Mark 1:35-45 - What does Jesus do?

Our reading this morning is from Mark 1, verses 35 to 45.

Mark 1:35–45

We're on page 1003 in the Church Bibles.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.

Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed,

Everyone is looking for you.

Jesus replied, Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there also.

That is why I have come.

So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees,

If you are willing, you can make me clean.

Jesus was indignant.

He reached out his hand and touched the man.

I am willing, he said.

Be clean.

Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning.

See that you don't tell this to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest,

and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.

Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.

As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places.

Yet, the people still came to him from everywhere.

That's great.

Thank you, Natasha.

Keep your Bible open.

We're going to be working our way through that passage together this morning.

And let me pray as we come to God's word.

Let me pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray now as we come to your word that you might still our hearts.

There's lots of hustle and bustle in our morning service, and it's great because we love the fact there are lots of people here and lots of children running around.

And we're grateful to you for all of those things.

But we want now to listen carefully to your word to us.

We want to make the most of this opportunity that we have.

We want to pray for your blessing and your help for me as I speak, all of us as we listen.

Bring glory to your name, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I think perhaps one of the most important things that any church leader can do is to point past themselves to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's really important, isn't it, that anybody with any level of responsibility in the church, whether that's a leader in the church, whether you're helping out in Sunday school, you're teaching the children in creche,

whether you're leading a small group Bible study, whatever it is that you're doing, that you are actively pointing in your words and your deeds, cast yourself to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We want to say to people, think about him, not me.

Listen to what he says, not what I say.

Consider his words and his ways.

Jesus is the head of the church.

He is the leader.

He is our king, our shepherd.

And that's why at the start of our church merger, we have been essentially taking a very slow walk through the beginning of Mark's gospel.

We're doing that because we want to remind ourselves right at the outset of our life together as a church is that, listen, Jesus is in charge of all this.

Jesus is the one who we should be looking to, thinking on, pondering.

He is the one that we need to listen to.

We are here for his glory and not for ours.

I don't think really there's a better way for us to start our merged church life together than to take an unhurried look at the person of Jesus.

It's the foundation of everything else.

And I want this morning just to show you essentially three things that Jesus does in our passage.

So you'll notice that Jesus prays.

You'll notice that Jesus preaches.

And you'll notice that Jesus purifies.

He prays.

He preaches.

And he purifies.

And I just want to take each of those in turn and we'll consider them together.

Firstly, Jesus prays.

Look down at verse 35 again.

Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.

Now notice, just look at the words because Mark wants you to be very clear on exactly what's happening here.

Notice he says that it's early.

But it's not just early.

It is very early.

Literally something like it is muchly early morning.

Right?

And it's not just muchly early morning.

Look down again.

It is what?

Still dark.

It's before dawn.

And here's the image for us at the outset of our passage.

Jesus is there.

He's exhausted.

Right?

He's had a busy day responding to the needs of Capernaum.

If you look back at verse 33, the whole town turned up at the house and he has met all of their needs.

And then he's gone to sleep with the rest of the disciples in the house.

But now we find he's woken up, got up, left the house to a solitary place, leaving the others behind to pray.

So here it is.

It's probably, I don't know, 4, 4.30 in the morning.

Jesus is on his knees praying to his Father in heaven.

What would you get up at 4 a.m. for?

Maybe work.

Right?

Some of you have to do that, don't you?

An international flight.

Crying baby, maybe.

A sports game in a different time zone.

I know some of you have done that.

A box set that you can't stop watching.

But here we find Jesus, and it's not because he can't sleep, right?

It's not insomnia.

Nor is it the demands of somebody else placed upon him.

No, it's not that at all, is it?

Jesus, in a deliberate action, wakes up early, very early, while it's still dark.

Leaves the house and goes to a quiet, barren place to pray.

In other words, that desire that you or I might feel to watch a game or to catch a flight or to get to work on time.

Jesus had that level of desire to speak to his Father in heaven.

To have communion with his Father.

Now I know, and you know, because you've maybe heard this preached before.

This is what happens now at this point in the sermon, isn't it?

Lots of preachers saying,

Why don't you do that?

You complete waste of space as a Christian.

Why are you not up at 4.30am praying in the wilderness?

But of course that's not really the application of the passage, is it?

Because the application of the passage is not about you or me.

It's about Jesus, isn't it?

And actually Mark wants us to notice something about him.

He's not trying to beat us with a stick.

He's trying to show us something important about who Jesus is.

He's painting a portrait.

