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Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.
if you have your Bibles this morning, go back to the Gospel of Mark. That's where we are. We're in this series that we've titled The Story of Jesus. Not the stories of Jesus, though it is stories about Jesus, but we're just looking at the life, the manner, the message, the miracles of Jesus, and I want us to continue that. Now, as I just said, there's a lot of chaos out there. In fact, we are right now in an epic political season, and I say epic political season because I firmly believe that the outcome of this election is going to change history, and that's why it's so important. And one of the consistent things that you're hearing right now during this election season is how candidates repeatedly promise to fix things. You're even hearing some candidates who messed it all up telling us how they're going to now fix what they messed up, and I think it's kind of interesting. We hear promises, though, from all politicians that they have the answers if we'll just... Now, I believe we have to elect the right kind of people. I believe we have to evaluate, make smart, informed decisions that can and do make a difference. But listen, the fact remains above it all. Jesus is still the answer. And He always has been, and He always will be, because He's eternally consistent. In fact, in Hebrews 13a, it says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's eternally consistent. Nothing that happens in our world, nothing that happens in our lives, nothing that happens in our future undermines or overwhelms Jesus. And that's why we have to keep our eyes, as the Bible says, fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We are to keep our eyes focused on Him. I read about an incident I didn't know had occurred until I recently read about it. Arnold Palmer, the great golfing legend, was on the final hole of the 1961 Masters Tournament. And he told about that last hole, and he had a one-stroke lead, and he had just hit a very good tee shot. He felt like he was in pretty good shape to go ahead and win the Masters. And as he approached his ball in the fairway along the gallery that runs down the side, he happened to see an old friend who called to him. Arnold, he saw the old friend. The old friend stuck his hand out. Arnold walked over to the gallery to shake the hand of his old friend. The old friend said to him, Congratulations, Arnold, knowing that it looked like he was going to win the tournament. Palmer took his hand, and he shook it. But he said this. He said, As soon as I did, I knew I'd lost my focus. And on the next two shots, he hit the ball into a sand trap, and then he put it out of the trap over the edge of the green. He followed up by missing a putt, and he lost the Masters. Well, similarly, when you take your eyes off of Jesus and you get distracted by other things, you lose focus. And listen, when you lose focus, you lose. But likewise, eyes that are fixed upon Jesus recognize that just as he was 2,000 years ago, he still is today the answer. The answer to all the questions is Jesus. And I want to talk to you a little bit about what we learn today about Jesus and Jesus still being the answer for a culture that desperately needs to understand who he is and what he'll do for them. If you're physically able to do so, why don't you stand with me this morning as we read our text from Mark chapter 1, beginning in verse 29. Remember, this is the early days of his ministry. And immediately, he left the synagogue. He'd been teaching there, and he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now, Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately, they told him about her. And he came, and he took her by the hand, and he lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick and various diseases, and he cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed, and he went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. This is the next morning, of course. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And he went through all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues, and casting out demons. Now, Father, would you take your word, the holy word, the living word, not just words in a book, but words from the Spirit of God, would you teach us, instruct us, convict us, change us, challenge us, Father, whatever we need this morning, would you speak to us from your word? Would you anoint our ears so that we can hear? And then, Father, would you cause us to willingly obey you in whatever you speak to our hearts about? Now, Father, would you speak through me, anoint the words that I share? I pray, Father, that the words of my mouth will be acceptable to you. And, Father, I pray that you will direct to each of them, all for your glory and for our good. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. As I said, these are still the early days of the ministry. Jesus had just begun. In this setting, he has left the synagogue in Capernaum. Now, if you've never been there, you might not understand the geographics of it. It says he went into the home of Peter's mother. And if you go to Capernaum today, I told you that synagogue he's teaching at is the remains of the actual synagogue that Jesus spoke in. And if can sit there and I always like to share a devotional thought from that synagogue that Jesus shared in that setting. But if you go out of that synagogue and literally just 20 yards across, you go into a, they've got it fenced off where you can't go under because they've done excavations there. But you'll go to the remains of a home. Guess whose home it is? It's this home. It was Peter's mother's home. It's where Peter probably grew up. Peter, and Andrew, it was their home. And their mother-in-law was sick and she had a fever. And so Jesus goes in there. Well, he performs a miracle. And he raises her up. And then in this particular episode, we get this summary statement. So that's a specific, right? He raised up the mother-in-law of Peter. And then it gets a little more specific. And that he was casting out demons and he was healing as many, as who were sick. And these were, this kind of a summary of what he was doing. He was doing things that no one else had ever done. He was doing things that no one else could do. He was the answer, you see, to their issues. And the people at least understood that. They didn't necessarily understand exactly who he was, but they understood that if you get to Jesus, Jesus changes things. He did then. He still does today. You know why? Because Jesus is still the answer. People understood that then. We need to understand that today. There are a lot of, a lot of Christians who have forgotten that. There are a lot of church members that have forgotten that Jesus really is still the answer. I don't know what may be going on in your life. Those of you who are watching us on television or listening by radio or live stream, sitting right here in this building, you may be facing something. You've forgotten that Jesus is still the answer. I just want to remind you of that today. Jesus really is still the answer for everyone, for all of us. And it is the truth that we need to know. And so this morning I will show you three things about Jesus. First of all, I want you to see the ministry of Jesus. Several places it's expressed in the verses that we read, but I want you to see the particular ministry that Jesus called attention to himself. It says that he healed, he cast out many demons, and he was preaching in their synagogues. It's worth noting that Jesus' ministry is clearly expressed in our passage. He knew why he was there. I'll talk a little bit more about that toward the end of the message. But it's also expressed, his ministry, in Luke chapter 4. Another gospel, verses 18 and 19. Jesus stood up and he spoke, and he quoted the prophet, and he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus made clear what his ministry was. He knew what it was. And in both of those passages, our passage this morning, the passage in Luke, we see the three-fold ministry of Jesus that was expressed. And by the way, these three-fold ministries of Jesus are still present-day ministries of Jesus. So when you look at these with me, don't think, well, that's what happened 2,000 years ago. Understand that what Jesus initiated his ministry and his ministry is still going on today. And so first of all, we see his ministry to the diseased. Jesus was and is still the great physician. Do you believe that? Say amen. I've been asked on many occasions through the years, do I believe that Jesus still heals miraculously? My answer is absolutely. I've actually seen people that he's healed. You have too, I suspect. You've prayed for people and there's no explanation for why they recovered, why they got better, the healing work of God. Yes, I believe absolutely that Jesus still heals. There are some today, however, who, refer to themselves as cessationists. They say the gifts of God that established the New Testament church are gone. They were only there for the establishment of the church. The miracles of God, they're all gone. They left with the apostles. Here's my problem with that. You can't find that in the scripture. You can't find a termination point where the gifts of God, the expressions of the spirit of God, the ministry of healing, all those things, you can't find where those things departed with the apostles. The scripture never says, in fact, we see just the opposite. For example, in healing, we see in the book of James, it says, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders. And by the way, the elders are those who are mature in the faith. They may be older, but I've seen some pretty young, mature people. The point is the elders can be leaders in the church, but it can be others that are mature in the faith and call any of you, any among you sick, let him call the elders, bring them together, let them anoint with oil and let them pray. I've seen it happen. I've seen it work. The scripture does not say that healing stopped with the apostles or the gifts of the spirit stopped. But you say, so how does Jesus heal? Well, let me tell you some ways I think Jesus heals. First of all, I think Jesus uses medicine to heal. I think medicine is a gift of God. I'm not sure big pharma is, but I think medicine is a gift of God. And I think God uses medicine to bring healing. And that's why you ought to take medicine. Seriously, I've even recommended people. I take medicine, you know, because it has helped me. I believe Jesus uses medicine to heal. I believe that Jesus heals with miracles. Do you say amen? If you believe that Jesus touches with miracles, I believe that. And then I believe that Jesus heals with miracles and medicine together. Does that make sense? Say amen. If that makes sense. Okay. Y'all make me pull it out of you. And when you read the story of Jesus, you see him healing in a lot of different ways. Think about this. For example, one time