All right, well, we do have a kids' class available at this time. If you'd like to make use of that, it's just in the back of this larger room here. And kids, you're more than welcome to make your way there at this time. And if you're unaware, we have a nursery that we offer every week in the room just right over here off the corner of the building that's fully staffed. And parents, you're more than welcome to avail yourself of that if you so desire. And we're also Always super glad to have kids in the room here with us for the worship service. So just excited to worship Christ together this morning and open up God's word. I want to invite you to join me in the gospel of Mark this morning. Mark chapter three, we'll be considering verses one to 12 together. Mark 3, 1 to 12. In high school phys ed, we used to play a lot of two-hand touch football, actually for an entire quarter of the year. I don't know if my PE teacher was just really lazy and just, hey, we'll just keep playing football, or what the case was, but it was tons of fun. And if you know anything about the game of football, there are a couple of key things that you must do. I mean, there's several things, but a few key things come to mind. You must deal with your opponent. As soon as you catch the ball, your opponent is coming after you. And two-hand touch football, not that big of a deal, right? But tackle football, your opponent is coming to knock the living daylights out of you, and the harder he can hit you, the better. And he's going to be proud of it. So you've got to deal with your opponent, and also you've got to exert yourself. The ball is not going to carry itself into the end zone. I mean, if you catch it, you've got a run for all you're worth and everybody on the team is working hard so that that can happen. Football is demanding, that's the game. So a football player is really not surprised, let's say a wide receiver goes out and he catches the ball and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he just gets hammered. That doesn't really catch him off guard when he gets hit milliseconds later. Or when he's pouring buckets of sweat and gasping for breath and all of his muscles ache all at the same time. We go, well, that's just football. That's the nature of the game. It's challenging, it's demanding, it's hard. That's actually why I don't play it. Too much. You need muscle, endurance, and a helmet. And oddly enough, I think some of the same things that make football hard also make the Christian life hard, and the work of ministry hard, and just the everyday Christian life, trying to live it out in the real world. But in football, you're prepared for those challenges. You expect them. In the Christian life, however, they often catch you off guard, maybe especially if you're a new believer, and you think, oh, I trusted Christ, and now everything's right and in order, and things are gonna simplify and get easier, and wow. The work of gospel life and gospel ministry is and can be challenging. And the life of Jesus is a very clear indicator of this. At this point in the Galilean ministry of Jesus, which has been the focus of Mark's gospel up to this point, everything, I don't know if you've caught it or not, but things are really starting to escalate. And there are two growing concerns, you might say, at this time. On the one hand, there's this crowd, and the crowd is getting bigger and bigger and larger and larger, and they're coming from further and further away, pressing in on Jesus. So you've got the crowd on the one hand, but I don't know if you noticed all throughout chapter two of Mark's gospel, now there's a whole pile of critics, particularly the religious institution, so to speak. And as a crowd grows physically, the critics seem to grow in their hostility. And both of those dynamics become like brake pads that are starting to compress against a rotor or a wheel, threatening to bring everything, the Galilean ministry of Jesus, to a screeching, grinding halt. And perhaps the disciples are starting to get a glimpse of what they signed up for when Jesus said to them along the shores of the sea, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That sounded so great and now on the front row it's like, wow, this is getting complicated. Following Jesus often means walking onto the field of battle. It's not always a field of roses and certainly there are those wonderful restful times of joy and all sorts of good things going on. Hopefully our joy maintains itself all the way throughout, but it's not always easy. It can be grueling. You will face ministry difficulties as you follow Jesus. And so I want to invite you to follow along as I read Mark 3 1-12. You may actually recall that last week we looked at verses 1-6 and tried to capture the main idea going on there. And today I'd like to pull out a major undercurrent going on in those first six verses and then look at verses 7-12 as well. So Mark's Gospel 3, follow along as I read verses 1-12. Again, he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. and said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out and immediately held council with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. In verse seven, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. And a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. And when the crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. As we look at these two paragraphs, we're gonna note two forces that really I think that can be