Summary
Pastor Safrit walks through Mark 1:39-45, emphasizing that Jesus offers hope in hard times. He highlights the compassion Jesus showed to a leper, illustrating that people are searching for wholeness and healing in their lives. The sermon encourages believers to share their stories of hope and the transformative power of Christ with others, reminding the congregation that they have the answer to life's struggles through Jesus.
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If you have your Bibles there with us this morning, with your family worship, we're going to be in Mark chapter 1. I asked you to listen to, and I played this morning, the All I Have is Christ.
Because oftentimes in our difficult circumstances and times where we don't know what's going on, all we have really in life is Christ. And this morning I've entitled the message Hope in Hard Times.
The Lord laid this passage of scripture on my heart on Friday night, and I just began praying over it and writing some things down.
And I won't be long this morning, but I want us to really think through when we go through hard times, and definitely we're going through hard times right now in different scenarios that are going on with the wildfires
and the hurricanes and different turmoil things that are going on in our life. How can we have hope in those difficult times? And so Mark chapter 1, verses 39 through 45, we'll pick up the reading here in verse 35. The Bible says,
As we meditate on that scripture this morning, as we begin to process what is going on in this passage, I want to help us because there have been many people all throughout history who have made an incredible impact in our lives.
I was thinking this morning as I was doing some final prep, some influential people in our nation.
My mind goes to Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, and many, many other inventions, but things that he did to change the way we live today.
Just the light switch is such an, you may have lost power this week, and you walked into a room and turned the light switch on because it was habit for you to do that and no light came on.
That is an invention that changed the way we live, that changed the way the world operated. The amount of house fires and building structure fires have went down because of just the invention of a light bulb, and yet we take it for granted. My mind went to Mr.
Ford, who invented the Ford Motor Company, of course, but the assembly line and how he revolutionized the way cars were built and the way we commute with one another, and we were able to be hundreds of miles away
in just a matter of hours by the sake of transportation that is such a change the way we live.
My mind went to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates with the invention of their technological advances, with the smartphone and with the PC and the ability for us to communicate with one another and the ability for us to be
able to have even this conversation this morning, this morning as we're able to look at God's word and you're able to be there at your home with your family and the impact that these men had on just daring to change the status quo around them.
And that as I was thinking and studying this week, I came across an article on Parade Magazine that talks about a self-made millionaire. His name is Eugene Land. And Eugene Land had greatly impacted a group of sixth graders in East Harlem. Mr.
Land had been asked to speak to this class of 59 sixth graders. Imagine yourself as a sixth grader in class. My son's in sixth grade. He's here with us this morning. And imagine you're in sixth grade this morning.
Your class is there. And the average number of sixth graders in East Harlem that actually graduated was about 10 to 12 percent.
And Mr. Land was challenged to come in and encourage these young people to fight the fight and to live their life the way they were supposed to. And he began to challenge himself and say, what would I say to inspire these students? Most of them are going to drop out.
And he wondered how he could predominantly change this culture of predominantly black and Puerto Rican young children.
And as they looked at him, he took his notes that he had written up and the things that he was going to say that caused him to be a self-made millionaire. And he ripped them up and threw them in the trash.
And he looked at them and he said this one statement that spoke to their heart. He said, stay in school.
Simple three words sort of shocked these children because many of their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles had dropped out of school and it was just a normal thing for them to drop out of school.
And he continued on. He said, stay in school. And if you stay in school, I'll pay the college tuition for every single one of you. And all of a sudden, these 59 sixth graders began to meditate in their hearts to realize that their lives could be changed by this one simple man.
And one of the students said it like this. We had hope for the very first time. Hope in our life was never there. Hope in our life was fleeting. But in this moment, in this instance, we had hope.
One other student said it like this. I had something to actually look forward to and something waiting for me.
And it was a golden feeling. You see, that class went on and nearly 90% of that class graduated from high school and went on to college. Because one man saw an opportunity to create hope in these young people's lives.
The Hope We Have in Christ
And that's an awesome story and it touches our heart and it touches our life when we hear that. But we also have to ask ourselves, we have been given hope as well.
Christ came into this world and Christ came into this story that we see here where he was preaching and he was teaching. And he was giving out hope to those who would believe.
And so as we digress through this passage, as we begin to process this passage, I want to look at three simple points and we won't be long this morning. I'm sure you've got young kids around and they're stirring a little bit.
I know my wife is probably dealing with that right now. But I want us to process what is going on in this passage.
Because the very first couple of words it says here is, Jesus was preaching in this region of Galilee and someone came to him.
And I wrote it down like this. He was preaching and people were looking. Jesus was preaching and people were looking. All throughout history, people have been searching for a leader. Someone that's dynamic.
Someone that's going to make great things happen. Someone that's going to do something that's going to change the world. And we want to get behind that.
We begin to look in our life and we begin to look in the stock market. And we begin to look at other things and say, what can I invest in for the future that's going to help me? And this is what is going on here. Jesus was preaching and people began to look.
