All right. Well, it's good to see everybody this morning. I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the gospel according to Mark. Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. In this precious The Lord, His ministry is being unveiled before us. We are going to behold the visible ministry of the Lord. When we talk about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it had no beginning. How do you begin? something with the everlasting I am. But concerning man, concerning his people, there was an open, visible manifestation of our Lord's ministry.

And the Spirit of God has given us some truth concerning our Lord that I'd like for us to just look at for just a few moments. It's a truth that we desperately need. We need to hear it. We need to hear it again and again. And I pray that this morning the Lord might be pleased to open our eyes to behold something of His glory in this blessed revelation.

Now in the book of Mark, chapter 1, I'd like to look at verses 35 to 39. And may the Lord teach us. Remember this, this is the Lord Jesus Christ as the representative, the advocate of his people, doing for them what they could not do for themselves, but absolutely needed those things to be done. The scripture says, I'm going to read the whole passage, 35-39, and then we'll look at each one for just a moment. The scripture says, verse 35, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.

And Simon, And they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out Now, that first verse, and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

I want to preach. I've entitled this message, The Need of Prayer. Prayer. Here our Lord is going to teach us something that we desperately need to consider. Something that we need to recognize. We need to understand something of this admonition that he's giving us through an example. And we learn something of the importance but the necessity. of prayer. And here we see the Savior in his diligence to pray.

To pray. I'm going to admit something that I think every believer will admit. I wish I understood. I wish I had an inkling of the necessity to pray. We all understand and we hear the word and we want to. We know we need to. But we have no idea the importance of prayer. Charles Spurgeon said this, the essence of prayer lies in the heart drawing near to God. Our Lord prayed.

And that thought, and I know this may sound strange to all of us, but you're thinking, here is God himself, human flesh. This is God. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. Knows all things, sees all things, directs all things. And here is the Lord, and he's praying. He's beseeching God. The Spurgeon says, here he is, that the evidence of prayer lies in the heart drawing near to God. God drawing near to God. Now that thought right there just takes me away. I think, Lord, if it was necessary for you to pray, how necessary is it for us, your people, to pray? Our Lord prayed.

Hold your place right there and turn with me to John 17, 6 to 9. John, this is the high priestly prayer. of the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 17, verse 6 to 9. Everything that he's about to say, I'm just going to read those verses, 6 to 9, but think about this. He who created all things by the word of his power, upholds all things, directs all things, knows all things, And here he is as our substitute, as our advocate, mediator. And he's praying unto the Father, the God-man mediator. John 17,

6. Here's what he says. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. I've said before, as God, nothing can be given to him. But as our mediator, as our advocate, as our substitute, here he is putting himself in the place of his people. And he's telling his father, he's praying under his father. He said, I manifested your name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.

Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Now here is the Lord. He's praying. Praying for His people. Praying unto the Father for His people. What submission, what humility, what abasement He bestowed upon Himself. He humbled Himself. and made himself of no reputation. I think how arrogant we are, Bear. How arrogant we are. And we think we know something. We think we've done something.

He made himself of no reputation. And here he is, the scripture says, back in verse 35, Mark 1, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. We know, we know. In himself, in the essence of being God, he would, he does everything, he does everything. But that he would humble himself and make himself of no reputation and pray and he finds himself now praying for his people. It says, in the morning, in the morning, rising up a great while before day. He got up and it was early, early.

I looked it up. I looked it up to find out when the spirit of God moved upon Mark to pen this in the morning, rising up a great while before day. It was talking about in the fourth watch, between three and six, and I thought, is that not an amazing thing that the Spirit of God would move upon Mark to write down when he got up? I thought, what a blessing to see how he put first things first.

First things first. What did he do first? He got up early in the morning, and he went and got alone before day, and he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there he prayed. He prayed it was a time of quietness, solitude, The scripture says that when he was baptized, he was found to be praying, Luke 3,

21. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened. He was praying. What was he doing? He was there being baptized as our advocate. It's our mediator submitting himself unto God, baptized. In his transfiguration, Luke 9, 28, 29, it came to pass about eight days after these things, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistening. He prayed, prayed before his transfiguration. Here's, here's, this is God. I wish I, I'm saying this over and over and over because I need to hear it. Here's, here's God in his absolute submission before he called his 12 apostles.

Did he not know all these men? Did he not know who he was going to call? Did he not know that one of them was going to be a devil? Did he not know that? Sure he did. Here again, he's omniscient. What does that mean? He knows everything. He knows everything. Does he know who he's going to call? He knows everybody he's going to call. He knows them. He knows them. He created them. He made them. But before he called them, And here's our silly mind. Yeah, well, I don't know about yours, I'll just say for me. And here he is, he's knowing everything. And before he called him, before he called him, he went out, and this is what scripture says, Luke 6, 12,

13. It came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray. and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, the word there, it means when the day dawned, when the sun started coming up, he called unto his disciples, and of them he chose 12, whom he also named apostles. He prayed about it. He prayed about it. He knew everything. Here we are. We pray about it because we don't know anything.