at play for any of us in the Christian life. And the first force that we see in verses one to six, you will face hardened detractors. As I said, we looked at this text last week and looked at it in the larger context and with the passages right before it, but there is a major, major undercurrent going on here related to this whole idea of opposition towards Jesus. You will face hardened detractors. Back in chapter 1, verse 17, Jesus said, as he started to call his disciples, he said, follow me. and I will make you fishers of men. And his statement highlighted two kind of key words, me and men, Jesus said. Follow me and you make your life about men, other people following me as well. If you set out to follow Jesus like that and to live on mission, guess what? You will be opposed. That will happen and it's not really a matter of if it's going to happen, it's more of a question of when. There were four scenes back in chapter two, you may recall, and in every single one of those scenes, the scribes and the Pharisees were antagonizing and opposing Jesus. The opposition is starting to come, and it's increasing. And this next scene in the synagogue, verses one to six, is the fifth scene in a row where they are scrutinizing Jesus, and it ends in verse six. You see what they said. You see what happens there. We get to that point, and now they're conspiring with the Herodians how they're going to destroy him. I think it would be fair to say that the ministry of the gospel is disruptive. Jesus is disruptive. A gospel life lived on mission is disruptive. And I say all that, if it's going to be disruptive, it should be disruptive in a good way. The gospel of Jesus, the preaching of Jesus, the deeds of Jesus, the followers of Jesus, they're all disruptive. How so? Well, think about some of the things we saw in previous paragraphs. I mean, they disrupt the ideals and traditions of men. They disrupt the way that things are done or have always been done. They disrupt lifestyles, viewpoints, and worldviews. They disrupt people's feelings about themselves. I mean, the Pharisees, they've got this law, and they've got all their tradition, and they're living it point by point and thinking that they are good. The ministry of the gospel is disruptive, and therefore, it often becomes a threat to people. And while it will be welcomed and embraced with joy by many, I mean, you think about the call of Levi and Jesus's gathering with tax collectors and sinners, and Levi is celebrating Jesus Christ and what he's done for him. And many people will welcome and embrace the gospel with joy, but it has always been and will always be met by opposition. And sometimes the opponents even come from your own family. Jesus is of Jewish descent. His greatest opponents here, in these paragraphs, are coming right from his own family tree. Ever thought about that? Right from his own family tree. Opposition often comes from friends and family, and this is nothing new. This whole dynamic is nothing new. You will face detractors with hardened and calloused hearts. And I don't think it takes us long to think about where this shows up in our own life, in our own world, in our own situation, perhaps even here in Alberta. Sometimes all it takes is showing up at work to do your job for the Lord. You show up, I'm not here to do my work just to make men happy, but to please God. And you do your work, therefore, with a set of biblical ethics and morals and integrity, and that's all you're doing. You're just doing a good job. And sometimes that alone is enough to create problems because you only do business one way, God's way, and those around you don't want to do that. Or perhaps you pull out of some church, ministry, or institution because you feel like it's biblically compromised. You know, I don't think that the Word of God has the authority that it should here. And that's a problem. And I can't stay here. And so you pull out because you feel like it's biblically compromised, and that's not well received by everyone. Somehow you end up standing on the word of God being the one that's criticized. Or you're open with your family and friends about the gospel and your Christian life. You're not hiding the fact that Jesus has saved you. And you want other people to know that and share that, or maybe even challenge family or friends at a gathering on some of their own thinking. And next thing you know, you feel like you're the one really in hot water. I mean, all was going well, and huh, this is getting really awkward. Or a gospel-focused pastor takes the reins of a weak, sedentary, compromised church, maybe didn't even realize it when he started. Or a leader stands up at the helm of an institution and he seeks to lead it down gospel paths and not compromise on God's truth. Leaders like that never go unopposed. In the late 1800s, Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, found himself facing a great, great dilemma. His denomination, the Baptist Union, which had several churches in it, was in a state of serious doctrinal decay. Essential doctrines were really starting to be pushed to the fringe and no longer held in high regard and even denied throughout the denomination. Things like the infallibility of scripture and the necessity and substitutionary nature of Christ's atonement. I mean, these are not minor doctrines. The existence and eternality of hell, things like universalism were coming into his denomination. And in a great ordeal that became known as the downgrade