What he wants you to know is that Jesus, while fully man,

still his desire to be with his Father is greater than his urge to sleep.

So that even after an exhausting day,

Jesus got up early and was on his knees with his Father.

Now let's not rush through, right?

Let me just show you some of the implications of what Mark is saying here.

I think there are, I mean there are at least three.

I've got three.

Notice this.

I think this implies that Jesus and the Father know something that at this stage is still hidden from the other disciples.

You know that, don't you?

You know when two people sneak off for a private conversation,

it's because those two know something that you don't know?

That's why they do it, isn't it?

There's a plan.

And that's what's going on here.

It's why in verses 36 and 37, if you look down at them,

when his disciples wake up and they realize Jesus is gone and they're concerned that he's lost the plot,

they go and find him and they go, everybody's looking for you.

Have you gone crazy?

We've got work to do in Capernaum.

There's more people here who want to see you.

There are loads of people with stuff for you to do, Jesus.

And what are you doing out here in the wilderness?

But that doesn't cut it for Jesus, does it?

Because he's not here to do the will of the people, but the will of his Father.

The will of his Father has not yet been fully disclosed to the disciples,

even though the Father and the Son know what it is.

You could perhaps put it like this.

You know, God has a surprising plan.

A surprising plan that the disciples are yet unaware of.

And their idea that they could tell Jesus what to do

and tell him off for praying was ludicrous, wasn't it?

They're missing the point.

In fact, Mark underlines this in a way that you might not notice initially.

The word translated there, solitary place,

is the same word that he's used already for desert or wilderness.

It's the same word as in Mark 1, verse 13, where Jesus is being tested.

Mark 1:13

So Jesus has, if you like, retreated to the wilderness of testing.

He's gone behind enemy lines in the midst of a company of people

who have a plan for his glory that doesn't involve the suffering of the cross.

He's gone there to pray, to speak to his Father,

the author of the true plan, the one who really knows

that the plan for the Son is to go to the cross,

not to receive the glory of the people of Capernaum.

I think we can put it more deeply and more clearly than we've been doing so far.

I said to you before, didn't I,

that Jesus' desire to pray was greater than his desire to sleep.

I think it's more than that, isn't it?

It's more like Jesus' desire to accomplish his Father's plan

was greater and more significant than his desire

or his right desire for the human instinct to sleep.

If you like, to Jesus, salvation mattered more than sleep.

Let me just ask you whether you've ever reckoned with that this morning.

That Jesus here, by the fact that he retreats and prays,

is pointing to the fact that there is a bigger reality in the world

than human satisfaction and desire.

There is something more important in the world than a good night's sleep.

There's something more important in the world than a good meal

or even to be with your family

or even to live a comfortable life,

to accomplish academic or business success.

There's something more important than the city of your dreams

or marrying the man or woman of your dreams.

There's a bigger plan in the world than just the satisfaction of human desire.

What is it?

It's seen in the plan of the Father and the Son

to send Christ to the cross for the salvation of the world.

Now, it doesn't mean that any of those other desires are wrong.

It mustn't mean that we shouldn't, under any circumstances,

acquire those things either, does it?

But it does mean that God the Son in human flesh

is about something bigger and greater than just human desire and satisfaction.

The second implication is this, though, I think,

that Jesus, in his humanity, enjoys communion with the Father.

So not only are they in on a secret plan,

but also that Jesus loves to spend time with his Father.

We try to be really clear in these early weeks in Mark's Gospel

that Mark is just perpetually underlining the divinity of Jesus, right?

He's the Son of God.

He's God in flesh.

But what's also really clear is that Jesus is an ordinary man.

He sleeps, eats, works, and rests like the other disciples.

And yet, for the man, Christ Jesus,

his joy in communion with the Father

trumps this natural desire for sleep.

He wants to pray.

It's rather like in John 4.

I don't know whether you know the story in John 4.

His disciples go off to find some food to eat.

And they come back, and Jesus isn't really interested in food anymore.

And he says, no, in some ways, I've got something better than food.

My food is to do the Father's will, he says.

And of course, we know that this is right, don't we?

We know that the highest joy that even we experience

is not just acquiring stuff, is it?

You know, the great joy of a lovely meal

is not just the food itself.

It's the person you're eating it with.

You're enjoying their company.

Love, friendship, communion, if you like,

is the highest human good.

It's to enjoy the blessing of being with one another.

You know, even an introvert who loves their own company

still does not want to be alone

or in a loveless friendship or a cold marriage.