he spit and then touched a deaf man's ears, and the man was able to hear. One time he made mud pies on the ground, and he put the mud pies on the eyes of the blind man. Y'all remember that one? Another time he simply spoke a word of healing. Still another time he, like, well, like in our passage, he went into. Peter's mother-in-law took her by the hand, lifted her up and healed her. Just his touch healed her. You remember Naaman in the Old Testament? And the man of God told him to do what? Go down and dip seven times in the Jordan River. I mean, that's an odd way to do it, right? And then on another occasion, you remember a woman who had a blood issue came up behind him and touched his garment, and he healed her as a result of that. The point is what? Jesus healed and heals in a variety of ways. He did then. He still does. Why do you think he did that? Well, I've thought about that a lot through the years as a preacher. I've thought, why did he use all these different methodologies to heal? Sometimes, you know, he just spoke the word. Oh, your daughter's well. Go, your daughter's well. Have you ever thought, why did he use all these different methods? I think I know why, because we have a tendency to create formulas for everything, don't we? And so if he had this formula, then we'd be trying to apply it to everything. We'd be trying to apply the formula and say, no, you didn't do it right. You missed a step. Or you said the wrong thing. But Jesus said, look, I can heal however I want to. And I think one of the big points for us is the common denominator in healing is get to Jesus. Now, go see your doctor. I love doctors. I saw mine this week. I saw two of them this week. I had my annual, they do this big workup on me, and it was good. I want you to know it was very good. You all stuck with me a little while longer.
But the fact is, get to Jesus. The key in all of the healing is what? Jesus.
And sometimes, now listen to this, sometimes Jesus heals by taking a person to heaven. Now, did you know that's healing? Now, I had to learn that. I didn't know that. I didn't really understand that when I was first in ministry, but I'll tell you how God taught me that. He taught me that with my own father. I was serving down in Clearwater, Florida, and one day I got a call from my older sister, who, by the way, is now a member of Ridgecrest. She can't get out and go anywhere, but she said, could I join Ridgecrest? And she's now a member of Ridgecrest, and she's watching right now, so I better tell this story right.
But I was in Clearwater, Florida. I was actually going to make a visit, and I was in my car, and I was driving. I remember, you know, when God does something unique, you remember all the details pretty much, and I remember where I was. I was right in front of the Biltmore Resort there in Clearwater. And I get this phone call, and it's my older sister, and she says to me, hey, Dad's not doing well. My dad, for about a decade, struggled with COPD. It eventually would take his life. And she said, Dad's not doing well. In fact, he's in the hospital. I just want to let you know that you may need to come home. They're not sure if he's going to make it through this episode. And so I said, just keep me posted. I looked for some strange reason. I know after the fact, but I looked at that moment. I had one of those cars with the old dashboard clocks, you know, and I looked at that clock, and I remember what it was, and it was like 3 o'clock. And I began to pray. I'm in my car. I began to pray, and I said, Lord, touch my dad. Healing. You know, bring him through. And it's 3 o'clock there. And so I keep driving, and then I felt this sensation. I guess that's the best way to describe it. It's done.
It's done. It's I kept driving, and I kept trying. I kept trying to pray, but at that point, I couldn't pray anymore. And I thought, well, that's bad, Ray. You're having trouble praying for your dad's healing now.
I don't know. It was, I tried, you know, went on, made my visits and that kind of stuff, and I don't know how much time elapsed, maybe a couple hours. My older sister called me back. She said, hey, she said, guess what? She said, there are no problems. Dad's sitting. He was in ICU. He's sitting up in the bed. He's talking to the doctors and everything. They're going to send him home. Everything has normalized. He's okay. You don't need to plan to come. Dad's okay. And I happened to think, what time did that happen? What time? She says, I don't know. It was about 3 o'clock. And then I knew why I looked at my clock, because that was when I prayed, and that's when I had that sense, it's done. God taught me something about prayer. He taught me something about listening to Him and why sometimes you can't keep praying for something when God has already answered, that sort of stuff. That's another subject matter. But God taught me something. Okay, so I'm going somewhere. Y'all just hang on. So, I don't know. I guess a period of time, of months, elapsed. And again, I get a call from my older sister. She said, you need to come home. Dad is not doing well. And this time, they really don't think he's in ICU. They don't think he's going to make it at all. And you need to go ahead and make plans to come home. And so, I said, I'll get a flight out first thing in the morning. It was late in the day. I couldn't get it there until tomorrow. So, I said, I'll get a flight out early in the morning. I got up the next morning early. I was praying for my dad. I was reading Scripture.