controversy, Spurgeon pulled his church out of the Baptist Union and he stood there in many ways alone. He wanted no part in that kind of theological compromise. One writer observed that the controversy cost Spurgeon dearly. It cost him his friendships. It cost him his reputation. Even his own brother disowned his decision. Yet for Spurgeon to remain with the Baptist Union would be tantamount to theological treason. I mean, that was Spurgeon's perspective. He was opposed, and there was a price for him to pay. These things aren't unusual. A church preaches the Bible's unchanging truths about things like gender, sexuality, and the value of human life in a context where that is rapidly becoming illegal, or the legal documents are being set up where that soon will be. And preaches God's word, and just by doing that, what's happening defies most people's sense of political correctness. I also don't think you can discount in our world just the ongoing drum or the humming of the world in the background everywhere we go. It just gives you a sense, you know, this isn't really my home and I don't really belong here. And I'm constantly being reminded of that. The things that I just mentioned, these are the things we do as we follow Jesus. We hold his word high. We try to follow it and do that with grace and compassion. And if we're not doing these things, we're probably not following Jesus all that well. But here's the reality, you live a gospel life, and you will face hardened detractors, and this is nothing new. So how do you respond to them? Well, why don't we just see what Jesus did kind of in this undercurrent of what's going on in 3, 1 to 6. First, I think it would be fair to say that you should expect to encounter them. Look at verses 1 to 2. Again, he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. The Pharisees are watching Jesus every move with scrutiny. That's why they're there. They are looking for an opportunity to accuse and discredit him, and their list of accusations against him is building and growing. He's a blasphemer, chapter two, verse seven. They could certainly throw that one out. He's a companion of tax collectors and sinners, chapter two, verse 16. He's a renouncer of religious custom. Everybody else is doing this, that, and he's not, chapter two, 18. He's a Sabbath breaker, chapter two, verse 24. And you get to chapter three, verse six, he's gotta be stopped. Preach like Jesus, live like Jesus, follow Jesus, and you will be opposed. That's how it goes, and it should be no surprise. The attacks and mockery will eventually come. Just to be clear, though, your lack of tact or godliness shouldn't be what causes offense, right? You think about Galatians 5, verse 11, it speaks of the offense or the scandal of the cross. The cross itself reminds everybody that we are sinners in need of a savior and it becomes quite scandalous. No, not me. And often what happens with Christians is the gospel and the cross of Jesus isn't what's causing the offense, it's people and their methods and their lack of tactfulness and care and compassion and those sorts of things. If something is going to offend someone, it should be the cross and the gospel, not your manner. Some Christians hammer others with a gospel gun and then they turn around and say, look, I mean, I'm just really suffering for Jesus here. Nobody likes me. That's not what we're talking about. Detractors will come, and they will come hard. You should expect to encounter them, but you can't stop there. What does Jesus do? Number two is choose to silence them. Look at verses three and four, and I'll explain more what I mean on that in a moment. Verses three and four, and he said to the man with the withered hand. Okay, so they're in the synagogue. Here's this man with the withered hand, and Jesus just says, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful? on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill, but they were silent. Jesus just silenced his critics. They have nothing to say. How does he do that? Well, he calls the man with the withered hand forward, and then he asks the Pharisees a question, the kernel of which is only three words. Is it lawful? In other words, his question is something like this. What does the Bible say? What does scripture say about this? That's what matters. And when he did that, verse four says that they were silent. And I just highlight this simple reality that detractors lose their voice before the word of God. Critics are evaluated, exposed, and silenced by the word of God. Scripture takes away their bite. And you go, well, I'm not sure it actually works that way. Do they actually be quiet, or can you actually silence them? And maybe we just need to step back and capture a bigger idea here. In this instance, Jesus silences these hardened detractors in the public arena. And he's able to do that because both he and the Pharisees actually hold something in common, at least to some degree, and that's the Old Testament law. They both hold it in high regard. And that's often not an option for us. We're not talking even remotely on the same plane. Truthfully, more often than not, the greatest need is not for us to silence detractors in the public arena. That may not be what God wants you to do at all. The greatest need, it may actually be in your own head. No one likes to be criticized, attacked, or opposed. A great mental and yet a very spiritual battle ensues and our thoughts can begin to run. I was just living my Christian life