And here, Jesus the man seems to enjoy

that kind of communion with his Father in heaven.

It's extraordinary, isn't it?

It seems, in fact, that that communion that he enjoys

with the Father in heaven is actually the fuel for his ministry.

Three times in Mark's Gospel,

at points of testing and difficulty,

we find Jesus retreating into a place of prayer,

coming with his Father away from everyone else

to enable him to face what's coming.

Same idea in Mark 9,

when the disciples are frustrated

that they've not been able to cast out a demon,

and Jesus tells them,

this kind can only come out by prayer.

Prayer is the fuel for Jesus' ministry.

Communion with God is where the power and the strength flow from.

This is so challenging to me, right?

Think about it like this.

Jesus, the perfect man,

the saviour of the world,

God in flesh,

the one with the power to heal,

the one who can cast out demons,

the one who can walk on water,

the one who can calm the storm,

the one who can feed the crowd,

he is not first an activist.

Notice that.

He's not up early in the morning to engage in manic activity.

Instead, he's praying,

on his knees,

communing with his Father in heaven.

Think about what that means for the Christian life.

It means, doesn't it,

that the goal of the Christian Gospel

is not to set you about manic activity,

for you to do just a little bit more than is humanly possible.

No, instead, the goal of the Gospel,

the goal of the mission of Christ

is to invite you and I,

through his blood on the cross,

into a relationship with the Father in heaven

that is rich and deep

and the fuel for our lives.

You know, in enjoying communion with him,

the Father through the Son by the Spirit,

is more life-giving,

more strength-giving,

than even a good meal or a good night's sleep.

If you're not a Christian this morning,

what you need to know is really that,

essentially, becoming a Christian

is rather like being adopted.

In fact, that's the word the Bible uses.

We are adopted into the family of God.

We get to share in what we see going on here.

It's an invitation to join a new family,

a family whose communion is so deep,

so rich,

so refreshing,

so life-giving,

you would wake yourself up at 4am,

even if you were exhausted,

just so you could enjoy it and delight in it.

I think the third implication here, though,

is that the agony of the cross

will not be mostly physical.

It's easy, isn't it,

for us to imagine

the physical suffering of Christ on the cross,

and I know that it's a good thing

for us to know that

and to see it and to think in it.

You know, the nails in the wrists

and in the feet,

the crown of thorns pushed onto his head.

The idea that Jesus is breathless

and essentially dies by suffocation

in his own blood

as he hangs naked on the cross.

It's an awful form of human torture,

isn't it, the cross?

It's unthinkable.

But this verse here shows you

that's not actually the greatest suffering

of the cross at all.

Instead, to see the pain of the cross,

you need to see the severing of this communion

between the Father and the Son,

as in the darkness at the middle of the day,

Jesus cries out in a loud voice,

my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

Jesus, bearing the sins of his people,

is now unable to access

the presence of his Father.

The Father, for the first time in eternity,

is hostile to his Son

as he's clothed in the stench of our sin

and dies for its punishment.

God in flesh cut off

from his Father in heaven.

Now, of course,

that's the secret of the Father and the Son

here in Mark 1.

It's the wilderness

that the wilderness is pointing to, isn't it?

And the agony of the cross

is that it severs the very thing

that brings Jesus strength

and joy and courage and purpose.

The communion with his Father,

which is at the centre of who he is,

is broken at the cross.

And why?

So that you and I might enjoy it.

It's incredible, isn't it?

Jesus is clothed in our sin

and cut off from his Father

so that you and I might be clothed

in his righteousness

and enjoy communion with the Father.

We get what Jesus had

because he takes what we have.

He is put out

so that we might be brought in.

And Jesus prays here

so that you and I might pray now.

Jesus prays.

That's the first thing to me.

Jesus prays.

Second is that Jesus preaches.

I know we looked at this with the kids,

but there is a double emphasis on this

in verse 38.

Look down at verse 38.

Jesus replied,

let us go somewhere else

to the nearby villages

so I can preach there also.

That is why I've come.

So he travelled throughout Galilee

preaching in their synagogues

and driving out demons.

Here it is.

You see it.

This is why I've come,

verse 38.

Preaching is what I'm doing.

It's who I'm about, right?

Everywhere.

I need to go everywhere.

Even as he drives out

the devil's opposition

in verse 39.

Of course,

this is a massive surprise

to the disciples.

They thought they had a good thing

going in Capernaum.

You know,

Peter's mother-in-law's

in the kitchen

cooking up the food.

People are coming to them.