We see here that Jesus was just simply going out and preaching and teaching.
And as he was doing this, this amazing thing happened that crowds began to follow him. And he began to do mighty,
wonderful things. We see that here he's casting out demons. He's preaching. He's healing people. And why was he doing this? He was doing this ultimately to glorify God. He wasn't doing it for his own self-gratification.
He wasn't doing this to make his name some great name that we were going to be known in history. He was simply doing it to glorify God and so that God would get the glory. Of course, the fame of Jesus was spreading.
And people from all over the region were coming to hear about this man that was doing great things. Ultimately, he was making waves in this community. The leper came and as he saw Jesus,
he didn't even have the ability to stand up. It says that he came to him on his knees begging him. And he asked him one simple question. He said, can I be made whole?
You see, I see you cast out demons over here. I've seen you heal other people. I've seen you do some mighty, wonderful things. But can you help me?
Oftentimes in our life, the people that we encounter are searching for something. They're searching for some type of avenue, some type of answer to a question that they have. Maybe it's a question of, can I be made whole? Can I be made whole?
Can I be made righteous? Can I be made holy before God? In a world full of brokenness, in a world full of sin, each and every one of us is asking this question, is there wholeness to life? Is there holiness to life?
You see, we know people are looking. We know people are searching. The message that Jesus gives is to simply go out and to tell others about Christ. It's to go out and to preach and to teach and to all the nation.
And as we're going to look at next week in Acts chapter 1, where Jesus gives that command right before he's ascended, to go into all the world. And that is our mission as a church as well, is to go into all the world.
You see, this week, this past two weeks has been a difficult time for me because I have lost two of my childhood pastors.
My first pastor that I had growing up for the longest period of my time, Ron Bankston, passed away on the 30th of December.
And he's the man that was one of the most influential men in my life. And then the other pastor was this past Sunday, Pastor Jerry Whitehart, who was the man who led me to the Lord, passed away from some brain blood clots or aneurysms.
Something was going on, brain tumors. And the Lord saw fit to bring both these men home within a week's period of each other.
Personal Testimony of Faith
Jerry Whitehart was the man who, when I was searching,
when I was looking for the answers to what can I be made whole as a five-year-old boy, Jerry Whitehart was there for me. He led me to the Lord with my mom there at the five-year-old Sunday night service. When I was searching for the answers to life,
he was there and he helped me. He was preaching, he was leading, and I was looking and I had gotten to receive the answer of salvation. Maybe you're here this morning, maybe you're tuning in, maybe you're scrolling through Facebook and you just happen to tune in. Maybe you're searching for the answer of life.
And this morning I want to tell you, Jesus is that answer.
Jesus is here for you this morning if you're looking. Not only do we see that Jesus was preaching and people were looking, but Jesus had compassion and so should we.
Jesus had compassion and this compassion flowed out. This amazing act of compassion flowed from Jesus. He saw this man. He looked and he saw this man. Then it says when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. There are hurting people all around us. There are helpless people all around us.
There are people all around us who have no support, who have no help in their life, and yet we are there to help them. The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we aware of those that are around us that are hurting,
that are without hope, that are looking for an answer? Are we there because we have the answers of life?
We have the only answer that people are searching for. People are searching for answers in drugs and people are searching for answers in a lifestyle or a life living or some type of job or some type of opportunity that's going to come that's going to bring this amount
of life into their life-giving moment. And every single time they get to the end and they see this unsatisfied moment in their life because they're searching in all the wrong areas.
My mind went to a passage of scripture in John chapter 6 where Peter was talking here and some disciples had come and Jesus made this powerful statement where you must hate your mother and father and love me and
cling to me and said that all the disciples began to leave. And Jesus turned and asked Peter and asked the other disciples, are you too going to leave me? And Peter, in this profound statement, said this, he answered in verse 68, Lord,
to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. In verse 69,
we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. Who can we go to but you, Jesus?
Pointing Others to Jesus
You see, we have one person to run to when all hope seems lost. We have one person whose name is Jesus.
We have one hope to run to when other people are hurting to point people to this person named Jesus who's going to come and going to heal them and going to bring eternal life into their world.
You see, this man here, this leprosy man who we have no clue what his name is, he saw this man Jesus did, the unnamed leper.
He saw him in his pain. He saw him in his hurt. And when Jesus saw this, it broke his heart. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you've seen a situation.
Maybe it was a recent moment in Western North Carolina where you heard a story and it just broke your heart. It just touched you where you just said, I got to do something.
Maybe it's the wildfires in California right now where you see this and you're just like, I got to do something. Maybe it's your neighbor who's hurting because they can't leave their house.
And you just say, I got to do something. This is the moment where Jesus saw this and he saw the effects of sin.
He saw the effects of sin in this world that he made perfect. And he called it perfect. And when he saw this, it crushed his spirit. It crushed this holy man named Jesus. He saw this and it destroyed him in his heart.
This man asked the question that only could be answered by Jesus.