And the Lord spoke to my heart from the Gospel of Luke. And not the loaves and the fish, but if a son asks his father for fish, will he give him a serpent and some stuff there? Time won't permit me to go through all of that. So, the Lord speaks to my heart. And the Lord speaks to my heart and says, I'm going to touch him twice and heal him. So, I got on a plane. I went to Birmingham, flew to Birmingham from Tampa. And I got there, got in to see my dad. And by the time I got there, my dad was sitting up in the bed again. He was talking, communicating. We had a great visit. And shortly thereafter, the next day, they sent him home. And dad was doing good. And I stayed another day or so. But dad was back, you know, right? And I said, well, dad, if you feel like you're okay, I said, I'm going to head back home. He said, you go on. I'm great. I got on a plane and came back to Tampa. And I guess I'd been back about three days. My sister called me again. She said, you need to get back. He's taking another turn. And it's bad. It's a bad turn. Long and short of it is, by the time I got back to Birmingham, my dad had already passed away. And so, I'm a bit confused because the Lord told me he's going to touch him twice and heal him. And I'm asking the Lord. I'm talking to you. I hope you talk to the Lord. I hope you say, Lord, can you give me any insight or clarity? And I did. And he did. And he whispered in my heart. And I said, Lord, here's what I said to him. I said, Lord, you told me two touches. And I said, I saw the first one.
But I thought there was going to be another one. And just like that, the Lord whispered and said, this was the other one. He's healed. He's completely well. I'm convinced we don't often get that. But sometimes, listen, sometimes God heals us by taking us. Do you understand that? And I'm also convinced of this. If we really could see what heaven was like, we wouldn't be worried about being taken. We'd be trying to get out of here if we had a full understanding of that. Well, there is a sovereignty, my point is, about God's healing that does not always align with our desires. But it does align with the purpose of God. For example, I've been asked before about an infant's death. Well, what's the sense in an infant's death? Now, listen. It seems like an infant is taken earlier or a parent is brokenhearted. My mother lost a child before I was born. I didn't know that until many years later. And she would talk every once in a while about she expected to see that child again. I said, yep, you'll see that child again. And it was a boy. I said, you've got two sons. And I'll get to see him too because, you know, it dawned on me that I've got a brother that I won't see until I get to heaven. Amen. I sometimes wonder, though, why does God allow a child to be born and then be taken? Well, listen. The Lord helped me. Years ago, I said, Lord, give me some insight. I did one of the toughest funerals or memorials to do is a memorial for an infant. And so I'm saying, Lord, what is, you know, how do we make perspective of this? And the Lord kind of whispered to me. He said, listen, understand something. All of you were birthed for the kingdom of God. You weren't actually birthed. You weren't actually birthed to spend your life in this life. You've got a reason for being in this life. But he reminded me that an infant is born for the kingdom, to be a kingdom citizen. Now, by the way, when you get to heaven, you're not going to see infants walking around in diapers. All right? But God said to my heart, he said, you know what? I birthed them for the kingdom. That means a mom, as painful as it is to lose, you take hope in the fact that your child, is okay in the presence of God, and that God honored you by allowing you to birth a kingdom citizen. Does that make sense? You became the vessel. I know it doesn't make it easy in this life, but it helps us have perspective because God has birthed them for the kingdom and for kingdom use. And we'll see them again. They have a place in service in heaven. You know, heaven, this isn't a sermon about heaven, but it might as well be. Heaven. Heaven. Heaven is a place of activity. We're going to have roles and responsibilities. We're going to all worship around the throne of God. It's going to be an incredible place, but we're going to have responsibilities. We're going to have... Someone has said, it may have been Randy Alcorn, I'm not positive in his wonderful book, Heaven, which you ought to read if you haven't, but it'll give you perspective. But he talks about this whole responsibility, that maybe even the gifts that we have in this life, which are flawed because we're broken people, are perfected in us. It's in the kingdom. Just a thought. And so it's going to be a busy kind of active kind of place. It's a place of service in the kingdom. And that'll give you perspective about when God heals a person by taking them on home. Does that make sense to y'all? Or do I need to go another 30 minutes on that? No, no, no. We got it. So there is his ministry to the disease, the ministry of healing. Then Jesus spoke of his ministry of deliverance. Jesus specifically called attention... To his ministry of deliverance. We see it a lot in this book. As I told you last week, I'm not sure it is... I can't be certain when I say that this gospel may talk about the deliverance from the demonic more than the others, but it sure talks about it an awful lot. Jesus, a couple of times in this passage, points to his ministry of deliverance to those who were slaves to the devil and in bondage to sin. Galatians 1 and 4, Paul reiterates it when he says, Jesus, who gave himself for our sins, to deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God. So Jesus speaks of his deliverance ministry. And then he speaks of his ministry of declaration.
