Morning, everybody. Uh happy Sunday. I'm Nathan Farula, and today I'll be reading Mark 1, uh verse 29 through 39. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening, after sunset, the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demon speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to solitary place where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and they and when they found him, they exclaimed, Everyone is looking for you. 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 traveled throughout the Galilee, preaching their synagogues and driving out the demons. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Great job. I love it. Well, it's good to be with you. My name's Lawrence. Uh, we are going through the Gospel of Mark. We teach the Bible here verse by verse. It's called expository teaching. And as you just heard, Red, we're gonna go through 10 verses today. Congratulations. That's actually a lot for us. Um, and frankly, uh, we have been screaming through so much, and we haven't even hit 30 verses in this new gospel. Uh, the Gospel of Mark is actually the second book in the New Testament that chronicles the life uh of Jesus as this biography. And Mark uh was a scribe of Peter, where Peter was a disciple. He got most of his information from him, and then Mark helped this gospel then travel around. And we talked about that a little bit. You can go back on YouTube and listen to it or watch it. If you're newer with us, you've only missed a couple weeks, but you've missed a lot uh in those 30 verses, well, not even 30 verses. Uh so just to catch you up a little bit, right off the bat, we are just introduced to Jesus. Uh, there's no Christmas story, there's no nativity scene, it's just man on a mission right away. And then we uh get introduced to a guy named John the Baptist. Uh, and then we see Jesus is baptized with him. He goes out into the wilderness, comes back, calls some of his first disciples. And then last week we were in a synagogue, literally watching Jesus rearrange spiritual furniture, uh teaching with authority, evicting demons in this church, and leaving this whole room blinking in holy shock. And Mark, right here, being Mark, blood type espresso, doesn't slow the story down. It just keeps going. He doesn't give us a transition. He just says, anyway, moving on. It says, and immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon, who's Peter, uh, and Andrew with James and John. So immediately, again, this word, Mark loves this word so much, I think he should have his own merch. Like we're constant, everything's immediate, it's fast. But look at this shift from synagogue to living room, from a public spiritual showdown to the kind of space where you can kick your shoes off and help people don't judge the pile of laundry that's on the chair, right? Because this is the gospel's next big surprise that Jesus doesn't just move in sacred spaces, he moves in your actual life, like your house, your clutter, your Wednesday. And Jesus doesn't just stay in your spiritual moments, he follows you home, like he moves from your Sunday to your Monday, from your aisle seat to the kitchen table, or from this sermon to your sink, that your real life is where he does some of his best work. And if last week showed us that Jesus' authority is in the spiritual realm, this week I really believe shows his authority in the everyday human realm. And if you were trying to figure out how your faith fits into your apartment life or your school schedule, your DoorDash spending or your relational chaos, I'm telling you these verses today are for you. The first house Jesus walks into has a problem. Been there? The moment they step inside, Mark tells us this. He says, Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they went and told him about her. So this isn't, we gotta understand this, isn't like a small fever. In the ancient world, this is the equivalent of a medical emergency. And the first miracle of this passage is that someone told Jesus, instead of pretending everything was fine. Ever been there, right? You ever done that one? Hey, you good? Yeah, I'm fine. Nobody clears it up. Nobody pretends, they just tell Jesus. Uh they they let Jesus walk straight into the real issue under their roof. And honestly, that's where transformation always begins, at the place where we're usually tempted to hide. Now, pause just for a minute. Let's just acknowledge the theological courage of Peter for letting Jesus heal his mother-in-law. Like some of us would have been like, Lord, listen, you've already healed a demon guy today. Like, pace yourself. There is no need to push this particular situation right now. But not Peter. He brings Jesus straight into the real problem happening under his roof. And that's the heartbeat of this passage. That real faith starts at home before it ever shines in public. Now, when Jesus enters the house, he doesn't lecture, he doesn't uh comment on the decor in that space, he doesn't start a Bible study, he walks right toward the place of pain. This is who we always see him be. It's not