What a Day!

by Dr. Don Sisk

I have often thought of the longest day in my life. Someone may say, “Every day is the same length, isn’t it?” This is not so if you cross the international date line in your travels.

The longest day in my life was June 1, 1968. On that morning we got out of bed at approximately 4:00 a.m. so that we could board a plane at 7:30 a.m. in Osaka, Japan. We arrived in Los Angeles, California, at 5:30 a.m. on the same Sunday morning that we had left Osaka. We then flew to Phoenix, Arizona, where we went to church. I taught Sunday School and preached in the morning service. We were invited to a home for lunch and spent the afternoon fellowhipping. In the evening, I gave a mission presentation and preached in a church in Glendale, Arizona. After the evening service, we went to the home of the pastor, who was a good friend of ours, and talked until well after midnight. That was some 29 years ago. I’m not sure that my body could now stand such a long day.

In Mark 1:21-38 we find a day, probably less than a 24-hour period, that is recorded in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verses 21 and 22, we find the Lord Jesus Christ teaching the people who are astonished at His doctrine. The Bible tells us that He taught them as one who had authority. Thank God that when we use the Word of God we too can teach with authority, not our authority but God’s authority.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God is quick and powerful. We have a wonderful source of authority—the infallible, inerrant Word of God.

In verses 23-27 we find Him as He is confronted with demons. They knew Him but did not want to be in His presence. Jesus exercised His control over the demonic spirits. We are told in I John 4:4 that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” As born-again believers we do not have to succumb to Satan’s power. We have the greater power of the Holy Spirit.

In verses 29-34 we find Jesus healing the sick. He healed the mother of Simon Peter’s wife. He healed the multitudes that were brought to Him. Again, He cast out demons. Just imagine how exhausted He must have been after teaching and doing battle with demonic spirits, healing the sick, and ministering for many hours.

What would you do on the morning after a day such as that? Most of us would probably plan a whole week of vacation. However, we find the following in verse 35: “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” He was omniscient, but He prayed. He was omnipotent, but He prayed. He was successful, but He prayed. He did not necessarily have any material needs, but He prayed. Prayer was a priority in His life.

Because of all He had done, the multitudes were seeking after Him. The disciples knew exactly where to find Him. They found Him in His regular place of prayer. They informed Him that the multitudes were clambering for Him to come back to them; however, Jesus resisted the pleading of the multitudes to divert Him from His task. The Bible tells us in verse 38, “And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth.” Jesus was saying in essence, “I did not come just to minister to one people; I did not come just to be popular; I did not come just to go where the people desire me. I must preach the gospel in the next town.” What a missionary spirit! Regardless of what God has given us, regardless of any success that we may obtain, as long as we are living, as long as there are people who have never heard the gospel, we must go to the next towns.

It is a favorite cliché of many that the “main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Baptist International Missions, Inc., was organized in 1960 by over 150 independent Baptist pastors and preachers. The purpose for this organization was to assist local churches in their mission programs, to help missionaries get to the mission field to which God had called them, and to inform the churches of the needs of the world. It would be very easy to be diverted from those primary purposes. However, we must not. There are many good things in which we could get totally involved. But getting totally involved in some of those good things would mean that we would have to leave our primary priorities. We must not do that. Thank God He will raise up others to do the other things, but Baptist International Missions, Inc., must be faithful to continually do those things for which it was organized to do.

We are not a fellowship, we are not a denomination, we have no authority over any church anywhere. It is not our job to keep everybody straight or even to determine who is right and who is wrong. It is our task to serve. To that purpose, we once again totally dedicate ourselves.