Verse 38 says that Jesus came bringing the good news and proclaiming the good news, declaring the good news. How do we know it was the gospel message? Well, look over at verse 14 of this same chapter where it says, Now, after John was arrested... Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming, there it is, proclaiming the gospel of God. Now, the word proclaim there is the same Greek word, keruso, that's used over here in verse 38 when it uses the word preach. Preach, proclaim, declare are the words that represent his ministry of declaration. He proclaimed, he declared, and the reason was to let the lost know that God had made a way for them. He had a gospel message that a price had been paid for their redemption. And did you know, while we need that message ourself, and if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, that message impacted you. It's the message of reconciliation that you and I would be reconciled to God. But did you know something? He also gave us that ministry too. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, 18 and 19, and this is...
That's the first kind of reconciliation. You have to be reconciled to Christ. If you don't know Christ today, I want to invite you to receive him as your Savior. That's the first kind of reconciliation. And he reconciled us to Christ. And then he goes on to say, and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. What is that? It is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us a message. Man, what an incredible passage. Look, if you say, I've done too much for God to forgive me, don't you ever believe that? The ministry of reconciliation is that all of us are sinners, and yet Christ died for our sins to reconcile us to God, to make us right with God. What a great message of hope and encouragement. And he says, so after you've been reconciled, guess what? You have a responsibility. Just like Jesus had this ministry of declaration, declaring the gospel. Guess what you and I have? We have the same ministry. It's been handed off to us to help men and women, boys and girls, be reconciled to God, to be made right with God. You have that responsibility. I have that responsibility.
Now, I tell you about this threefold ministry of Jesus, but his ministry is our ministry. So when you think you wrote those down, you just remember, yeah, that was Jesus' thing. That's our thing. That's our thing, too. This ministry of Jesus is our ministry today. You know why? Because Jesus is still the answer. The second thing I want you to see this morning is the sanctity of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus. But look at the sanctity of Jesus. You know what sanctity is about. It's about holiness. Verse 35, look there if you will. I hope you have your Bibles open. If not, open them back up. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. A desolate place, and there he prayed. You see, Jesus understood the importance of staying in touch with the Father. And if it was important to Jesus, who was God in the flesh, how much more so is it needed in our life? We want to be holy people. We want to be righteous people. Then we have to understand our proximity to Jesus makes a difference in that. Now listen, a lot of Christians want depth with God. A lot of Christians want depth with God. For some, they just want a fire insurance policy. But a lot of Christians, probably most Christians at least would say, I want to go deeper with God. I want depth with God. The problem is they just don't want to do what is needed to go deeper. Don't you wish you could just rub up against somebody that was super spiritual and it would just bleed off on you? It would be a whole lot easier, right? Oh, I just bumped into Billy Graham and just suddenly feel spiritual. Now, by the way, if you bump into Billy Graham today, I want to know.
Wouldn't it be great if we could do that? But you can't do that. You don't go deeper with God by brushing up against people that are deep with God. You may learn from them and it may inspire you. But the fact is, you're the one that has to determine how deep you are. Do you know most Christians are as far along with God as they really want to be?
