The Practical, Powerful, Providential Ministry of the Almighty, Mark 3:7-12
Mark 3:7-8
But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from
Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea
and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when
they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.
In the verse right before our text opens, the stuffy,
high-nosed religious elite crossed the point of no return. After Jesus healed a
man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees immediately went out and
conspired with their enemies, the Herodians, on how they might destroy Him.
Jesus had been showing them and telling them
repeatedly who He is:
- He
healed the leper—and everybody knows, only God can heal lepers.
- He
forgave sins—and everybody knows, only God can forgive sins.
- He
called Himself the Son of Man and Lord of the Sabbath—and everybody knows
that refers to the Messiah.
But after His repeated invitations met their repeated
rejections... He withdrew.
Church, we pray that is never true of me or you. When
a heart hardens itself against Truth, it withers and grows numb until no amount
of conviction by the Holy Spirit will get through. It is from that dark place
in the Pharisees' hearts that Jesus withdrew.
But the Son always finds another place to
shine.
Without missing a beat, Jesus headed for the shore. He
left the stained glass and steeples for sunshine and beaches. He didn’t go to
some fancy cathedral, He stood on the shore, by the sea, like a voice crying in
the wilderness.
And the people came.
These weren’t the elite. They weren’t the
self-righteous religious insiders. These were common folks, from common places,
the needy, the sick, the lame, the outcasts, the despised, and the rejected.
This sounds like the parable Jesus told about the Great Banquet in Luke 14.
When the preferred, prominent, elite guests rejected the Master's invitation,
the Master didn't cancel the feast. He sent to the streets, the lanes, the
highways, and the byways to compel the outcasts to come in.
Notice a Divine national object lesson.
God blessed
ancient Israel and promised to make her a blessing to all the nations. However,
they largely rejected their Creator. Because of that rejection, they were
judged and never fully occupied the full 300,000 square miles God promised to
Abraham. Today, they live on a tiny fraction of that land—about 8,000 square
miles.
America, on the other hand, invited Him. We built our foundation on Him, weaving Scriptural truths into our founding documents. Multitudes have flocked to our shores seeking blessing, just like those desperate crowds flocked to that Galilean beach. God has blessed America from sea to shining sea, in part, to show Israel, "This is how you were supposed to do it. Trust Me, call on Me, obey Me."
Likewise, Israel’s history is an object lesson to
America: even the most blessed, prosperous, powerful nation will fall under Divine judgment when it turns from its Creator.
Mark lists seven distinct regions from which the
crowds flocked: Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Transjordan, Tyre, and
Sidon. Sidon was a grueling 50-mile journey through mountainous, hostile
terrain. Idumea, in the south, was over 120 miles
away.
While the religious elite wouldn't cross the road to
receive the Truth, desperate souls would spend a week on the road just to catch
a glimpse, or touch the hem, of His garment. Today, folks stay home if there’s
a cloud in the sky. That lukewarm apathy causes spiritual atrophy and makes God
want to puke. Revelation 3:15-16.
We look at the election results, our hearts grow heavy
and we wonder if the church stayed home. But remember: the power, authority,
and sovereignty of Almighty God has never been determined by a ballot box.
Earthly rulers come and go, but the Lord remains on
His throne. When culture grows dark, that is not our cue to throw in the towel—that
is our cue to trim our lamps and shine brighter!
If you don't quit you win. Gal. 6:9.
God does not need a political majority to bring a
revival.
Mark 3:9-10
So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because
of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10 For He healed
many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.
Here we see working simultaneously the Practical and Providential
Ministry of the Almighty.
Jesus told His disciples to keep a small boat ready
because of the multitude, “lest they should crush Him.”
Practical needs of ministry must be met for ministry
to continue:
- The
boat, a pulpit.
- The
water, a sound system.
- The
sandy shores, a sanctuary.
- All
combined to provide crowd control, “lest they should crush Him.”
Don’t forget the practical needs of the people. A
great multitude came when they heard how many things He was doing;
not things He was saying.
They packed that beach for the same reason people pack
an Emergency Room. They had physical needs, and they heard Jesus could heal
them.
That is the Powerful,
Providential part of the ministry of the Almighty.
He healed them.
He didn't make them pass a theological exam, or raise
their hands and “repeat after Me.”
Out of His goodness, He met their physical need with
the ultimate goal of meeting their spiritual need. As Romans 2:4 tells us, the
goodness of God leads to repentance.
To this very day, that is how the Kingdom operates. We
do what we can; He does what we can't. We handle the practical; He handles the
providential.
Just a couple of days ago during that monsoon, instead
of sitting around doing "important ministry stuff," Vinny and I spent
(correction: invested) the entire day wading through the downpour,
sucking up water with shop vacs, stretching hoses, and setting sump pumps. Hour
after hour, as fast as we could pump it out, the saturated soil pushed it back
in.
We prayed and pumped, pumped and prayed. We called for
the Church to pray, quoting James 5:17, that Elijah was a man with a nature
like our, and he prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain.
You prayed; we pumped. The practical and
Providential worked together. In due time, a break appeared in the sky, the
downpour slowed, and we finally got ahead of the inundation.
Through practical means, we prevented a neighbor's house
from being flooded. Through Providential means, their hearts were flooded with gratitude.
That
is the ministry of the Almighty at its finest.
Mark 3:11-12
And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down
before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But
He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.
The religious elites who should've known Him, who
should've been speaking about Him; instead, were blind leaders of the blind.
But the demons knew exactly who He was, and
said so. They fell down before Him, cried out to Him, “You are the Son of God!”
until Jesus silenced them.
The kingdom of darkness knows and believes, who Jesus
is, so much so, they tremble.
James
2:19 warns us: “You believe that there is one God. You do
well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”
That blows the doors plumb off modern, hyper-grace superficial
faith. Merely acknowledging facts about Jesus does not save a soul.
The demons confessed His Divinity, but they didn’t surrender
to His Lordship. They bowed in terror, not in worship.
There is a massive gulf between intellectual assent
and a surrendered heart.
Jesus warns that in that day many will say, “Lord,
Lord... but I’ll say to them, depart from Me, I never knew you.”
Knowing
of God, is not knowing God.
Why did, He warn them that they should not make Him
known?
They said, "You are the Son of God." That's
true.
Truth in the mouth of a liar is still
deceptive.
Jesus will not compromise, nor have fellowship with
unfruitful works of darkness. Eph. 5:11.
Jesus is our example.
This is the ultimate litmus test to tell the Genuine
Ministry of the Almighty from the counterfeit:
Truth stands without compromise.
On the other hand, the counterfeit will always
compromise to spread their agenda. They compromise with ideologies they once
opposed—like abortion, gay marriage, open borders, antisemitism, and gender
mutilation. They will look you in the eye and tell you that men can get
pregnant.
It is a total surrender of reality just to advance a
demonic platform.
This tells us we're at the drawing near to the
fullness of the gentiles, when the cup of iniquity overflows and Jesus pulls
the plug, removes His Bride, and starts the clock on Israel's seventieth week.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand, it is high
time to put off the works of darkness and put on His armor of Light. Romans
13:12.
Let's not settle for hollow religion.
Let's not treat God like an emergency room.
Let's never rely on intellectual belief like demons.
Let’s put feet to our faith, walking and talking Truth
without compromise, let's roll up our sleeves, or put on our rain gear, and let
the goodness of God lead us and everyone He’s given us, to repentance.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, the establishment turned
against You, the masses came to get from
You, yet, You stayed the course, continued to shine, Your love, Your
light, Your goodness. Please help us do the same.
Thank You.
We trust and love You, forever.
Amen.
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