We don't know anything. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. We don't know if we'll ever see another moment. We may not even finish this message. I don't know. The Lord may come back. He may take one of us. We may be gone before you even know it. You'd be gone. He knows everything.

And he prayed about it. He prayed before his father, before his suffering at Calvary. The scripture says that he was found to be in the Garden of Gethsemane speaking to his disciples. And he told them in Mark 14, 32, you sit here while I shall pray. You stay right here. You stay by here. You stay here. I'm going to go off and I'm going to pray.

I'm going to pray about it. It just makes me realize, Lord, there is nothing that we should not pray about. Pray about it. Ask Him, is there anything, is there anything more important that we should learn from his action, from his manner, the indescribable importance of praying about it. Getting along with God and asking him, Lord, today, I got my day lined up.

I'm going to be going to work. I'm going to be doing this. I'm going to be doing it. And before we do anything, you say, well, I know I got an appointment. I got an appointment, I got to be at so-and-so, 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, I got this appointment.

Did he not know everything that was going to happen that day? Did he not, was there anything that he didn't know? But what did he do? He got along by himself and prayed about it. Somebody says, well, here again, I just don't see the necessity if he knew everything.

Well, that just shows you how silly we are. How stupid, if I can use that word respectfully, but that's, I mean, you know, we think we know, and here's the Lord, and he prayed about it. Oh, how we fall so miserably short in our need. How miserably insufficient we are to be thankful for what our federal and Lord has done for us. We fall so short.

Here he was, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and the scripture declares without ceasing. He prayed. He prayed about everything. He prayed before he went to the cross, before everything. He found it needful. The scripture says, in the days of his flesh, He found it needful in the days of his flesh to offer up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared. How much more needful is it for us to pray? How much more needful is us to be aware of the need?

Oh, we enter in with a statement that was made by one of the disciples, one of the followers, I don't mean one of the apostles necessarily, but it says that one of the disciples, one of his followers said, Lord, this was in Luke 11, one, teach us, teach us to pray. as John also taught his disciples. Lord, impart some instruction. I mean, I'm just, I'm sitting here trying to preach this message, and it's making me just understand, Fred, how ignorant I am. Lord, instruct me concerning prayer. Instruct me concerning the importance of prayer.

Hebrews 4, 16 says, Let us, therefore, come boldly. That is, let us come fearless. Let us come with confidence. Let us come with courage. Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Here's our Lord, scripture says, verse 35. And in the morning, rising up great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. But also, we learn in this passage of scripture, the immense importance and privilege of prayer. We see something of him who is the great shepherd of the sheep. Verse 36 says, and Simon and they that were with him followed after him. Now, the word, I looked, again, I looked up this word when it says they followed. It means they searched for. Obviously, it was, they didn't leave when he left.

He left by himself. He went to pray by himself. And this is going to be borne out. We're going to read it in just a minute, and we'll find out. If they'd have left when he left, they would have known exactly where he was. They would have known where he was.

They were with him. But the scripture says, and Simon and they that were with him followed after him. I looked it up, and it said it searched. They searched for him. They were not with him when he first left. They followed after. That means they, it didn't mean that he left and they're just following him. No, they followed after him searching because they didn't know where he was at first. And scripture declares that they followed, they followed after. They followed him.

This truth is taught concerning the Lord about all that know Him, love Him, seek Him, all those that are redeemed and regenerated by power. In John 8, verse 12, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light, I am the light, meaning I'm the life, I'm the life of the world. I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me, And what that means is joins himself to as a disciple, him that followeth after me, him that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

So those that follow the Lord, those that follow the Lord in this world are those that have been made willing in the day of God's power to follow him who is their Lord, those that follow him. I mean, everybody's going to an assembly. Everybody's going to church. Everybody's going somewhere. But how do you know that they're following after the Lord?

The Lord called. I'll give an answer through this scripture right here. God calls his own and calls him in power. When the Lord said to Matthew, the publican, He was sitting at the table, the receipt of custom. And the Lord came up to him and he said, follow me. It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a recommendation to consider for a later date. He said, follow me right now. And with that sovereign command, he got up. Matthew 9, 9, he arose. and followed him. Follow me. Whenever God Almighty calls a man or woman out of darkness of sin and unbelief, he speaks to them and he tells them, follow me and gives them a heart to do so.

John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they Follow me. It means, the wording, join as a disciple. They follow me. They join as a disciple of me. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. It's the voice of the good shepherd. It's the voice of the master. It leads them out of the sheepfold, out of the yard of this world. Follow me.