dramatic, it's not loud, it's not this Instagram worthy thing, it's personal. And then we get this sentence. And he came and he took her by the hand, he lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. So just slow down for this. We're just gonna keep it up here for a minute. Just save her this sequence. First, he came. Jesus moves towards pain, not away from it. Next, he took her hand, not a resume, not her religious record, not her strength, just her hand, just who she was in that weakened moment. And then he lifted her up, not gently suggesting, like, try standing. He literally raises her into this new ability, to which then it says, the fever left. No fanfare, right? No shafar blast, just wholeness, instantly obeying authority. And then this last little, I think, kind of odd line, she served them. I think some people read this as like she got up and made sandwiches, like that was her job. But it was deeper. She stepped back into her purpose. She wasn't just healed, she was restored. And restoration always shows up as this new, renewed ability to love, to bless, to participate, to pour out. And that's the heartbeat of Jesus' healings. He doesn't just fix what's wrong, he reawakens what's right. Now, Mark continues the momentum here. He says, That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick, all who were sick and oppressed by demons. To which we ask right off the bat, like, why sundown? Well, that was because it was a Sabbath. So people needed to wait or wanted to wait until the religious restrictions had lifted, and then they ran, right? Have you ever noticed when hope becomes real, people move real fast? And then Mark adds the whole city was gathered together at the door. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, this is this is this is crazy dramatic. Just picture this. Peter's house suddenly becomes the urgent care clinic, the mental health center, the prayer meeting, the deliverance service, the tent revival, like all at once. Like anything that hurts, anything that torments, anything that chains, they drag all of it to this tiny little house in Capernaum. Like imagine the streets outside of that. This crush of humanity, eyes tired from long battles, or bodies just twisted from years of pain, people whispering, hoping, leaning forward, and Jesus in this moment, steady, present, unhurried, meets every one of them, the entire city at one door. I think this is a less casual evening hangout, more like Black Friday at Best Buy when they've only got two big screen TVs left, right? This is a moment. And Mark summarizes it so simply. He says, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. I think there's almost something frustrating about how understated Mark is here. Like if it's us, we'd just make this, I think, into a bigger moment, filming every angle. This is this huge testimonial montage, slow motion, a track behind it. But Mark just drops, he healed many. Like the power is casual to Jesus, the compassion is natural to him, the deliverance is effortless to him, and Jesus doesn't strain to free people. Because freedom is what happens when he walks into the room. And then Mark includes a line that reveals why that night stayed holy and didn't just turn into a spectacle. He says, and he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. Jesus does not let darkness narrate anything. He refuses to let the wrong voice shape the moment. He's protecting the people, the atmosphere, the message. He doesn't just cast things out, he silences what shouldn't shape anymore. And that's what he still does with us. He quiets the voices that lie, the ones that accuse, the ones that replay the past on loop, the ones that try to script your future in fear. Jesus is not just a store, a healer, he's a literally a storyteller for us. And he won't, I'm telling you, friends, he won't let the enemy write a single line of your identity. By the way, this line of they knew who he was is again why this is called the secret gospel. We'll hear this again and again throughout the Gospel of Mark. But now comes one of the most Jesus moments of the whole gospel. You'd think after a night like this, he'd sleep in or he'd debrief the disciples on what just took place, or at least eat the leftovers from this crazy miracle party. But next, Mark just writes, and rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place to pray. This is the part of Jesus most of us don't imitate because, well, I think it's because we think sleep is ministry too, right? We don't get up, we don't want to rise that early and do these things. But look at what he's doing here. He's stepping away from noise before noise starts. He's seeking direction before the demands arrive. He's anchoring his identity before the crowds try to define him. This is how Jesus moved through life. Quiet first, then clarity, then courage. Before he faces another town, another uh need, another broken heart, he faces first the Father. And in a world that's wired for constant noise, this is not just a spiritual discipline, this is spiritual resistance. I mean, a question