So when it comes to sanctity and holiness and spiritual growth, there's just no substitute for time alone with God. So let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you, write these four things down. Let me give you four things that will be lessons for you in regard to being with God, time with God, that we see right here in this passage from Jesus. First of all, write down that Jesus was disciplined. It says rising very early in the morning. Now, I believe the lesson for us from that is not about what time you get up as much as it is about being disciplined to get with God. So don't walk out and say, well, I got to get, Brother Ray tells me if I'm going to mature, I got to get up before the sun. Well, you may need to. I believe, look, the key is getting with God, but understanding what you've got to do discipline-wise to get with God. Does that make sense? And Jesus got up very early. Now, why do you think he got up early? It's because when people knew he was up, they were after him. It's kind of like your schedule. You know, you get up, you get up, and then if you're not, if you don't get up with God, then other things suddenly start pressing in on you. And that's what was happening with Jesus. So he got up before anybody else could, including the disciples. You may not have to do that, but you're going to have to be disciplined. The second thing right down is that Jesus departed. He got away from others so that he could be alone with God. And here's what I'd say to you. If you want to go deeper with God, you're going to spend time with God, and you're going to have to get away from the crowd. It's hard to listen to God, when you're surrounded by a multitude of voices, cultural voices, media voices. Look, don't try to have time with God and watch television at the same time. Don't try to spend time with God while you're looking at the newspaper. You understand?
Depart. Get away from the things that will distract you, the voices that will pull upon you. Jesus departed. He got away from the voices and the people, and the disciples. He was disciplined. He departed. Number three, write this down. Jesus went to a desolate place. The place that Jesus went to was a place for him and God. And by the way, the Greek word there means a desert or an open place. It's desolate. It's translated desolate. That's very good, but it means a desert place, an open place. Now, here's why I think that's important. Because a desolate place, when you get in a desert with God, you hear a whole lot better. Now, I would just say to you, find your sacred place. What is that place for you? Find a place. In fact, make it a sacred spot where you meet with God. And it doesn't really matter as much what kind of place it is, is that you have a place, and when you get to that place, you and God connect. Listen, I didn't just say it's the only place you connect with God. I'm just saying you're talking about focused time with God. Find God. Get... Find your desert. Because your desert, your open place is where you'll hear from God. You know why? Because when you're in a desert, you're looking around and say, boy, there's just nothing here.
Speak, Lord.
Susanna Wesley, John Wesley's mother, she had so many kids. Ladies, listen to this. This will do your heart good. She had so many kids. You say, I've just got a couple. I think she had nine or ten.
And that's called the Great Tribulation. But she was a godly woman. And she had so many kids running around active that she couldn't find a place to meet with God. So you know what she would do? She would sit down in a chair. She would take her long apron and she'd pull it over her head. And the kids came to know that when Mama had the apron pulled over her head, she was meeting with God. And there she would pray and seek the Lord. You can find a sacred place. You can find a sacred place just about anywhere if you're willing. You know, I remember, and the sacred place, that desert place, that's where you'll hear from God. I think I've told you this a couple times, but let me repeat it again. You know, when COVID hit here and we shut down for a few weeks and I was coming in here and we were taping everything and, you know, putting it out on live stream, many of you continued to watch that. And I remember the first couple of times I did that, I came in here and, man, you weren't here. You weren't here. You weren't up there. You weren't down here. You weren't here. And I'm having to preach to a camera a message that I believe God wanted me to share, but I'm having to preach to. I was still doing everything that I normally did in the week and getting with the Lord and spending time in the Word and my study and preparing the messages and all of that kind of stuff. But then you walk in here and you go, wow, they're just not, the people aren't here. This is weird. And I had a pity party. I had. I felt sorry for myself because I didn't know if you'd ever be back, to be honest. We just didn't know what was going on. I didn't know if you'd ever be back. I didn't know if I'd ever see you. It was very emotional when y'all came back. I remember that. It was very emotional that Sunday I stepped up here and I saw many of you sitting out there. But I remember coming in here and trying to preach to a camera. I want to tell you, it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done because preaching needs people.
And suddenly I know the people are watching. I know there are people tuned in and all of that. In fact, we had more probably watching than ever before. I know all that. But when you're standing up here and you're looking out and it's a desert place.