You know, you want to know why God's people follow him? Because he gives them a new heart. He gives them a new heart to do so. They follow. They want to do it. They want to. They want to go. He goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. My sheep hear my voice.

Now, I tell you, you that know him, You know what this means. They hear his word. A believer hears somebody preaching, and you just give them a second. They're going to discern whether or not it's the voice of the Lord. They're going to hear. They're going to know. The moment they hear something that is indicating Man's work, man's efforts, man's best, man's this, man's that. They're going to say, that's not the Lord speaking there. But when they hear the frailty of man, the glory of God in redemption, power and grace, whenever they hear the Lord being exalted, they're going to say, that's him. That's his voice. They recognize him. And here also we see something else in this passage. We see the Lord's wisdom to know those that are His. He knows His people. He causes His people to know Him because He knows who they are. Look at verses 37,

38. And when they had found Him, remember I told you just a minute ago whenever He left, He didn't, you know, In verse 35, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a place. And Simon, they that were with him, followed him. Okay, I said, they weren't with him when he first left. Because look at 37,

38. And when they had found him, they said unto him, all men seek after thee, seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next town, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. Here's these disciples, and they found the Lord. And when they had found him, here was another blessing to me. The word found. The word found, you know what I mean? when they hit the mark. That's what the word means, when they hit the mark.

They said, that's him. Who do men say that I am? I, the son of man, am. Well, some say Jeremiah, some say this prophet, some say that prophet. The Lord said to him, who do you say I am? And Peter said, you're the Christ. You're the redeemer. You're God in human flesh. Peter hit the mark. He nailed it. And the Lord told him, he said, flesh and blood didn't teach you that.

But my father, which is in heaven, when they had found him, they said unto him, all men seek for thee. And he said unto them, let us go into the next town. Now, you know, One would think that an announcement from the disciples that all men, all men, and I, I, that word kind of stopped me there for a minute.

All men, actually what it means is a great majority, a great majority. All men seek for thee. All men. are looking after you. If all men were truly seeking Him for life, for light, for understanding, if they were truly seeking the Lord, as we understand the word seek, the Lord would not have said exactly what He said, because He's going to say something in just a second. They said, when they had found him, verse 37, they said, all men, when they found him, they said unto him, all men seek for thee.

And he said unto them, let us go into the next town, said I may preach there also. Therefore came I forth. Now if all men were seeking him with a heart, The Lord would not have said what He said. What they were doing was the Lord knew their heart. What they were seeking was not Him. They were not seeking Him. Let me prove something to you. Hold your place and turn to John 6, 1 and 2. John chapter 6. Verse 1 and 2. John 6, 1 and 2. After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

Look at verse 26 of the same chapter. Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw, no, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and were filled. There is a sense in which men, women, seek God. Not for His honor, His glory, but they seek Him for what they think they can get out of Him. The Lord bore that out. All men, the disciples said back in Mark chapter 1, all men Seek after thee, verse 37. And what did the Lord say? Well, if they're all seeking me, let's go over there and maybe, you know, who knows, maybe some of them will, you know, bow to me. What did he say? Verse 38.

He said to them, let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. All men seek after you. He said, let's go to the next towns. Didn't give an explanation. He said, this is what we're going to do. If there was one of God's sheep in that place, you can bet this God would call them out. He would have called them. But there's no record that he did.

John 4.4, he must needs go through Samaria. Why did he have to go through Samaria?

Well, because there was a woman there that was going to be by a well, and the Lord was going to cross her path, and he was going to ask her or tell her, give him a drink of water, and she's going to ask him, well, here you're a Jew asking me. I'm a Samaritan. Why, you know? And he said, if you knew who you were talking to, you would say to me, give me that water. Give me the water of life. He knew who that woman was. These disciples told him, said, everybody's seeking after you.

Let's go to the next towns. I thought, what power, what instruction that we need to realize? Wait on the Lord. Do you think that God's able to call out his sheep? Do you think he's going to slip up and miss an opportunity to call one of his own? He said, let's go. Let's go to the next towns.

The scripture says in John chapter 2, I'll read this to you, John 2 verse 23 to 25, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover of the feast day, many believed in his name, but when they, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Here he was in Jerusalem, and the scripture says, many believed in his name.

Now, I know I've said this before and Lord willing, I'm going to keep doing it. I keep saying, if you want to know what a passage of scripture means, look up the word and find out. This is man's downfall, or the evidence of his downfall. Let me say it like that. Somebody tries to prove that man has a free will, but they'll pick out a passage of scripture and they'll twist it. They'll rest the scriptures and say, well, now here, God wants to, Christ died for everybody. Listen, listen, look up the word.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. I looked up that word, believed. Many believed in his name because the next thing it says, but the Lord did not commit himself unto them. They said, are you telling me that somebody could believe in his name and the Lord wouldn't commit himself to him? What kind of a God is that? Well, there I looked it up. I looked up the word believed.