if Jesus himself needed a quiet place, how much more do we? If the Messiah needed silence to stay centered, what makes you and I think that we can live off of podcasts and inspirational reels? Mark says. And then Simon, and those who are with him searched for this word searched, as in like, Jesus, you can't just disappear, like you're the whole operation. And then they finally find him, probably out of breath, probably slightly annoyed and definitely stressed, and say, Everyone's looking for you. Like everyone's looking for you. And I think this sentence is a sentence that shapes half of our modern anxiety. Everybody's looking for you. Everyone expects something from you. Everybody needs you to be available, amazing, consistent, impressive. But Jesus refuses to be defined by everyone. And with one sentence, he decides the next movement of his ministry. Says, let's go on to the next towns that I may preach there also. For that is why I came. And because he knows it's it's because he knows it's calling. And I think that you feel that hit a little bit differently depending on who you are in the room. For some of you, you hear freedom, some of you hear challenge, some of you hear direction, some of you hear release. But all of us hear Jesus modeling a life where identity and mission come from the Father's voice, not from public demand. Jesus has just told the disciples, he's not going back to the hype, he's not returning to the crowd that's waiting at Peter's door. Instead, he says, Let us go on to the next towns, for that is why I came. And in the single sentence, Jesus confronts a truth that we spend our whole life avoiding. Not every open door is your assignment, not every demand is your direction. And so then Mark just simply says, and he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their churches and casting out demons. That's the final verse of this section today. Short, it's clean, it's undramatic, but it's loaded. Because what looks simple in one sentence is actually a map of how Jesus lived every day of his ministry and how we are invited to live ours. So that's it. That's all of it for today. But here are just a couple things I think we should highlight. Jesus keeps teaching us that spirituality is not a place, it's a presence. See, where he brings the kingdom into a synagogue where people hid their demons behind religious normalcy, into a house where sickness lived in the back room, into a night where the whole city jammed the front door, into a silent morning before the sunrise, into towns that weren't asking for him yet. This is Jesus as we meet him in the opening chapter of Mark, always moving outward, always expanding the circle, always refusing to just stay where it's comfortable, always meeting people in whatever condition he finds them. And he doesn't build fences. We see him building roads. He's not trying to build a platform, he's building pathways. He doesn't stay where he's just been applauded. He goes where people are bound. And this is the Jesus the early church followed into cities, deserts, fishing villages, marketplaces, prisons, refugee trails, and underground gatherings. I love this lesson. Jesus refuses to let yesterday's success define today's mission. You know, healing a whole town is not small. Casting out demons all night is not small. Becoming the most sought-after person in a region isn't small, but Jesus doesn't let momentum decide this next direction. He lets the Father decide. And so he wakes up early, steps into silence, holds his calling open with open hands, and then listens again. That's what the morning prayer was about. Not performance, not piety, not some checks box spirituality. Jesus went to the quiet because clarity lives there. And if you've ever lived in a season where everyone wants something from you, your time, your emotional energy, your approval, your presence, your strength, some of you already know that without prayer, purpose gets real blurry because crowds try to crown you, pressure tries to redirect you, people try to manage you, and hurry tries to thin your soul. But Jesus shows us this different rhythm. He says, Hey, retreat before movement, stillness before assignments, purpose before pressure. Jesus is showing us, I think, what it's like to be a free human, what a free human being looks like. See, a human who is free is not controlled by crowds, not defined by expectations, not shaped by other people's praise, not manipulated by need, not hurried by urgency, not trapped by yesterday's success, and not bound by where they have been. He is, we see this, he is rooted, free, focused, free. He doesn't stay where it's familiar, he doesn't stay where it's comfortable, he doesn't stay where other people want him. He goes where the father sends him. And this is where this subtle discipleship of these 10 verses in Mark takes us. It hits, I'm telling you right now, every personality, every temperament, every wiring in the room without calling you out because this is, I already know this, I can see it. Some of us need permission to move forward. Some of us need permission to