and oh man, like this just got really complicated. And you can start to worry, well, what if they do this or that? Or what if this happens or that happens? There's a lot at stake and I have a lot to lose. Or you can start to second guess yourself, right? Well, maybe it's me. I'm obviously in the minority here and everybody else thinks that I'm out to lunch. They all think differently. Everybody else thinks this or that is okay. Maybe I should just move along and give in or whatever the case may be. And I think what we see Jesus do here is so instructive for us. What does Jesus go back to? In the midst of all that noise, in the midst of all those voices, what does Jesus do? He goes back to scripture and he asks a very simple question and it's really the only question that matters. Is it lawful? The scriptures determine truth. The scriptures determine right and wrong. The scriptures are our authority. And the detractors lose their voice in your head before the word of God. So expect to encounter them, choose to silence them in the sense just described, and third, resolve to ignore them. Look at verse five. And he, Jesus, looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. And then notice what he does next. He just continues. He said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees have been trying to shut Jesus up and get him to be quiet and get him to retreat, and he doesn't. After going back and answering the scripture question, he just continues down the road of his God-given mission, and he heals the man. Jesus doesn't oscillate back and forth, They don't think I should do it and this is not gonna sit well. Maybe I should, maybe I shouldn't. He doesn't equivocate back and forth. Jesus doesn't check the polls or his popularity rankings and then make his decision. That's not what happens. He just goes, what's lawful? Jesus doesn't weigh the cost to himself to see if it's worth it. No, Jesus doesn't do any of that. He just stands on the authority of scripture and he carries on and presses ahead. And he heals the man, he just does the right thing. The hardened detractors don't get a vote on what he's going to do. I don't know. Their voice literally doesn't matter. God's vote is the only one that matters. And I think particularly as you look back through the Old Testament, you see exemplary, you see several examples of this all the way throughout the Old Testament scriptures. You may recall the story of Pharaoh and how he ordered all the male babies to be killed. And you've got this little chunk of scripture there in Exodus where the Hebrew midwives, they just carry on. Oh yeah, okay, so what does God actually think about this? No, we're not killing babies. No, we're just gonna do what's right. Daniel was told not to pray. And Daniel again, well, I don't know, I mean, I might get thrown in a lion's den. No, he just prays. He just carries on. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, here's what you will do here in this country. You will bow. No, we're not doing that. Ezra faced opposition in rebuilding the temple. What did he do? He just keeps pressing forward by the grace of God. As God's people, I think when it comes to detractors and opposition, you need to expect to encounter them. Choose to silence them by scripture. What does the Bible say? Resolve to ignore them, and then fourth, remember that God uses them. From your perspective, when things like this happen, and I know it can happen in your individual life, it can happen to us collectively. and the world in which we live. And when things like this start to happen from our perspective, from your perspective and mine, we can, well, I just wish this would just stop. I just wish this would go away. You may be thinking, this is so bad. This is awful. They're really messing things up. This is not good. Bad things are going to happen. Just think about what could happen if they would have just left us alone or if this person wasn't in my life hounding me. Or you think I'm ruined. Oh no. But such a perspective fails to take God into account. And with that, I draw your attention to verse six. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. The Pharisees, they've had enough. Okay, enough is enough. This guy needs to be stopped. And they conspire with the Herodians to destroy him. The Herodians were very influential supporters of Herod Antipas. And one of the things that's interesting is you got the Pharisees here, the Herodians over here, they're not exactly friends to start with. But all of a sudden now, they align together in opposition against Jesus. They were willing to conspire together to get what they wanted. And often even in our world, that's the case, that enemies will align to target the friends of God. They're not friends to begin with, but they will become friends. And truthfully, they may cause you temporary difficulty. Let's be honest, hardened detractors, like the people we see in this text, they can hurt and harm you. They can bite and they can kill. They can make your life miserable. I mean, this language of setting out to destroy Jesus, it's not like, oh yeah, we're just gonna kind of gently nudge him out of town. They intend to destroy Jesus, and the fact of the matter is, from a human perspective, they will succeed. They will eventually hang Jesus on a cross. There is often a price to pay when you follow what Jesus did here. And yet, while they may cause you temporary difficulty, they will never stop God's eternal purposes. And I