You following me? It's a desert place. And I'm grousing when I'm not doing it for a first week or so. I just, I whine to God. Now, I know none of you have ever done that. But I whined to God. God, why? Why? God, this is so hard. This is, you know, and there's no one there. There's to respond. Emotionally or say amen or there's just no one out there. Lord, this is so hard. And I just whined and cried and whined about it. And I come in here. I remember I'm standing behind this desk right here and I'm getting ready to preach. And I said, God, it's empty. It's empty. And in that moment, the Lord spoke to me. See, I'm in a desert.
And he spoke very loud. There are events in your life where you remember when God speaks loudly. And God spoke loudly to me. In that moment, before I ever started that message, I'm grousing. Lord, there's no one here. I'm just preaching to technology. And the Lord whispered in my heart loudly, I'm here.
And if I fill the house, the house is full. If I fill the house, the house is full. And basically told me to shut up.
And he took me to the passage in Isaiah. And the train of his robe filled the temple. He said, you don't understand. Don't you get it, Ray? The house is full when I'm there. If nobody else sits out in the seats, I'm there. Be a faithful messenger and a faithful servant. Now, I tell you that to say, you know why I was able to hear that so loud? Because I was in a desert. It felt desolate. Dear friend, you find your place where God can get his word to you, where God can speak to you. And then write this down. Number four, Jesus was devoted. It says, As Jesus prayed, he went to seek God, and he prayed. It was about connecting to the will of God. You see, your time with God is about connecting. It's about hearing and growing in your knowledge of God and of God's purposes.
Jeremiah told the people of God, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And then he adds this, I will be found by you. You seek him with all your heart. Guess what? What God wants to be found by you. But it's going to take your discipline. It's going to take you departing. It's going to take you finding a desolate place. And it's going to take devotion on your part. And the reason Jesus could say, you know, in the Gospel of John, I always do the will of my Father. And then in the garden, he said, Nevertheless, not my will, but your will. Why could Jesus say that? It was because he spent time with the Father. Christians often say, Well, I want to know the will of God for my life. That's a popular question, and it's a good question.
But if you want to know the will of God for your life, you're going to have to spend time with God to know God and subsequently know his will. And he wants you to know his plans and purposes. He wants you to know them. And if you will spend time with him, you won't have to, listen, if you will spend time with him, you won't have to worry about finding God's will. He'll make it known. He'll make it known to you. He'll make it known to you when you're in his presence. that's about the sanctity, the lessons we learn from the sanctity and the holiness of Jesus. But here's the last thing I want you to see this morning. That is the destiny of Jesus. Verse 38, And he said to them, Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. The statement that Jesus gives there to these disciples points to the fact that Jesus understood his divine mission. And the divine purpose for his life. He understood. He said, we've got to go on. We can't stay here. We've got to go on because I need to take the gospel to these other cities as well. And this is the purpose for which I came into the world.
And Jesus reminds us to understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for our lives. You are here for a reason. Do you get that? You're here for a reason. Don't ever let anybody tell you you're an accident or you're a mistake. And Jesus reminds us to stay focused on the purpose that God put us on this earth. It could, you know, Jesus could have said, Okay, well, more people are trying to get to me here. I'll just stay here in Capernaum. That's where I'll stay. But he says, I can't stay here because my mission takes me to the other places for the same reason I came here. I need to go there. And he reminds us in doing so that we are to keep our focus on the purpose for which God has put us on this earth. I don't know if you've noticed, but for almost, for almost 24 years that I've been preaching to you, I have woven this theme throughout my sermons.