slow down. Some of us need permission to step away from expectations. Some of us need permission to step into purpose. Some of us need permission to stop carrying the weight of everyone is looking for you. Some of us need permission to leave one chapter so God can open another. Jesus moves with freedom. That calls our freedom forward. And where Jesus goes, the kingdom goes. Wherever the kingdom goes, freedom goes. And wherever freedom goes, bondage breaks. Mark wants the reader to understand something primal and powerful about Jesus. He is not building a fortress, he is launching an invasion, not with swords, not with political power, not with violence, but with presence, compassion, authority, teaching, healing, deliverance, calling, clarity, prayer. That's heaven on the move. Now, real quick, just imagine being Peter, Simon Peter here. I mean, yesterday Jesus was in your boat, today he's in your house, tonight, you know, the whole city's at your door, tomorrow he's praying in the wilderness. By breakfast, he's telling you it's time to move and go to the next thing. Like Peter is learning not from a lecture, but at the pace of Jesus' life. And that caring in life includes both crowded nights and lonely mornings, that success is not the signal to settle, that clarity comes from direction, and that intimacy with the Father actually fuels everything else. Learning that obedience sometimes means leaving applause behind, and that freedom is not staying where you're wanted, but going where you're needed. And then you have James, John, and Andrew. They're all observing this. Like their picture of the Messiah is literally being rewritten in real time. And frankly, so is ours. So what does this mean for us? Well, I say, let's bring this from Capernaum to your world, to your apartment, your job, your car, your friend group, your prayer life, your uh inner battles. Here, I think, are six invitations that are sitting inside of these 10 verses today that we can glean from. Invitation number one: let Jesus into rooms you avoid. The ones with sickness, the ones with exhaustion, the ones with shame, the ones with secrets, the ones that feel unfixable. He isn't repelled by those spaces. He walks straight towards them. And there is nothing in your life, nothing in your life he would rather heal than what you keep hidden. Invitation number two. Let him lift you up, not just help you. The mother-in-law didn't like partially recover. She didn't slowly stabilize over time. It says she rose. And some of us need to stop aiming for better than before and start believing for raised into purpose that there is more available than relief. There is restoration. Invitation number three, I think we glean from this, is we need to let Jesus speak louder than the voices that chain you. Some voices need to be silenced. The voices that shame you, the voices that trap you, the voices that replay old mistakes, the voices that narrate your future in fear. Jesus has the authority to mute what torments you. Find your quiet place. Not because, like, you're super spiritual, not because silence is glamorous, but because you cannot carry what God has for you if you never stop to hear him. Before you face, everyone is looking for you. You need the one who is looking at you. Invitation number five. Let obedience outrun opportunity. Jesus walked away from success to stay faithful. He left applause for an assignment. He left popularity for purpose. He left certainty for calling. And sometimes your next step with God won't feel strategic. It won't feel simple, quiet, almost invisible. But faithfulness is never wasted. And invitation number six. Expect the kingdom wherever you go. Jesus didn't stay confined to one place, and neither does his presence. He can move in the house that you rent, in the job you tolerate, in the car you pray starts every morning, in the group chat that needs healing, in the silence you avoid, and in the place you feel stuck. Your location doesn't limit his liberation. So let me just land the plane for us today. I'm sure many of you feel like this chapter of Mark hits close to home. Some of you feel the pressure of everyone is looking for you. Some of you feel stuck in the room where the fever hasn't broken yet. Some of you feel like your life is the crowded street outside Peter's door, chaotic, overwhelming, noisy. Some of you feel like Jesus is stepping into your morning, calling you forward. And even some of you feel like you're walking away from what's familiar and you're afraid you misheard him. But here's the truth. There's a truth following through this whole passage today. Jesus knows exactly where to find you and exactly where to lead you. He walks into rooms that you thought were too messy. He lifts people you thought were too broken. He silences voices you thought were too loud. And he wakes you early when your purpose needs recentering. And he leads you forward when comfort begs you to stay. Jesus walked into Capernaum once. And today he walks into your life again. And just like them, he's not done moving. Will you stand as we respond in worship?