They're not having to go anywhere.

Sick people turning up

and being healed.

Fame and fortune

was theirs, right?

They got it sorted.

They got the program sorted.

But Jesus says,

no, no, no.

That's not why I've come.

I've come to preach

and I've come to preach everywhere.

Let's leave.

I've got to go.

Again,

and I know we mentioned this

with the kids,

but this is so important.

You can know

you've understood Jesus.

Not because you like

the idea of him.

You know you know Jesus.

Not when you've had

some kind of emotional

experience of Jesus.

You know, don't you,

that's the route

to shallow Christianity.

It might not even be

Christianity,

but it's extreme.

If the predominant dynamic

of your Christian life

is feeling around for Jesus

in some kind of

emotional experience,

maybe in singing songs

or in going to a place

where you think

you might sense

his presence,

if that's what

your Christian life is like,

you haven't met

the Jesus of Mark's Gospel

because the Jesus

of Mark's Gospel

is a preacher

and you know

you've met him

when you listen to him

and you listen

to what he says.

You know,

it's the point of Mark,

isn't it?

We don't scrabble around

in the dark for Jesus.

We don't hope

that if we attend

the right kind of service

with the right kind of vibe,

we'll meet him

somewhere in our guts.

No,

that's the road

of all sorts of dire mistakes.

Instead,

Jesus is a preacher

who demands,

listen,

listen to me,

says Jesus.

And that was the case

even when you could

reach out your hand

and touch him

because he was there.

And why do you think

that's the case?

Why do you think

the saviour of the world

has come as a preacher

and not a therapist

or a magician

or a spirit?

Why do we meet Jesus

in listening to his word

and not sitting in silence,

waiting to hear his voice

somehow in our heads?

Well,

surely that's because

it explains,

doesn't it,

that the problem in the world

is not the absence

of spiritual experience.

You know that,

don't you?

The problem in the world

is not the absence

of spiritual experience.

You can get spiritual experiences

all over the place.

You can get it

watching Liverpool Football Club

right now.

Believe me.

Right?

Probably not watching Arsenal,

but you could definitely

get it watching Liverpool.

The problem in the world

is not the absence

of sort of deep

spiritual,

emotional experiences.

No,

the problem in the world

is that we have

turned our back

on God

and what he says.

and the saviour

comes to preach

God's word

that we might

listen to him.

You know,

by nature,

we block our ears

to his word.

We say,

well,

we don't want to listen

to you.

I know,

okay,

God,

you've got some ideas

about what my life is for,

about what this world

is about.

But to be honest,

frankly,

I'm just going to

listen to myself.

And Jesus comes

and preaches

and says,

repent,

listen up.

I've got a message.

Let's just think

about this

for a little bit longer.

I want to just

grapple with this.

If Jesus

self-identifies

as a preacher,

a preacher for whom

it's more important

that people

across the region

hear his message

than it is

that people are healed

in one particular city.

If that's the case,

there's something

really surprising

going on

in these early chapters

of Mark.

I don't know

whether you've noticed it.

The surprising thing,

if Mark says,

listen,

Jesus is a preacher,

before anything else,

he's a preacher.

He can heal

and that's important.

He has power over sickness

and he has power over death.

He has power to conquer Satan.

But he's here as a preacher

with a message

that you've got to listen to.

What would you expect

the contents

of Mark 1-3 to be?

Surely you'd expect them

to be just transcripts

of Jesus' sermons, right?

But what happens

as you look down

at chapters 1-3

of Mark's gospel?

Well, you notice

there's hardly anything

of Jesus' preaching

in Mark 1-3.

It's not really

until you get to Mark 4

that you're given

any sustained account

of what Jesus

is actually saying

and teaching.

Yet still,

right here at the beginning,

Mark is telling you

that Jesus is a preacher.

Why would he do that?

Why say preaching

is the thing

and listening is the priority

and then not say

what's being preached?

Well, let me give you

two reasons for that.

The first reason

is that Mark wants you

to see that Jesus

is no ordinary preacher.

Jesus is a preacher

with authority.

You know he's said

that already,

don't you?

You've noticed that before.

In chapter 1-22

and again in chapter 1-27

we are told

that Jesus is a teacher

with authority,

a preacher of authority.

Jesus' sermons

are not like

a kind of TED talk

that gives you

a few interesting facts

or a management book

or a GCSE revision guide

or whatever.

Jesus is preaching

not just a few things

that you might need to know

of which you would

otherwise be ignorant.

No, Jesus is preaching

and his preaching

is powerful.

