a grace if he continues to give us time to hopefully bring more worshipers into, you know, help bring worshipers into the fold, bring into the church.

This is awesome. This is a great opportunity. So, this demon is stating that it's not the time.

They know the big picture. They know when he's coming back. Jesus has come to set humanity free from the penalty of sin, death.

That's the purpose. And he conquered sin and death on the cross. And so, we can lift up praise to the

Holy One of God, not just lip service, okay? But Jesus demonstrates his authority because he just pretty simply says, hey, shut up and come out of the man.

That's it. You know, he didn't, he spoke as one with authority.

When he talks, people listen, I guess. Maybe that's, I mean, that should have been the point of the sermon.

But anyways, so they reiterate what they said earlier. What is this?

They being the people in the synagogue, they say, I can't believe this. This guy, he teaches as one with authority.

Like, he has authority. This, he's different. This guy is, like, they recognize that.

And his fame will spread throughout Galilee in this region. And God broke into history here.

We have the benefit of reading it. And God still breaks into humanity. He breaks into your heart and mine.

I want to be in charge, right? Like the toddler, the famous toddler saying,

I do it. You know, I want it, okay?

God wants your throne, the throne of your heart. And so everyone who comes to believe in Jesus knows

God the Father. That is awesome. Jesus stands there with God looking down on us like, that's the one

I bought. My blood paid for them. They're right.

They're righteous. And God goes, okay, all right, cool. God's justice was satisfied on the cross.

A couple of points of application. Follow the call of Jesus. So the kingdom of God is at hand.

It is here. We are living in that. And if that is true, like I said a couple thousand years ago, then how much closer to the second heaven are we today?

You know, for those who are called, I would encourage you to follow like Simon and Andrew and James and John.

Praise the God of the universe. Praise the one who's really real. And for those that are sensing his call today,

I pray you would just submit your heart to him. You know, it's a heart thing.

I mean, I can tell you words to pray, but you know those can be said without meaning.

That is my prayer every week as we share the gospel here. You know, as Don says, we're kind of a one -trick pony.

Like, here's the gospel, okay? It's good news. Second thing, pretty obvious, maybe, but glorify

Jesus. Glorify him. He's worth it. He is the

Holy One of God. It was John the Baptist said, wow, look at the lamb, the one who takes away the sin of the world.

He taught with authority. Praise him as you go to work.

Praise him as you go home. Praise him all of the time. Praise him when you speak.

Glorify Jesus. When you do stuff, glorify him.

My prayer is that as we come to communion, you remember that.

As we come to communion, that you would remember what he did for you. So, we'll take communion and we'll grab the elements, the cracker.

We'll grab the juice. The cracker just represents the body of Christ. The juice represents his blood.

We're remembering the gospel. We're remembering what he did.

We have an eternity to praise God. We have an eternity to praise and marvel at the wondrous cross ahead of us.

And so, if you know Christ as your Savior, we do this every week together in remembrance of him, stand up and go take communion, okay?

Let's pray. Lord, may you be lifted high.

I pray that your glory would outshine anything.

I'm so thankful that you came to save me. You came to save us.

We can walk with you and you can be our God. I pray that that'd be true daily, that we would not just read about it in Scripture and just go through emotions, that we would truly be different, that we'd be truly spirit -informed, spirit -led.

May you be glorified in all we say and all we do. As we take communion now and we remember, you told us to do this, to remember this time.

Boy, I need to be reminded regularly. So thank you for your provision.

Thank you for giving us everything that we need. I pray that you would go with us as we leave then later, that we might proclaim the gospel where we work, with our friends, that we would be disciples.

And I know discipleship has a high cost, but thank you for being greater than that.

Lord, we love you. We pray that you would be glorified in all that we do today. In Jesus' name