Mark Chapter 3 Verses 1 – 2

• Notice, Chapter 1 Verse 21…it’s the Sabbath…where’s Jesus? Church! He’s in the Synagogue! Then Chapter 2 Verse 23, Mark tells us it’s again the Sabbath and now where is Jesus yet again here in Mark Chapter 3? He’s at church again! “Uh, Jesus, aren’t you taking this Christianity thing a little too far? Don’t you know it’s Super Bowl Sunday? I mean church EVERY Sunday? Church EVERY Wednesday? This God-thing is cool and all but don’t go crazy!” Right!? Anyone ever say that to you?

• I know people that have been going to church their whole life and when they ask you on a Wednesday what you’re up to or on a Thursday what you did the night before and you say “I went to church” they’re like, “huh!?” “Church twice a week?” And you’re like “Oh YEA!” “Why? Are you a nut, one of those crazies…one of those…Jesus freaks?” Precisely! Because check it, Jesus is there! He’s always there! He loves church!

• Folks be like, “I ain’t going to church, I am the church…” What a cop out to not serve and to not grow and worst of all…terrible theology! If you are the church then this is where you’ll die with desire to be! Hebrews 10 says, “Let thou consider thine…” Oh sorry, went all King James on you…it says, “Let us consider one another, serve one another, fellowship corporately with one another, in order to excite love and good works by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, especially as the time of the return of Jesus draws nearer…”

• “Well we can do that “gwooooon down at the pawnnnn shop!” (Old Sublime song) Are you kidding me? Not only does that not even compute homeboy but check it out, does Jesus write letters to the pawn shop? No He writes letters to His church…and says “come out, be separate, come see Me…”

• “Where do you like to be Jesus, where can we find You?” Where do we see Jesus during His earthly ministry, every Sabbath? Every chance He can get? In the Synagogue, in the temple…and where do we encounter the risen Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet girded about the chest with a golden band. Head and hair like white wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. Feet like fine brass and the voice as the sound of many waters?

• I just read the description John gives us in Revelation Chapter1 and where is Jesus when John has this vision? Among the seven lampstands…which are what? The seven churches! Right!? Jesus, we see Him here again…on the Sabbath, in the church! And I love this thought. The only perfect thing in this church is Him. This church here in Mark Chapter 3 and this church here where we are today! And so He leads. He is the reason, the draw, the presence, the hope, the love, the truth man…

• And this is the perfect trap for Him…why? Let’s look…

Mark Chapter 3 Verse 3

• “Nope! Heal me right where I’m at!” Wouldn’t that be a ridiculous response? But man that is the response I so often give to God. “God, use me to plant a church.” And then I stay in Virginia. “God, would you bless me today at work? Help me to make wise decisions and lots of sweet mulla…(in the words of the prophet Kip)” And then I stay home. Seem ridiculous doesn’t it? Of course it does man…God places something on your heart, get after it! God can’t lead you if you’re standing still. Leading implies movement so move out! And you’ll find that God will meet you right at the intersection of fear and faith and when He takes off down the path called trust…that is when He has the opportunity to lead!

• “Step forward” He says here. “But I don’t know how to be a loving wife, a serving husband, a good father, a good mother…I don’t know how to get real about studying my Bible…I don’t know how to be more…” Of course you don’t! This man didn’t know how to unwither his hand either…not his job man…he only needs the desire, 5 seconds of outrageous courage and a pound of obedience…His job is simply to “step forward.”

• I love that!!!! All I am to do is muster up the courage to trust God. That’s it! Read His Word. Apply it! Become equipped to identify false doctrine and set my eyes firmly upon Jesus...Step forward…the rest is up to Him! And watch what happens (here and to you!) Watch what happens when you declare bankruptcy on all that some man or some woman originated in terms of belief and religion and you become a Jesus follower…watch the healing…watch the freedom…watch the withered life…dried up, lame, paralyzed, deformed…watch it stretch forth...let’s watch this….

Mark Chapter 3 Verse 4

• Of course they did! That’s their code. Their religion. It’s all about them! The implication here is that the law was not set in place so that God could be removed from the throne and the scroll placed upon it! But that is precisely what has happened here in Jerusalem…and here in our world…thousands of “faiths” out there that preach things entirely contrary to what Jesus taught…God Himself…Not just things like Buddhism or Islam but even quote/unquote faiths that clothe themselves in the title of Christianity and preach that Jesus was created…the brother of Lucifer…or that Jesus was just His stage name and His real name is Michael the Arc-Angel…

• Folks talking about if I don’t worship on this day or that day then I’m Satan’s spawn…man I worship eeeeeeeryday! How about you? Acts Chapter 20 tells us clearly when the disciples met for church…the first day of the week…Sunday, where were they Saturday? At the temple! Teaching the scriptures! Where were they Monday? In the streets teaching the scriptures!...Where were they on Tuesday? At someone’s house, teaching the scriptures…Where were they on Wednesday? At Village Inn for free pie man!!!! HA!

• Paul said forget days…they’re named after false gods anyway and just live worship…to live is Christ…back up off me with all of this false doctrine and let’s put Jesus back on the throne!

• But they answered Him not…why? Because that’s hard. My mom is a (fill in the blank). What will she think if I become a Jesus follower? My wife is a (fill in the blank) what will that do to us if I turn against what we’ve been up to for the past ten years (the implication of course…if I just give my life to Jesus)…I know it’s hard man…to even lay down the most popular and prevalent religion on the planet…”just living my life.” Oh but that’s the easy way to say it…”worshipping self.”

• Not following Jesus but loving Him through a window…when He’s calling you to come near to Him. To love those who are offensive and blind and dumb and don’t see the harm they do and oh by the way, don’t care…and yet His words are “Father forgive them” as He hangs on the cross, while our words are “I don’t like them…they aren’t good peoples.”

• But I don’t know how to be any different…Step FORWARD! Take your place man and respond to Jesus…quit answering the voicemails of the world…lay it down man…all the religion, all the self love…and be as you ought to be…a lover of God…yet…they kept silent.

• I’d rather be the man with the withered hand…and the implication is that he is avoided, hated, talked about behind his back…called names to his face…shunned…all of that…I’d rather be that then these weak ridiculous stiff-necked rulers anytime who have not even the guts to answer an obvious, simple question…

Mark Chapter 3 Verses 5 – 6

• You know, in the end of it all, Jesus just can’t help Himself. This was the perfect trap for Him. He has to heal this man. Any crippling area of any man or any woman’s life, when that person comes to Him simply willing to step forward…with a real desire to be healed…a desire that leaves everything else behind…He just can’t help Himself, that’s His very heart…to heal them right then and right there…no matter the cost…

• The cost…think about that. For the joy that was set before Him…you and I healed…many sons and daughters set free…He endured the cross…the idea is that He embraced it. That’s how much He loves healing…that’s how much He loves you and I free and alive and filled with life and joy and that’s how desperately He wants us with Him now and forever…that it cost Him His all…

• You know what that means? You are His all…He traded all He ever had for….you…so now, you are His all…is He yours? Step forward…today into life everslasting!