Sermon Tone Analysis

There are so many things these day that call for our attention.

There are things that demand attention in our home.

Repairs to make, dishes to do, kids to parent, etc.

There are things online that call for our attention.

I’ve discoverd that facebook reels, or youtube shorts are huge traps for me.

I can watch video after video after video and before I know it an hour has passed.

There are things in the culture that seek your attention.

Today is the Super Bowl, and an estimated 110 million people will watch today.

There is a reason why a 30 second advertisement will costs $7M this year.

Where else can you get that kind of attention on your product?

There are things in our jobs, politics, neighborhoods, etc that all seek your attention.

When it comes to personal priorities, how do you choose how to spend your time?

This week I was listening to a podcast about a particular discipline, and the host was argueing that every man in America ought to be making time to improve in that discipline.

I got to thinking…I’ve heard that from several sources about a variety of disicplines…is it even possible to pursue them all?

All men should be physcially fit, practice a marital art, practice his shooting skills, be an expert in his faith, be an expert in nutrition, should raise farm animals, grow his own food, have two side gigs, spend individual time with every child, have regular date nights with his wife, read a book a week, gain skills to better his career....the list goes on and its like....how do I prioritize those things?

How do I know which things I should or can prioritize?

If we aren’t intentional, what will happen is that we will go through life and others will set our priorities for us.

The children will set the priorities for the adults, rather than the adults setting the schedule for the children.

Your friends will set your schedule and priorities.

I’ve seen this quote in a few places, so I don’t know who said it first.

But the idea is this:

If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.

If you don’t plan your day, someone or something else will.

How do we prioritize our time?

How do we make sure that we are giving ourselves to the things that are most important?

In our text today we will find Jesus making key choices so as to prioritize his mission.

There are two key priorities on display by Jesus Christ, and many lessons we can learn from them.

What are those priorities?

The priorities of Prayer and purpose.

Let’s read this text.

What are the prioirities of Christ?

1. Christ Prioritizes Prayer

This is the first of several times in the Gospel that we will see Jesus withdrawing to spend time alone with His heavenly Father.

From the way these episodes read, it seems as though this was Jesus’ customary practice, and so Mark may only records the accounts of it when there are other events that intersect with this practice of Jesus.

His habit was three fold:

a.

To rise early

b.

To be alone

c. to spend that time in prayer.

There is so much that could be said about this as a discipline.

I’m sure we’ve all heard something to the effect that “If Jesus did this, and he’s the Son of God, how much more should we give ourselves to this”

Certainly there is truth to this.

If Jesus, God in human flesh, was dependent upon his walk with his heavenly Father, then by way of argument from the greater to the lesser, we too must recognize our own dependency upon the Father and give ourselves to personal devotion.

However, often such rhetoric does little more than place a guilt trip upon individuals, and I’m not interested in that today.

There is practical value to doing what Jesus did.

He arose early in the morning.

I am not naturally a morning person.

My natural proclivity is to stay up late and want to sleep in later in the mornings.

However, I have also learned that my mind is most focused and least distracted early in the morning.

If I get up before anyone else is up, before the noise of my mind starts spinning around, it is then I find my times with the Lord are best.

There is practical value to doing as Jesus does here.

I commend to you the practice as a matter of practical wisdom for your times with the Lord.

There is an old Hymn that speaks of the value spending intentional time in prayer.

Perhaps you’ve heard it

Sweet hour of prayer!

sweet hour of prayer!

that calls me from a world of care,

and bids me at my Father's throne

make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

my soul has often found relief,

and oft escaped the tempter's snare

by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

This is a song that I doubt many can resonate with these days, which is a sad thing.

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many of us can honestly say that you regularly spend a straight hour in prayer?

I’m not trying to give you a guilt trip with that question.

The Bible nowhere says “thou shalt spend and hour straight in prayer”

What I want to communicate is the value and benefit of spending time in prayer like that.

I had a seminary class a while back and one of the assignments was to pray for an hour straight.

We were given specific instructions to help accomplish the task, but that was the assignment.

When I did that assignment, it may have been the first time I ever intentionally sat down for prayer and prayed for an hour straight.

The time moved so much faster than I anticipated, and I found that I got through and hour without praying through my entire list.

I also found that I was so much more focused and productive that day and accomplished more than I had been able to on other days.

We tend to think, “I’m so busy!

I can’t spend an hour in prayer!

I need to do other things!”

You might be surprised how the Lord honors your efforts when you devote yourself to him.

It has become somewhat of a legendary quote, but Martin Luther is often quote as saying something along the lines of “I have so much to do today, but I must spend the first three hours in prayer.”

There is debate about whether he every actually said that, but according to one source, even if he didn’t say it, it is consistent with his views on prayer that we do have and he did often spend three hours in prayer.

Should you spend three hours in prayer?

I’m never going to say no to that question.

But rather than making legalistic requirements for how much time you spend in prayer and when you do it, I would simply like to challenge you and myself with this:

Does your life reflect that your personal walk with the Lord is a priority in your life?

Do you know what power you are missing out on through prayerlessness??

There was a man named Peter Deyneka, he was nickname Peter Dynamite.

He was a Russian-American eveangelist and missionary to the slavic speaking world, and was one of the founders of the Slavic Gospel Association, which is an IFCA mission organization whose mission is to help train Slavic pastors to reach their countries for Christ.

Peter Deyneka was called Peter Dynamite because of his prayer life.

He wrote a book titled “Much prayer, much power”.

He goes on to explain in the book.

little prayer, little power.

No prayer.

no power.

So I’d like to challenge us this week.

Do the 1 hour challenge.

There are half sheets in your worship guide with some helpful tips for how to get started.

Find somewhere quiet, minimize distractions, turn your phone off

Take a list

Don’t get comfortable

Don’t get discouraged when your mind wanders.