think we're just starting to see this in the gospel of Mark. As all the opposition is coming, everything's starting to point a certain direction. The greatest detractors of ministry are often the ones who end up driving and moving it forward. Even when it looks like they're winning and bringing things to a screeching halt, the Bible would admonish us to think again. That's a very narrow perspective and it's not sufficient. These detractors eventually will drive Jesus to a cross, but Acts chapter two verse 23 describes the cross like this. It says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God used wicked men to bring about his saving purposes in a sense we might say. They're conspiring to destroy him. This has been in God's plan since eternity past. At our men's Bible study this last Tuesday night, which, by the way, if you're not a part of our men's or ladies' studies on Tuesday nights, you should come. I think you'd really be edified and encouraged by those. But one of our men was giving a challenge to the rest of us from the life of Joseph, and you're probably familiar with that story. I mean, everything is going wrong from a human perspective in Joseph's life, but God was using it. And the person giving this devotional, Yusua, personally, I just thought was a great illustration that really resonated with me. It was the illustration of gears moving in opposing directions, right? You put any two gears together, they're moving in different directions, like a clock. And as gears move in opposite directions, they actually drive the main gear forward, right? As one gear tries to go backwards, it drives the other one forward. And how often God works that way. He uses the gears of opposition and trouble driving in one direction to drive his purposes forward. He is that great and he is that awesome. At the end of the Joseph story, Joseph said this to his brothers, you thought evil against me. I mean, they are hammering him this way and that way and all these different things. He's thrown in a pit, he's sold into slavery, everything is going wrong. And yet God is driving his purposes forward through all of that. actually getting Joseph exactly where he wants to be. In this story, the Pharisees set out to destroy Jesus, and God meant it to save people from their sins. What if we have that perspective? Instead of worry and anxiety and frustration, The fact of the matter is, you will face hardened detractors, and maybe you're taking it on the chin right now, and maybe you feel like you just lost something precious to you, or you just lost some relationship that was precious to you in following Jesus, or you're just in a very difficult spot right now, in your workplace, or in a relationship, or something like that. You know, you really shouldn't be surprised. Why would that surprise you? It shouldn't. And God wants you to silence the noise and all, everything that's spinning around in your head. Everything you're trying to sort through. It's really, really simple. What does the Bible say? Because if you can park there, all that's spinning around in your mind is gonna start to become quiet. No, no, no, this is right. And just keep plugging along and doing the right thing. And trust that God is using this to accomplish his purposes, which are probably far greater, grander than you could ever imagine. Just a moment ago, I shared this verse about Jesus being delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. What you see in the Jesus story is no accident. And just to mention for a moment that what happened with Jesus, it was all in God's plan, actually out of love for you. And if you sit here today and perhaps you've thought of Jesus as just a man going through life, doing this, that, whatever, actually, he came to earth for a purpose. Jesus is God, he left the glories of heaven, added to his deity, humanity, to go to the cross and pay the price for our sins. And he rose again so that we could have eternal life. And that life is granted to people when they repent and they believe. They turn from their sin and trust in Jesus. That's why Christ came. He came for you. And we want to turn our attention now to a second force at play in the Christian life. You will face crushing demands. Verse seven. It says that after these five instances of opposition, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. The text doesn't tell us why exactly, but it had been quite the stretch and they may have been looking for a physical, spiritual oasis, a little bit of break, somewhere to go pray and recharge and rest and fellowship together. But that's not what they get because the situation only intensified as a massive crowd of enamored people now mobs Jesus. If you follow Jesus as he called his disciples to do, you too will face crushing demands at times. And these demands will often relate to needy people. That's what's going on in this instance. Look at verses 7 to 8. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, And a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. The crowd came because Jesus had something that could personally benefit them. I mean, you would have been there too, right? Jesus, I've got this medical issue that's been dogging me for three decades. Can you heal it? They're looking for healing, freedom from demonic oppression, things like that. It's interesting, Jesus never really sought the crowd out. They came to him. He did not pursue the crowd. The ministry of the gospel brings with it many unchosen demands, oddly enough. And this crowd, we might say it's one large crowd, but it actually consists of two different crowds. The one crowd is Galilean, it's local. And the second has come from far and wide. I mean, many of these people have come from a very far distance. These locations that are mentioned here, it would have taken them a long time to get there, and here they are. And some of them, as I mentioned, have walked kilometers to get there. They have all converged upon Jesus, and the text highlights the fact that they're literally pressing in upon Jesus. to be healed. In ministry, the needs of people can be overwhelming. And that's certainly what happened in the case of Jesus. And if you follow him, it probably won't be long before you feel that way too. You look around and you see all kinds of needs in people's life that maybe you could meet. And that can be overwhelming. And in fact, those needs never seem to stop. And as soon as one need is met, there's another one right there. And maybe you feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted by the needs that you see all around you because you just, Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me, and you said, okay, I'm gonna follow you. Well, if you follow Jesus, you're gonna have a heart for people. And next thing you know, wow, there are just needs everywhere. That is to be expected in ministry. And these demands will often require intentional balance. I'm not sure if balance is the best word, but that general idea, look at verses nine and 10. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. for he had healed many so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. Jesus is literally being pressed by these people and he's near the sea. We've read about a boat too. I mean, these people will probably literally back Jesus up straight into the sea. He's in the water. I mean, it's a massive crowd and he's under an immense amount of pressure. This massive mob of people will literally crush him and press him right into the Sea of Galilee. And their first concern, I mean, to be honest, is probably not the wellbeing of Jesus, but their own. And the very people that want him are the very people who will push him into the sea. In verse nine, Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd. That little statement, I think, is full of divine wisdom on what ministry should look like. Two observations catch my attention. I'm sure there are more, but one of the first things we notice is that Jesus is not alone. And here we have the God-man, and when he ministers, he's not alone. He's not ministering alone. He's chosen to do ministry with disciples, and they're there to help him. And here, it's in a very simple, practical way. He says to those guys, quick, go grab a boat. If Jesus needed ministry companions, don't you think you probably do too? And how foolish we are to think that we can go through the Christian life and ministry by ourselves. That's not how God set it up or designed it. The second observation is that Jesus proactively sets up boundaries while remaining 100% engaged. If Jesus taught from the boat, I would create just enough needed separation from the crowd for him to continue to minister. Jesus, he's not trying to decide if he's all in or not. Oh, here's the crowd. Okay, run, hide, they're coming. Here, one of you take my coat so that you look like me. I'm gonna go this way. He's not doing that. I mean, Jesus is all in, so to speak. He's committed. Here comes this mob of people that he didn't go after. They came to him, and he's all in. He's 100% engaged in what's going on. But if he doesn't intentionally create some healthy boundaries, he will be entirely ineffective. I think this is very, very practical. The boat is ready. It's set up ahead of time. Even if it never needs to be used, Jesus is proactively setting up boundaries, not because he's selfish, but because he's selfless. All the while he's endeavoring to give all that he had. And that is a beautiful, beautiful picture of what ministry should look like. And none of us ever really strike this perfect balance. I think we always have to ask questions on both sides of the equations. Am I all in? Do I care about people like Jesus cares about people? Also though, am I being foolish where I'm gonna get so trampled that I'm not gonna be able to engage in this much longer? An old preacher once thundered something like this, I'd rather burn out than rust out. You know, that sounds awesome. I mean, that'll really preach a real barn burner of a sermon. I'd rather burn out than rust out. Yeah, okay, cool. That sounds great. In theory, unless the Christian life is a race, like Paul describes it, and on the rust out idea, well, not running the race is certainly a problem. but not crossing the finish line is also a problem. I'd rather burn out than rust out conveys that there are only two options on the table, but that's not what Jesus shows us. Jesus shows us a better way where he is 100% engaged. He's giving his all in love and compassion for people, all the while setting up boundaries so that he can do that throughout the entirety of his ministry and not be ineffective. How can you follow the pattern that Jesus sets here? Well, sometimes it means you should probably start saying yes to some things. And sometimes it means that you have to say no. God may want more from you in ministry, or you might need to start saying no to some things to protect your ability to keep saying yes. And these demands