It means to have a faith which does not recognize him as the Messiah. but only knew him as a prophet or a good man. They believed, I believe, you know, I believe that the Lord, you know, I believe he was a good man. I believe he was a prophet. You know, I believe that, but he was in Jerusalem and many believed in his name when they saw the miracles. or the Lord didn't commit himself to them.

What power! Many saw the miracles that the Lord did and made a profession to believe in him. I believe this. Now, I've seen this. God helped me to be kept from what I'm about to say because I'm just as liable but for the grace of God to do this. Many saw the miracles that the Lord did. And they made a profession based on what they saw. And they said, I know this. I know this.

I see what you're saying concerning the gospel. I hear what you're saying. And I understand. I keep hearing you say, Marvin, that there's no other way to be saved by the gospel. But I'm going to tell you something. I know, I know some good people. Now, they're good people. Now, they may not believe exactly what you believe. You know, on and on and on.

I'm telling you, when the Lord set forth that I am the way, I'm the truth, I'm the light, no man comes to the Father but by me. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching Paul said, I'm ready. I'm ready to preach the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation.

I get it. I get where men can say, I think that there's a lot of good people, and I know they're sincere. I know their hearts are, you know, I know they don't believe, you know, the sovereign grace like you're stating it, but I still believe that they're, I believe they're Christians. I believe they're Christians.

Brethren, when the Lord moved upon Paul to say, I am ready to preach the gospel. I'm ready to preach the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It, it, it. is the power of God and salvation. If somebody says, listen, I know brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so, I know, you know, and I know they don't believe, they don't believe, I mean, I know they, I've seen their life and they gave their heart to the Lord and they're, you know, and I just, I know that they're a Christian. No, you don't. No, you don't. There was a lot in that place right there, the scripture says, that believed in his name when they saw the miracles. And the Lord didn't commit himself to them.

I'm telling you, the gospel is the power of God and salvation. The Lord has never turned away one of his own. He said, all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out. He never broke a bruised reed or quenched a smoking flax of a truly repentant sinner. But I'll tell you another thing he never did. He never received the false, empty praise of men. or demons, we know who you are. We know you are.

Lastly, verse 38, 38, 39, 38, 39. 38 says, he said unto them, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils. This is our Lord. We learn here God's sovereign means by which the sheep are called out and the faithfulness of the Lord to honor his word. When the disciples came to the Lord, he told them, let's go into the next towns. He told them why. This is why.

That I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth and preached in their synagogues through all Galilee and cast out devils. Here again, in closing of just reiterating what I just said, this is the God-ordained means of calling out God's people.

While the world puts no emphasis upon the preaching of the gospel, the gospel, what they do, they put all kinds of emphasis on foolishness, on getting together and playing basketball and having, you know, just having a good time, religious activities and programs for the kids on entertainment.

If we can just get them in here, if we can just get them in here, we may be able to slip one in. We may be able to get one of them and just get them coming. If we can get them coming, I tell you, I remember years ago, somebody talking about the importance of having a bus ministry, and as far as being able to help somebody get to the church and stuff like that and pick them up. I'm all for that, I'm not saying, but whenever you have a ministry, and what you're trying to do, we're gonna entertain the kids. We're gonna get the kids, get them entertained, and get them in here, and I'm telling you, now when the kids come, then their parents are probably gonna have to come pick them up or something like that. And if we can slip them in, if we can get in here, We'll get them, and who knows, maybe one of them might get saved. Can you see how that reeks of just works and flesh and stuff?

The scripture. He said, let's go to the next towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils. He came as the great prophet of God. Our glorious redeemer, savior, advocate, our great high priest, the husband of his bride, the faithful friend of sinners, the Messiah. To seek, how do you say that? To seek and to save. that which was lost. Brethren, let us be found praying.

Lord, Don Fortner, I told you before, Don told me, he said, Marvin, I don't know anything about prayer. I don't know anything about it. But I do know my need to do so. Lord, help me to pray. Lord, teach me to pray. Show me yourself. Lord, keep me for your glory and my good. May we be found praying. Pray for, pray for Katie. Pray for the assemblies God's raised up. Pray for God's people. Pray that God might be honored and glorified. And God forbid that we should forget. Lord, help me to remember Pray without ceasing. Pray for everything. And I'm the world's worst. Don't let me succumb to the foolish thinking of, well, I don't need to pray about that. No. Yeah, we do. For God's glory and our good. Amen. OK, Gary.