And you know that

because all of these miracles

in Mark 1

flow out of

the preaching of Jesus.

In other words,

it is the presence

of God's word

that leads to the absence

of sickness.

It is the presence

of God's word

that leads to the absence

of demons.

It is the presence

of God's word

that leads to the calling

of the disciples.

This is where

the third P comes in

if you can remember

by praying,

preach and purify.

Okay?

Here Jesus makes people pure.

Notice this with me.

He cleans and cleanses.

If you look down

at verses 40 to 42,

you see that Jesus

meets a man with leprosy.

A man with leprosy,

verse 40,

came to see him

and begged him

on his knees,

if you are willing,

you can make me clean.

Jesus was indignant,

probably with the disease.

He reached out his hand

and touched the man.

I am willing,

he said,

be clean.

Immediately the leprosy

left him

and he was clean.

Now,

the point here,

the distinction that Mark

is wanting to make

is that leprosy

is no ordinary disease.

Okay?

Leposy is a skin disease

that needs not only healing,

but it needs purification.

Leviticus in the Old Testament

was full of rules

and regulations

about what to do

with someone

with a contagious skin disease.

A contagious skin disease

excluded you

from God's people,

put you out of the temple

and meant that you could not

worship with God's people anymore.

You had to be outside

of the camp.

And Jesus here

does the scandalous thing

of doing what?

Touching the guy

with leprosy.

The thought was,

if you touch someone

with that kind of uncleanness,

that not just the leprosy itself

as a disease

was contagious,

but the uncleanness itself

was contagious.

If you reached out

and touched the person,

you would not only

probably be infected

with leprosy,

but you would receive

their ceremonial uncleanness.

So Jesus here

was being crazy.

He was doing something

that no one

would ever dream of doing.

And he reaches out

and touches the leper.

But what happens?

It's incredible, isn't it?

Jesus reaches out,

touches him,

and says the words,

be clean.

And the leper

is infected

with the cleanness

of Jesus.

It's astonishing.

The point to you and me

is, as we read Mark's gospel,

is Jesus' word

is able to make people clean.

Jesus' word

can do what temple worship

could never do.

The leper

is not only healed,

but made fit

for God's presence.

He is made clean.

The unclean

who are kept away

and excluded

and untouched

are brought in now

by the words of Jesus.

And verse 44,

they have to go to the priest

to be accepted

back into the fold

of the people of God.

See, this is why

there aren't long transcripts

in Mark 1-3,

because Mark is not

starting by recording

the detail of Jesus' preaching,

but showing you

the miraculous effect

of his preaching.

This is his introduction,

if you like.

Let me show you

that the messages of Jesus

have life-changing power.

Let me show you.

And over and over again

he shows it to you.

This is why this instruction

to listen to Jesus

is so life-giving

this morning.

You see,

if being a Christian

is sort of

feeling for Jesus

rather than listening

to Jesus,

you miss out

on this power,

because it is listening

to the word of Jesus

that has the power

to do what no other

religious action

or activity

could ever do.

Because Jesus' word

can drive out

and clean us.

Jesus' word

can forgive sin.

Jesus' word

can bring you

into an eternal,

beyond death,

kingdom full of truth

and goodness

and wholeness

and healing.

You'd be a fool

not to listen

to that kind of word.

But here's the second reason

I think that we're not

reading transcripts

of Jesus' sermons

even though he's come

as a preacher.

This I think is mind-blowing.

Because Mark's conviction

is that as he records

the events of Jesus' life,

he is preaching

the words of Jesus to you.

That's what he thinks.

In other words,

Mark thinks that

as you read his account

of what happened,

you are not reading

just his words,

but you are reading

the word of God

carried by the spirit of God.

You are reading

Jesus' words.

Mark is writing

what Jesus is saying

to you.

So that our job

as we read Mark's book

is not to kind of

work our way through it

and try and discern

where the words of Jesus

are in Mark's gospel.

No, we're to read

Mark's gospel

as the word of Jesus,

listening to it.

Mark isn't writing

to tell you

about God's word, right?

He is writing

God's word.

He is preaching

to you.

And we saw that,

didn't we,

in the very first week.

He knows he's writing

like a new Genesis 1 account.

In the beginning,

a new creation story

about a new kingdom,

a kingdom of life

and forgiveness

and healing

and glory to God

instead of this creation story

of darkness

and death

and destruction.

and he believes

that as he writes,

you are reading

under the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit

God's words.