He said, can I be made clean? And Jesus in his compassion saved this man, helped this man, and made this man to be whole and restored him. Because Jesus is the only one that could make this miracle happen.
I think it's interesting here as we continue on through this passage that he told him to go to no one and tell the priest. You see, I believe that Jesus did this so that God would get the glory and that the man's benefit would not happen because of his fame.
You see, God was working in this man's life and Jesus was leading him in this way because Jesus was wanting God to be glorified in everything he did. So we see first that Jesus was preaching and people were looking.
We see that he had compassion and we should also have compassion. But number three, the last verse, verse 45,
his name was spread. And what are we doing? Jesus' name was spread in a mighty way and it challenges us to say, what are we doing with our life? The response of the man is the response that we should have in our life.
I can't help but tell people about Jesus. Now, some will say this was a disobedient act. He went out and he disobeyed Jesus. Jesus told him not to tell anyone but to go straight to the priest.
You see, I don't think this was a disobedient act because I think he simply was going to the priests. And the priest, as he was trying to get there, people stopped him and said, hey, didn't you have leprosy? Weren't you sick?
Didn't you have these elements where your body was literally eating itself away? And the man said,
yeah, but I met a man named Jesus. I got to get you the priest. And all the way from the synagogue where he was at to the priest where he was going to go and meet him, people continued to stop him and said, what's going on? What are you doing?
The Power of Our Story
And all he simply said was, I met a man named Jesus who made me whole. Is that what we're doing? Are we spreading the hope to others that are in need and looking for help?
One man's story was so powerful that the name of Jesus was spread and it drove Jesus to a deserted place.
Because the people and the crowds began to get so big that Jesus couldn't stay in the small cities. He had to go out into the desert. He had to go out into the wilderness because the crowds were so big. Because one man saw fit to tell others about Jesus.
Oh, that it be said of us this morning, church, that we would be the people that are telling others about Jesus.
And that the name of Jesus is spread so much that the churches in our communities cannot contain the amount of people that are coming in because we just have to tell people about a man named Jesus who gives
us hope, who gives us help, who gives us healing, who has come to make sinners whole. This morning, church,
the power of our story is the most profound thing. When we just simply are able to tell what Christ has done in our life, it totally changes the way we live our life.
On this snowy Sunday morning, as you're in your home with your family, you may be feeling like you're trapped in your house. You may be feeling like you are all alone, maybe like this leper who no one was around him. No one could be around him. He was isolated.
He was away from everyone. And yet there was a man standing there waiting for him. He turned to Jesus and he asked the question to be made whole and to be made clean. Is that the promise that you need to grab onto this morning?
Is that the promise that maybe you need to help someone else this morning to come to know Jesus this morning? To trust in him and his guiding power this morning? Maybe you have the ability to help others.
Maybe you've got a tractor or some ability to go out and to help someone who's maybe stuck or hurting or needs food because they maybe ran out or they don't have power and you can help them. Maybe this morning you have been given the ability that Jesus had to help someone else.
Because people are hurting. People are needing hope this morning.
And you have the answer this morning if you believe in Jesus. Don't keep what the Lord has done in your life silent. Maybe it's just a Facebook post where you just type out what God's done and the goodness that he's given to you and you just share that this morning.
Maybe it's just you. You tell the world about what Christ has done in your life through the help and through the healing that only Christ can do.
I don't know what it is this morning that has led me to this reason. Well, I know it's the Lord. But I don't know what it is in your life that has spoken to you from this passage as Jesus was ministering to thousands and thousands of people.
And this one man came forward and Jesus saw him and it touched his heart and he was moved with compassion. So whatever it may be this morning that the Lord's working in your life, maybe this morning you don't know Jesus. You've never experienced the hope and the healing that Christ has given.
Message me. Reach out to me. I'd love to talk with you. Maybe this morning you just need to pray with your family in a way that you haven't done before.
Or you just say, God, I need you this morning. I need you to wrap your protection arms around my family.
I need you to help me as a father, me as a wife, me as a child to be the right father, son, child, whatever it may be in my family.
Whatever it may be this morning, I want to pray for us and we'll close out the service.
I thank you for tuning in and I pray that you will join us next week or maybe join us tomorrow if you're able to to come in and have a prayer meeting. But make sure you are looking out for those that are around you.
You see, Jesus saw this man because he was looking. This man was looking and Jesus noticed him.
Are we noticing the ones that are around us that are looking? Are we aware of our surroundings this morning because we have the answer to the problems of life, which is Jesus?
Closing Prayer and Reflection
Let us pray. Lord, we love you. Lord, I thank you for what you've done for us. Thank you for this opportunity for me to be able to share your word in an unconventional way. But Lord, we know that you've given us technology for a reason.
And I thank you for the opportunity for us to do this. Lord, help us to share the hope of the gospel in our world and in our lives and to those that are around us. Lord, I pray that if there's someone here watching or listening online,
Lord, that you would pierce their heart, that you would help them to come to know you if they don't know you as their Savior. I thank you for what you've done for us. We love you. And in your name we pray. Amen.
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