WHAT GETS YOU UP EARLY?

BIBLE PASSAGE: MARK 1: 21-39

• Picture taken from Google
• Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
• Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

“And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”

LUKE 22:46

 

INTRODUCTION:

Who among here rise up early? (wait for audience response) Our title for today, “What Gets You Up Early?” Honestly, what are the reasons we get up early?  When you have a great need, important appointment or a great opportunity, you rise early to meet it, right? If you ask me, I can wake up early or too early, that’s fine with me but it’s not good for me to stay up late at night for work. I’ll get sick. Some of us have a different schedule of work. Some of us have graveyard shifting of work which means your day becomes your night but we’ll talk about what gets you up early no matter what early is for you. Like I’ve said we won’t discuss today the different schedules we have but what thing or reason makes you get up early and also the normal “early in the morning” which the passage we’re going to read. To be honest, early in the morning is the best way you can have to ponder on things because when you wake up late, all the people around you are already awake and for sure you will be disturbed by the noises around the neighbors or others.

Aside from the appointments and work we do, what are the things we should get up early?

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  RISE UP EARLY FOR THE MINISTRY.

 

Jesus is not the first early riser recorded in the Scriptures. We’ll see that it’s a legacy of the Christians in the early times. After all, it has often been the days of early rising that have made history, the kinds of days worth recording. Great men of old, as today, rise early when they have something to do. Why not maximize your sleep if there’s nothing pressing or important to rise for? But when we have a great need, or a great opportunity, or a great calling— something compelling to attend to — we rise early to see to it.

 

On the days that mattered most, Abraham rose early to check on the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:27), to send away Hagar (Genesis 21:14), and to answer God’s call to Moriah with his only son (Genesis 22:2–3). God told Moses to rise early to present himself before Pharaoh and require the release of God’s people (Exodus 8:20; 9:13). Later, he would rise early to inaugurate the covenant between God and his people at Sinai (Exodus 24:4; 34:4). Moses’s understudy, Joshua, succeeded him in the legacy of early rising, to cross the Jordan (Joshua 3:1), to take Jericho (Joshua 6:12, 15), to discover the traitor (Joshua 7:16), and to claim victory after a defeat (Joshua 8:10).

Gideon rose early to pursue the army of Midian on the famous day that would end with an army of three hundred men (Judges 7:1). The prophet Samuel, having heard of God’s rejection of Israel’s first king, rose early to confront Saul (1 Samuel 15:12). So also a young David, the next anointed, rose early to visit his brothers on the battlefield where he would eventually face Goliath (1 Samuel 17:20).

 

When the Spirit of God speaks through his chosen instruments, and promises defeat over an approaching army, you don’t sleep in the next day. You rise early, as Jehoshaphat did, and ride out to meet the enemy, with a choir in holy attire leading the way (2 Chronicles 20:20–21). Let’s read the previous verses (verses 15-19) so that we can see the details of their early rising.

When national revival begins, and you rally the leadership to reinitiate sacred worship, you don’t parade or walk in late in the day. You rise early, as Hezekiah did, to set your collective faces and hands to the task (2 Chronicles 29:20).

When, after exile, the people gather to hear God’s word read and explained, you don’t wait till later in the day and allow other concerns to hinder it. You begin early in the morning, as Ezra did, and proceed until it gets too hot at midday (Nehemiah 8:3).

 

From the passages we’ve read, we must realize the importance of early rising for the ministry or for the things God wants you to do? Personally, I have realizations with this point number one. Honestly, we do early rising if we have appointment in DFA, school meetings, seminars, special event in school, staycation, and many more but sometimes or most of the times if it’s about ministry, it’s hard for some of us to get up early. I remember the Sunday School teachers, KFJ outreach teachers; I pray for them that their early rising is not a burden for them.

 

2.  RISE UP EARLY TO PRAY

In the passage we have read, Jesus had been busy in Peter’s hometown, Capernaum. It was the Sabbath (Mark 1:21). Jesus taught in the synagogue, and the people Peter grew up with — his friends, his family, all the familiar names and faces — were amazed and astonished. First, at Jesus’s teaching. Then, when a man with an unclean spirit spoke up, Jesus had simply answered, “Be silent, and come out of him!” The demon obeyed.

Capernaum was floored. Immediately Jesus’s fame was spreading. Then Jesus came to Peter’s own house and healed his mother-in-law of a fever.

To cap off the day, Peter’s house became the very center of the town’s attention that afternoon and evening (Mark 1:32–33). Jesus healed more sick and cast out more demons. It had been the greatest day of Peter’s life, the greatest day in the history of Capernaum. What might tomorrow hold?

Another surprise arrived that morning: Jesus was gone.

When Peter arose that next day, and Jesus was nowhere to be found, Peter rallied his people and launched a search. It didn’t take long to canvass Capernaum and conclude he wasn’t in town, so they turned their search to the wilderness areas, the desolate places, outside of town. That’s where they found him — alone, serene, content.

In verse 35 says, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

Peter and the others said when they found him, “All men seek for thee” (Mark 1:37). In the next verse, Matthew 1:38, mentioned the purpose of prayer and that is Jesus to preach in the next town.

“And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.”

After days of tiring work, still, Jesus got up early to pray. Personally, this reminds me not to reason out why not praying too early or ended up the day without prayer. He chose a place that is not crowded which means in a quiet place. He was not found in town but in a solitary place to PRAY.

In verse 38, after early praying (quiet time), and Peter and the others found him, Jesus said, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.”

TAGALOG: “Ngunit sinabi niya sa kanila, “Kailangang pumunta rin tayo sa mga karatig-bayan upang makapangaral ako roon. Ito ang dahilan ng pagparito ko.”

After days of very tiring work, he is ready to preach again the next day. Some of us would complain already if that happens. Another thing, the Lord Jesus began His day in ministry with prayer.

 

CONCLUSION:

“And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”

LUKE 22:46

Nobody likes tests or difficult situations; but the one thing worse than a test is not being prepared for it. Whether you are in school or not, tests are an inevitable part of life. In real life, unlike school, tests often hit without warning. What if you go to work as usual, and the boss calls you in and explains that the company has to lay off a certain number of workers. You are suddenly without a job. The phone rings and you learn that a loved one was killed in an accident. We could multiply examples.

The question is, how do we prepare for these unannounced tests so that we pass the test, not fail? How can we be ready so that we endure and even triumph, not get wiped out by life’s trials? In our text, Jesus and the disciples are on the brink of the supreme test of their lives. Before the night was over, Jesus would be betrayed and arrested, and nailed to the cross by the next morning. The disciples would be scattered, fearful, and confused, with Peter openly denying the Lord. Jesus was prepared and passed the test; the disciples were unprepared and failed.

THE VERSE REMINDS US RISE AND PRAY.