I think this is perhaps

one of the most important

lessons about the application

of the Bible

for us this morning.

It's difficult,

isn't it,

sometimes with the historical

documents of the Bible

to go,

well, that's all very well

and it means it would have

been great to be there

when Jesus was preaching.

Imagine that.

But actually,

what we're realising now

is that it's not

so much that it was cool

to be there then,

but it's really cool

to be here now.

You know,

Mark is not really

a biography of Jesus.

I know that that's sometimes

how we talk

because it kind of explains

a little bit about what it is,

but Mark is not a biographer.

Mark's a preacher, right?

He's a prophet.

He thinks that you engage

with Jesus,

you meet Jesus

as he walks off the pages

of this book

into your life.

Let me say,

this is why God's written word

is always at the centre

of the gatherings

of God's people.

It's always at the centre

of our worship services.

God's word will be the content

of the songs that we sing

because the musicians

are not here

to kind of hype us up

for some kind of emotional experience

outside of the truth

of God's word.

No,

they are here

to help us

enjoy and express

the beauty

and the wonder

of God's word

and God's truth

as we sing to one another

to the glory of his name.

It's why we believe

in preaching

because we believe

that the spirit of God

who inspired these words

has been at work today

when these words

are read and considered.

It's why our church

is kind of both

hopefully historic

but also contemporary.

we meet here today,

we meet here now,

we don't all dress

as if it's still

the 19th century.

We don't talk like that,

we don't read a Bible version

that's full of words

that are written

like they were written

by someone hundreds

and hundreds of years ago.

We're contemporary,

we're based here

and now in 2025

but we're also historic

because God has been preaching

this same book

for centuries

and we stand

on the shoulders

of men and women

who have heard it

before us.

And so the invitation

each week here

as we come to church

is come and meet with God.

Come here

and meet with God.

Hear from him.

Come and be fed by him.

Come and listen to him.

Let me finish

with a little story

about myself

and how this kind of

came home to me.

I can remember clearly

when I started to learn this

about God's word

and how it worked.

I was a student

at university in Sheffield.

I was a Christian

when I went to university

but I was really

a baby Christian

and I was the worst

kind of baby Christian

because I was a baby Christian

who thought they were

a mature Christian.

That's the worst

kind of baby Christian.

It's okay to be a baby Christian

if you know

you're a baby Christian

but if you think

you're a mature Christian

what you actually are

is a bit of a fool.

That was me

at university.

I thought I knew

a lot more than I did.

And I went to church

which was a little bit

different to the church

I'd been to back home

and it was very ordinary

though really

in lots of places.

It was very straightforward

and ordinary.

It was a parish church

just outside Sheffield.

But at the centre

of the services

was a pastor

who would just

open up the Bible

and explain it.

I don't think

I'd ever really experienced

anything so ordinary really.

And I remember

sitting there thinking

as he preached about

I could have seen that.

Like what's the big deal here?

But as I went

week by week

slowly but surely

my life was being changed.

And I had this new

hunger for God's word

that I'd never experienced before

and I'd go back

to my room at university

and would just

read and read

and read and read.

Couldn't get enough of it.

And slowly but surely

the things that I was

really interested in

and keen on

and wanted to do

with my life

they were being

shaped and transformed.

How?

By a very

very ordinary process.

of someone standing up

and explaining God's word.

It turns out

that God does

extraordinary things

through ordinary means

in our lives.

And that was my experience

and I hope and pray

that's our experience

as a church

that as God's word

is opened up

week by week

you find that God

is doing something

extraordinary in your life.

Growing your love for him.

Your trust in him.

Your experience

is the greatest

of this great communion

with Father, Son and Spirit

that is greater

than any other desire

you might have

as you too

take this message

to the world

that others might hear

this great news

that Jesus speaks today

and you can hear him

if you will open

a Bible and listen.

Let's have a moment

of quiet

as we think

and ponder in our hearts

and then I'll pray for us.

Let's have a moment

to the world

and thank you

for your love for you

and thank you

and thank you

for your love for you

loving Heavenly Father

thank you that you

speak to us today

that these words

that we have read

are not simply

what Jesus did

in the past

but are what you are

saying to us today.

Thank you that your word

today carries

the same power

as it ever did

the power

to bring life

the power

to make clean

the power

to heal

the power

to bring people

into your eternal kingdom

and so Lord

we pray

please make us

good listeners

we ask

that we might have

tender hearts

which are hungry

to listen

to what you say

to us

that we might

listen carefully

for the glory

of your name

Amen

Amen