I have woven this biblical truth for the past 24 years throughout my preaching. And I have done that, listen, on purpose. No pun intended. But I've done it on purpose. And the reason I have and the reason I will continue to talk about spiritual purpose and destiny is because if a Christian ever gets this, it will transform. It will transform and change their life. If you understand that you are here for a reason, a purpose, it will transform, it will change everything about your life. It will change your worldview. The world will not look the same because it will be filtered through the lens of God's word and God's purpose for your life. It will change your behavior. You see, it will cause you to adjust your priorities and be more focused on doing. doing the most important things. And you know what the most important things? They are the kingdom things. They are the eternal things. And if you understand that you're here on purpose, it will bring deep personal satisfaction to your life. I believe nothing brings satisfaction like knowing you're living in the sweet spot that God designed for you. The most satisfying place on the earth is living in the purpose of God. And then it will free you to stop trying to be someone that you can't be. You see, living out the destiny of God in your life liberates you from conforming to the world. It frees you up to focus on your unique God-given purpose. So Jesus knew exactly who he was, and he knew what his mission was, and so he didn't try to play to the crowds or anyone else for that matter. He knew the mission. He knew his destiny, and so he lived his life the way the mission of God demanded.
How many of you have heard of Jesus? He lived his life the way the mission of God demanded. Many years before Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he ran a store in Salem, Illinois. And Abraham Lincoln had a rifle display in his store, and one of the rifles was one of the most beautiful rifles that had ever been made. And the barrel was from the finest steel you could use. The stock was from the best walnut wood. And a world-famous gunsmith had assembled the gun. And amazingly, the price on the gun was $1,000. And the price on the gun was $1,000. And the price on this incredible-looking gun was extremely reasonable. But displayed next to this attractive gun, there was a rack of ordinary Kentucky squirrel rifles. These long-barreled rifles were made from ordinary gun steel and plain wooden stocks. Yet the price on the squirrel rifles was higher than the price on this incredibly attractive rifle. A customer came in to the store looking for a new rifle, and he was impressed by the fine-looking, gun that was being displayed there. But he was confused as to why its price was much lower than the less attractive squirrel rifles. And so he asked Lincoln about that, to which Lincoln explained that the good-looking rifle was for show, while the others were for shooting. So the pioneer bought the Kentucky squirrel rifle. But a little while later on, a rich farmer came in, and he was decorating a room in his country estate. And he wanted to play with the rifle. And he said, place a gun over the new fireplace in this estate with all of his big game trophies. And so he saw Lincoln's fancy gun and said, I want that one. That's exactly what I need. The fact that it would not shoot was irrelevant. The purpose of the gun had changed. Now listen, God has given each one of us a purpose. We can choose to work for God's glory, or we can choose to be a decoration.
Friend, do you know your purpose? Jesus knew why he was here. And you can know your purpose and your destiny as well. How? It starts simply by establishing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You know why?
Because Jesus is still the answer. He's still the answer for all the questions. He's still the answer. But you've got to start there to understand your destiny. You've got to understand your purpose by understanding relationship with Jesus. If you've never done that, why don't you call on him today? The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will, it's a fact, be saved. Would you bow your head, close your eyes? Father, would you speak right now to all of us, whether on live stream or television, listening by radio, right here in this live audience. Father, would you speak to those who need to establish that relationship with you? Not a relationship with religion, but a personal relationship with God. Father, would you speak to those who need to relationship, a saving relationship, a born-again relationship with the Lord Jesus. Pray that for them to call on him. For others, Father, they need a home, a church home. They need to become part of the family here at Ridgecrest, and you're leading them there. Give them courage today to step out and do that. For others, they're praying for something. Maybe it's for healing, miracles in their lives, God, that are still available in Jesus Christ. We don't command you about that, but we certainly recognize that you still do them. Whatever the case may be, God, in these moments before we're gone, you speak in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you? Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. Sure has been a joy to share it with you, and even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ. Perhaps as you've watched this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ, the prompting of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the need for your own decision for Christ. The Spirit has caused you to recognize that you need Christ as your Savior, and the good news is you can receive Him right where you are. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Right where you are, you can call on Him. Say something like this from your heart to Him. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. I know I'm a sinner, and I know that you came into this world and died on the cross for my sins, and right now, I invite you to come into my life. Forgive me and be my Savior. I can assure you, if you'll call on Him, I'll tell you how I°are going to act. Then non-sinners will tell you how to become free! Speaker 1 Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 1 Speaker 4 watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to. I already know Christ as my Savior, and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family. Also, if you will, scan that QR code. That'll take you to a location, and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions like becoming a member here, or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things. So contact us through that QR code or through the contact information on the screen. Well, again, it's been a joy to have you with us today, and I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word. Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us. May the Lord bless you.