will often result and spiritual attacks. I mean, this has been an intense time in the life and ministry of Jesus. And look at verses 11 and 12 now. It says, and whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the son of God. And we go, wow, like what's going on there? And then verse 12, and he strictly ordered them not to make him known. Verses 11 and 12 give us the very clear picture of Christ's authority over the demonic realm. It's not like some equal battle between Jesus and the forces of evil. That's not what's going on at all. Demons are falling down before him and acknowledging his true identity. But don't be mistaken at what's going on. The demons haven't converted or turned over a new leaf and gone, yeah, now we're Jesus followers and we're angels robed in light. No, that's not what's going on at all. They are still evil. and ultimately opposed to Jesus and his mission. And Jesus orders them not to make his identity known. Doing so, if they were to do that, would have threatened the mission and purposes of Jesus and he commands them with authority not to speak. But maybe just think for a moment about the sequence of events here because I think it's instructive. Jesus has just experienced this crushing mix of hostility and popular acclaim all at the same time. He's being literally crushed and pressed by popularity and criticized by opponents. Five successive encounters with hardened detractors. The convergence of two massive and pressing crowds and the story ends here with demons that need to be silenced. In other words, the story ends with spiritual attack and opposition. Jesus has ministered in the face of critical detractors, crushing demands, and now what happens? What does Mark put at the end of this account? Well, here come the forces of evil. Demons come walking up to Jesus on the legs of men in this crowd. And Jesus authoritatively disarms them. But it's a good reminder that Satan strikes at what might be the most vulnerable point in this particular section of the Galilean ministry. He loves to attack during the demanding times and when we're weary. He loves to threaten the mission. And when God is working, when God is doing great things, Satan's gonna be right in there too, trying to mess things up. You will face crushing demands. This is not unusual, okay? If you want to live and follow Jesus, you won't be able to help but see people in their needs. And in the midst of the challenges and the demands and the people, Satan's gonna be in there too. None of this is unusual. A couple questions for you to think about. Are you 100% engaged in ministry, or is it this little thing that you do on the side, where you're like 10% in? I think all of us need to ask, when Jesus says, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, Are we 100% on board with that? Yes, that is my life. Are you 100% engaged in ministry saying, God, I want to give you everything that I can? I only have so many breaths to take and my life's gonna be over. While I'm here, I wanna be all in. And I think we'd all be wise just to examine ourselves and ask, how's that going? And does anything need to change? Is it time for you to bow to Jesus and say, Lord, I, You are worthy of more of me. And then on the flip side of that same coin, are there practical steps that you need to take to protect your ability to keep on doing that? If Jesus Christ took very practical steps like that, then it would be appropriate for us to do the same. And I think it's just a call for all of us to look at our lives and ministry and go, okay, how is this going? Am I 100% in? Does anything need to change for the longevity of my serving the Lord? But I want to make sure I'm all in. You will face ministry difficulties as you follow Jesus, but we don't want to stop on that note. I want to take just our last few moments here and think, so far we've talked about two forces that you're like, wow, I mean, the Christian life could be kind of hard. It's kind of depressing. Jesus walks down a road on a mission. Jesus is going somewhere. And when he tells and he calls his disciples and he says, follow me, he's inviting his disciples and all of us by extension to wherever it is that he is going to go there with him. And he's going somewhere. He's walking a very humbling path that will ultimately lead to the cross and the grave. But that's not the end of the road. Because Jesus rises triumphantly from the grave, he ascends up into heaven, and he sits down at the right hand of God. It ends in exaltation, and the story is ongoing even now. You read the book of Revelation, and we see Jesus seated on a throne, exalted and high, with people from every kindred, tribe, and tongue around the throne, worshiping and praising him. That's the end of the road. That's the end of the story. It ends with a throne surrounded by people, No one ever said that the road that Jesus called us to walk would be easy, but Jesus makes it very clear, this road will be worth it. We're here now, we may face detractors, we may face a lot of demands, but all of that is leading one place. Jesus Christ on his throne with people worshiping him for all of eternity. All those people there at one point were people. who rejected Him, wanted nothing to do with Him, and were dead in their trespasses and sins. Some of those very people will be people that were indeed detractors. The end is glorious, and we want to keep our eyes there. Why don't you bow your head with me, and close your eyes, and I want to encourage