WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.719 We're going to move to Matthew chapter 26 and Jesus' prayer and get seminary in there. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:10.759 So, probably a guess by now, the theme of our worship is a one-off sermon today. 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:11.839 We're not doing a series. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:16.080 We finished the discipleship series last week and so we're moving on a couple of one-off 00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:20.000 sermons and then we're going to begin, probably, begin at Zemba. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.480 We're going to begin a series on Matthew and on into infinity. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:32.799 We haven't decided how long, but it's probably going to be quite long as we move into Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:37.359 But prayer, so, and I'll tell you why we're looking at prayer particularly today in a minute, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.840 but prayer is absolutely crucial, isn't it? 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.760 And you'll hear that again and again from me. 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:45.840 It's crucial for our life as believers. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:53.200 If you're not a Christian here today and I would ask you, I would encourage you just to talk to God at some point. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.200 Talk to God, because that's what prayer is, and if you don't know what to say, well, just, 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:04.000 you know, when you think of when you talk to yourself, do the same thing, but talk to God, 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.240 because He's real just as you are real yourself. 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:08.799 You can't see Him, but He's real nonetheless. 00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:17.760 Ask Him to show you your own heart and your spiritual need before Him, and ask Him to show 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:21.760 you Himself and His grace and His love. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:26.000 And if you're a Christian here this morning, and many of you are Christians, I know that, 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.600 then it's the key to everything for you. 00:01:29.600 --> 00:01:31.120 It's the key to knowing Him. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.800 It's the key to understanding Him. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:35.760 Jesus, it's the key to your peace. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.719 It's the key to strength, to faith, to wisdom. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.200 Everything, everything is covered by prayer. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:41.920 Absolutely everything. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:44.640 It's the greatest reality for us. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:51.280 Now, you know, Thomas always often uses the illustration of the iPhone and he takes the iPhone out. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.799 I'm not going to take the iPhone out, but the iPhone is a great thing, isn't it? 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:59.599 It's a great source of information and stuff, but it's useless if it hasn't been plugged in 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:00.560 and charged up. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:04.079 It's just a piece of rubbishy kind of material. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.120 It needs to have been plugged in to the source of power to make it useful. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.920 And that's absolutely the case with our Christian life. 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:18.319 We need to be plugged into the, it's going back to the discipleship series. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.039 Our roots need to be being sent out to the living. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.759 Water and that comes in a relationship of prayer. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:24.959 It's everything for us. 00:02:24.959 --> 00:02:28.239 Without me, Jesus says, you can't do anything. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:35.199 We can't do anything of any spiritual value or we can't live spiritually without being in 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.039 communication and in relationship with Him through prayer. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.239 So William Wallace, I don't know whether he said this. 00:02:42.239 --> 00:02:45.359 I don't think he did, but Mel Gibson did anyway. 00:02:45.359 --> 00:02:47.280 And I've quoted it before here. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:52.080 A run in your live at least for a while and dying on your beds many years from now, 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:56.879 would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:02.240 just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.840 but they can never take our freedom. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:07.280 Okay. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.240 This is not a political party broadcast, but I just say if there's one thing, 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:21.200 one thing on my deathbed that I could relentlessly have taught you as a congregation 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:25.360 is to make prayer your daily lifeline. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:32.080 One thing, one thing you learn from however many years I am your pastor, 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.120 not as a ritual, not in any ways a ritual, but what it is, 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:44.719 is a living relationship with the Lord Jesus, communion with the living God, 00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:47.759 you know, the source of life and love. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.439 So in other words, it's all about Him. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:55.039 You will survive, you will grow, you will develop, you will persevere, you will keep going. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:00.159 Not if you're a ligest on the church or on ritualistic religious activities, 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.800 but if you're in communion and relationship, 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.200 daily relationship with the living God through prayer. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:13.119 So in a couple of weeks, 24th of November to the 30th of November, we have seven days of prayer. 00:04:13.119 --> 00:04:15.679 We do it twice a year, seven days of prayer. 00:04:15.679 --> 00:04:19.279 We gather together as a congregation in the morning, seven o'clock in the mornings, 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:20.480 and we pray together. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.199 And it's a specific focus for us. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.319 I'll say more about it next week, a couple of weeks from coming. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.959 But as a precursor to that, I want to focus on prayer again this morning, 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:34.480 and the significance and importance. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:39.120 We don't do the seven days of prayer twice a year, just twice a year. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.840 The hope is that it triggers and it inspires and it encourages all kinds of prayer in our lives, 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:47.920 and it is a step up for us in that relationship, a reminder to us. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:53.600 And so I'm going to again focus on the importance, the significance of prayer for us today in our 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:54.400 lives. 00:04:54.400 --> 00:04:58.800 And I'm going to look at Jesus and the disciples in this passage from, guess him, 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:02.879 fantastic passage of Scripture, unbelievable passage of the Bible. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.120 And look first at Jesus. 00:05:06.719 --> 00:05:10.959 And by way of introduction to that, reminding ourselves that I know that Jesus is unique. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.279 He's the Son of God. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:14.240 He was perfect. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.920 He was in relationship with the Father and the Spirit. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.279 And He's not like us at that level. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.240 He is God, the Son who became flesh. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.120 So if we want, again, if you're maybe here today and you're not a Christian, 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:33.519 and if you want to see God, if you want to understand who God is, you look at Jesus, 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:35.680 because Jesus is God in the flesh. 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:39.280 And yet He was also man. 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:40.399 He was a person. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.840 He took on human, He was a human being. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.199 So He's unique in that He's God, and He's unique in that He's God and man. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:51.600 He, and He was sinless. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:52.079 We know that. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.920 I'm only saying to things you already know. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.800 Many of you sinless, but He took a body and a reasonable soul. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:08.080 He took a body that had many limitations because He was in our place. 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:11.759 And He was tempted like what we are, yet without sin. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:15.920 So Jesus knew a lot of the experiences that we knew, yet without sin. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.720 He knew loneliness and need and hunger and sorrow and tiredness and temptation and disappointment. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.800 And yet within all of that, we know there's mystery, don't we? 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:32.960 We understand and we acknowledge and appreciate the uniqueness of Jesus and the mystery of 00:06:32.960 --> 00:06:36.560 Him knowing these experiences and yet also being God in the flesh. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.400 But we do know that He came to reveal God. 00:06:41.440 --> 00:06:47.840 He came to open up a way back for humanity, for you and I, to be in relationship with God 00:06:47.840 --> 00:06:51.440 and to give us eternal life through His death. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:55.920 That's why His death is so important as is His resurrection and ascension. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:03.920 But in His uniqueness, in His uniqueness, we still recognize that He needed, He prayed. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:09.199 And I want to look at that for a moment and then look at the disciples, 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.279 the opposite of that, the disciples who didn't pray. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.920 So we've got Jesus who prayed, He needed strength. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:21.920 You know, we've read that in the account of what He did in Gethsemane. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:23.759 He went to a garden called Gethsemane and said, 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:26.319 He said, Sit here while I go over there and pray. 00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:30.000 He needed to pray because He was overwhelmed. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.800 He said, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch with me. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.240 There was a cup that He had to drink. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:43.840 My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.959 nevertheless not as I will, but you will be done. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.239 So there was this, we talked about baptism earlier, 00:07:50.239 --> 00:07:52.799 it's a visual representation of spiritual truth. 00:07:52.799 --> 00:07:57.839 Well, here is another image, another picture of a cup that Jesus was having to drink to the fool. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:03.839 And it's a visual, it's a picture, it's a representation of what He was going through. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:12.399 And He was about to face on the cross the wrath of hell and the wrath of heaven coming together. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:18.959 We often don't think about it in these terms, but both came together because He was facing the 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:24.479 tremendous opposition of Satan and death and hell and the grave and the evil one who said, 00:08:24.479 --> 00:08:28.799 Well, if I can defeat Jesus then I become ruler and king and Lord. 00:08:29.359 --> 00:08:34.799 But He also faced the wrath of God because He was dying in our place. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:40.960 He was taking our sin, the one who was sinless became sin so that we might become the righteousness 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:48.160 of God. So He's overwhelmed by that in His life and in His humanity, the darkness of it, 00:08:48.160 --> 00:08:54.400 the loneliness of it and the fact that His very best friends didn't understand in the slightest 00:08:54.400 --> 00:09:00.639 what He was going through. And so in His prayer, it seems He's tempted to turn back. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:08.720 You know, my soul is sort of, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:13.920 nevertheless not I will but you. There's a great mystery in that prayer. I know that all the 00:09:13.920 --> 00:09:20.800 theologians speak about that great mystery. Almost a temptation to, is there not another way? 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:27.200 Please, can there not be another way that I could be the redeemer, that I could be the Savior, 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:35.440 that I could help people to live and to be forgiven? And yet within that He knew God's will. He knew 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.800 He was facing Jerusalem. He went there specifically. He knew He'd already said to His disciples 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:44.320 that He had come and that He would die in the third day of raising again. He knew God's will. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:51.120 He knew exactly what lay ahead but yet in His humanity there was the great consciousness 00:09:51.120 --> 00:10:00.560 of the terror and the horror of the event. And so He prayed. And He prayed in passion in the 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:06.879 strength. Forget the band. Okay, it happens each time. Keep forgetting. I should really pray. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:14.079 I preach a shorter sermon on remembrance Sunday. Anyway, I'll try and concentrate. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:20.879 And you'll need to too. He needed strength because He was overwhelmed, tempted to turn back. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.959 So He prayed. So we find Him going at this moment of unparalleled tension in His life, 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:33.600 an unparalleled darkness and a sense of just being overwhelmed. It says to the point of death, 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:40.480 it was almost killing Him there. It's to the Father He turns. That's where He goes. He goes to the 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:45.200 my Father if it be possible. Then He goes back and He says, my Father if it be possible. Then He 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:51.600 goes back and He says, my Father if it be possible. He goes to the Father because He knows that's 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:57.360 where He must go for His strength. That's He knows where the source of company and friendship and 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:04.320 union and love is. And He keeps going back to the Father in prayer because He has nowhere else to go. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:08.800 Interestingly, you know, the disciples, Peter not long before said, you know, 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.680 when Jesus said, are you going to turn away from Me as well? They said, well, no, Peter said, 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.639 to whom else can we go? You've got the words of eternal life. They talked a great game. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.639 But of course, they did turn their back on Him. But Jesus knew exactly where to turn to and knew 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:32.000 exactly where to go. And He wanted the company of His Father in this unique mysterious relationship 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:38.480 of the incarnate Son with the Father. That's what He went to God in prayer. That was the model. That 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:45.679 was the way He lived His life. He wanted the company of His Father and the strength and the 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:50.799 renewal that He would receive from that. He also wanted the company of His friends. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:12:00.159 Stay here with me and pray. Sit here with me while I pray. He wanted them. Peter, James and John 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:06.000 is three best friends. He wanted them to be with Him. He wanted to be praying with them as He prayed 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.359 to the Father. That's most intimate, most desolate time when, you know, many people think, I can't 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:16.480 take any human intercourse here. I can't take any human relationship. I just need to be me and God. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:22.240 No, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, wanted Peter, James and John to be with Him alert and praying. 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:30.080 Are we listening to that? Do we hear that? Do we hear the implications of that for our lives? 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:36.879 If Jesus, the perfect Son, in the moment of unique darkness, looked for poor, miserable, 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:43.279 failed friends to come alongside Him and hold Him up in prayer, are we listening to the implications 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:49.200 of that for us in our own lives? So we have Jesus praying, and then we also have the disciples. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:57.840 Jesus prayed because He needed strength to move forward with this unique and deadly task 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:04.000 that lay ahead for Him and for the universe. The disciples also needed strength greatly, 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:11.919 but they couldn't see it, and that's the difference. They couldn't see that this was an 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:17.200 optimum time for praying. If ever in their lives they needed to pray, it was at this point right 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:24.879 now with Jesus in Gethsemane before the crucifixion. They couldn't see it, and so often isn't it the 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.159 case that we can't see the need for prayer. We don't really see the need to be strengthened and to be 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:38.559 given courage. We don't recognize the intimacy of our Father when we see Jesus praying that, 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:45.600 and we certainly don't live as if we need our closest friends to come alongside us and pray with us 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:52.719 at the bleakest and darkest moments of our lives. And so there's great lessons here about discipleship 00:13:53.439 --> 00:13:57.360 and also about what God is saying to us about prayer, and we'll look at that just now. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:03.840 What was it that the disciples, why was it that they couldn't see? Why was it that they slept here 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:13.440 instead of praying at this moment? And this will not be treatised to impose all kinds of guilt on 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:18.080 you, because that was not what Jesus did to the disciples here, and we shouldn't either. But why 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:23.360 was it that they couldn't see enough to pray? I think there's two things, because they were weak 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.800 spiritually at this point, and they were also weak physically at this point. They were weak 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:35.680 spiritually. In verse 31, Jesus predicts of them as the shepherd of the sheep. He says, 00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:39.680 we didn't read this, when they had sung of him, they went to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus said 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:44.720 to them, you will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:50.560 shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. So he'd already prophesied that they 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:57.839 were weak spiritually and wouldn't stand up to the tensions of the moment that he was going into. 00:14:57.839 --> 00:15:04.719 They didn't, they didn't truly get where Jesus was going or what he had to do, which is why Peter 00:15:05.359 --> 00:15:10.000 drew his sword out in the garden and cut off the servants here, because he thought it was going 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:19.679 to be a physical fight that they had to win in that moment. And so they had become disciples who 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:26.799 were relying on their own abilities and their own strength and even their own faith. They were men 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:34.719 of faith, there's no doubt about that. They were, the Spirit was willing in their lives. They meant 00:15:34.719 --> 00:15:40.159 well, but at this point they weren't looking with the eyes of faith, and they didn't seem to understand 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:47.199 God's will in this darkness that Jesus was going through, that they were part of. You know, despite 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:55.920 seeing Jesus' turmoil, despite seeing his example, they didn't see that prayer was what they needed 00:15:55.920 --> 00:16:04.400 to do at that significant point. Why on earth? Why on earth would Jesus need them to be an encouragement 00:16:04.400 --> 00:16:10.080 and a help? Why would He have chosen them? And that's why even when He sees them not praying, 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:20.080 sleep mattered more to them for what lay ahead, because they weren't alert to understand exactly 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:25.120 what it was that lay ahead. So they were weak spiritually. There was many times, and as the 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.879 Gospels tell us leading up to this, that they weren't listening to Jesus, that they had their own 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:35.360 ideas, that they thought, yeah, it'll be alright on the night kind of thing. They were weak spiritually, 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:41.680 but also they were weak physically, you know, watching pray. The Spirit is willing, He says, 00:16:41.680 --> 00:16:50.480 but the flesh is weak. And He's just saying that about their physical makeup, and the events that 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:58.000 had led up to this, they were tired, they were confused, their brains were mashed as well as 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.480 their bodies. There was so much for them to understand, they couldn't really take it all in, 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:08.240 they were weak physically in their makeup. They faced opposition, there was the smell of betrayal 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:13.360 in the air. Jesus had spoken about that, and Judas had walked out into the night earlier on. 00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:18.240 They were filled with all kinds of doubts and temptations and fears, it's all swirling about 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:25.839 in their heads. And so sleep offered them a different reality. Sometimes that happens in 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:31.440 church, doesn't it? Because we're really tired, it's maybe too hot, maybe we're in a hard week, 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:38.559 and our physical makeup, we just think, I'd rather sleep than listen to the sermon, 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:44.559 because it offers a different reality, and it offers us something that we can escape into for 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:49.360 a while. And that might happen in lots of different avenues and areas of our lives. So they couldn't 00:17:49.360 --> 00:17:55.600 see because they were weak spiritually, but also weak physically. But what the passage goes on to 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:03.039 reveal for us is what happened because they didn't see the significance of their father, 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:10.719 and the significance of spiritual strengthening from him at this point. In verse 56, we didn't 00:18:10.719 --> 00:18:16.319 read this either, it's slightly further on, after Jesus is betrayed and arrested. But all of this 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:21.679 had taken place that the scripture of the prophets might be fulfilled, then all the disciples left 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:30.240 him and fled. All the disciples left him and fled. They abandoned Jesus. So at that moment of critical 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:35.759 significance, they abandoned Jesus, they give up, they give in, they denied Him, they were defeated 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:42.880 by fear, by their circumstances, and the negative adrenaline just overtook them, and they begged it. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:52.000 They left Jesus for dead, literally, as it were. And also, they scattered from each other. That 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:58.000 earlier verse we read, the prophecy that Jesus gave that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:03.200 will be scattered. They scattered from each other. They didn't even look after one another. 00:19:03.840 --> 00:19:08.960 They looked at that point after number one. They just fled for their lives. They lost sight of Jesus 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:15.200 and of each other. Thankfully, temporarily. Thankfully, by God's grace and patience, 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:21.440 they returned a new great healing. So what is God saying to us if we take this passage and what He 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:29.120 says here about prayer and prayerlessness, I guess, what is this living word? Remember, 00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:34.720 it's a living word. God is speaking to us today because it's a living word, isn't it, for us? 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:39.279 And so, don't just think, oh, now comes an application of something that happened a long 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:43.279 time ago. This is a living word, and He knows your situation, and He knows your heart, 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.480 and He knows what you need to hear just as much as He knows what I need to hear. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:50.960 What do you think God is saying to us in our lives this morning? Well, there's several things. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:55.440 I say, I know, first of all, can I speak to you if you're Christians here today, if you're believers 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:00.319 in Jesus Christ, and you follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior? First thing, He says, I know your 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:05.279 Spirit is willing. He says that, and verse 41, the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, and He says, 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:11.519 I know that. I know He says you want to do the right thing. I know you love me. I know you appreciate 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.720 that I'm your Savior, and I know you've come to me as the only way of hope in the future. And I know 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:21.359 you've been saved, that you know you've been saved by grace, and you want to follow me. I know these 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:30.079 things. I know your Spirit is willing. And He also beautifully says, I know you're weak. I know your 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:36.639 flesh is weak. That isn't that great. Isn't that great that Jesus says that to us? He doesn't take us 00:20:36.639 --> 00:20:41.679 and batter us and beat us up because we're hopeless. He says, I know that we're weak, because He 00:20:41.679 --> 00:20:47.279 experienced it himself. And He says, I know that we, I know you struggle today. He says, I know you're 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:52.960 overwhelmed by temptation. I know that you give in. I know that you recoil from the battle. I know 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:59.919 you find it easier to prepare the things that I hate. I know you want to escape sometimes and run away. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:05.440 That you're full of doubt and fear. And you fall and you struggle with others and church and the 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:09.600 expectations and commitments. And you're easily distracted and you're tired and you're ill and 00:21:09.600 --> 00:21:17.680 you're weary. I know, I know you're weak. I know that your Spirit is willing. And I know you're weak. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:27.440 He's no surprises from Him this morning. And He says, but God says, I am your Father. I'm your 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:34.160 Father. As believers, we say the Lord's privilege is our Father, because we are reunited with our 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:39.519 King, our Maker, our Lord, our God. And He's, and as our Father says, He says, I'm your Father. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:45.440 You're perfect, loving, heavenly Father. You will never be alone. I'm with you. I love you. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:54.559 My Son drank your cup of death and separation and sin so that you don't need to. He's paid for 00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:02.319 your forgiveness. And I'm absolutely committed to you and I appreciate you. Do we know how big that 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:07.759 is that we have a Father in heaven who said, I have a home prepared for you. I have a purpose 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:14.480 and a plan for your life. I am your loving Father. So I love, I know your Spirit is willing. I know 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:20.799 you're weak. I'm your Father. But then He says, watch and pray, watch and pray. And that's what He 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:28.159 says. That's what He encourages the disciple to do here in this whole passage. Watch and pray. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:36.960 The hour that was coming for Jesus and crucifixion is an hour we need to face up to as believers 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:43.359 continually, because we're involved in His crucifixion. Our sins were paid for on the cross, 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:51.439 and His death on the cross leads to the defeat of death and the death of sin in our lives. And it's 00:22:51.439 --> 00:22:56.879 important to know the context here. So we understand when He says, watch and pray, because great 00:22:56.879 --> 00:23:02.079 spiritual relevance and significance and importance from what Jesus went on to do. And we need to be 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:08.240 people who are going to Him daily for His strength. That's the key. That's the key to everything. I 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:13.920 will leave and I will retire if we all get that. And if I get it myself, that He is the strength 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:20.160 every day. He is the answer every single day. Communion with the living God. That's what is 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:26.880 the key to our spiritual health and our spiritual lives. That we make it our intentional reality 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:32.000 to be in communion with the living God because we are weak and because we are flesh and because 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:39.839 we have a good, a spirit that He has given to us but our flesh is weak. And there's that recognition 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:44.640 that we need to be alert and aware of the day that the disciples didn't really understand the 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:51.359 danger. And we're in a spiritual battle, similarly. Jesus is victorious, but we need His strength and 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.160 His help. You know, you always hear, or you always hear, but you've maybe heard occasionally of these 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:03.040 people that are climbing in the highest mountains and they get lost and they're experienced climbers 00:24:04.080 --> 00:24:08.880 and they just can't find their way back. And the great temptation after many hours when they are 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:16.480 exhausted and they just feel the warmth of lying down and falling asleep, that's the greatest, 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:20.640 that's what they crave, that's a huge temptation for them on the mountain just to 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:27.759 bury into the snow and fall asleep gently. And it's so tempting and so attractive and yet we 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:33.680 know that that leads to death, doesn't it? Because it leads to just that gentle hypothermia 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:43.040 that leads to death. And it's so tempting to be spiritually taken over by hypothermia, 00:24:43.040 --> 00:24:48.480 spiritual hypothermia, where we just, we don't pray. There's a million things that we would, 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:56.720 we would rather do maybe or we just feel it's so tough to take another step in prayer just like 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:03.599 that man in the mountainside, taking one more step into the snow can't do it. And yet that is the way 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:11.200 of life. And for us, prayer is a hugely significant in our weakness, but also because in our weakness 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:15.839 that's where we find our strength. So watch and pray. And also I think he's saying, pray, 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:24.000 pray with others, pray with others. In the darkness of your life, when you are fed up of maybe company 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:29.759 and what you perceive to be the failures of others and the loneliness of the Christian walk and the 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:35.599 battles we face, the seven days of prayer is an encouragement. It's meant to be an encouragement 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:43.439 to come together and to be, to have our lives triggered by the benefit and the value of upholding 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:50.000 each other in prayer and to know transformed lives and to be inspired and to be persevering in prayer. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.519 The corporate prayer, so important. Jesus saying, here I need you, I need you. I need to come with 00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:00.400 you and hopefully the encouragement is as a people of God, we use that seven days of prayer, 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.160 just a trigger to pray in small groups, to pray in big groups, to pray in city groups, to pray in 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:09.279 every context we can throughout the year. It's to pray in our engine room, which the engine room, 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:14.319 which is so significant and important and to see, I'm seeing lives changed in prayer in St. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:19.039 Columbus in these days and I'm seeing answered prayers are in marvelous ways in St. Columbus. 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:24.319 You want to be part of that, you want to be part of that, praying with others because Jesus says, 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:33.759 I hear and I answer, I hear and I answer. And you say, well, really? Jesus says, you know, 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:40.160 may this cup pass from me? But it didn't, did it? Cup didn't pass from me. There's a verse in 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:45.599 Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7, I think I've put up on the screen. Hebrews 5 says, in the days of His 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:50.720 flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to Him who was able 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:59.839 to save Him from death and He was heard because of His reverence. So He was heard and He was saved 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:05.519 from death, but not in the way that maybe we would have expected. We look at that and say, well, 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:11.439 was He, He wasn't saved from death, He died on the cross. But we see a deeper and a stronger 00:27:11.439 --> 00:27:17.919 answer that we have here revealed to us. Yes, He faced death and hell on the cross, 00:27:17.919 --> 00:27:24.319 but two things happened. One, God sent an angel, we're told that in Luke 22. God sent an angel to 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:29.039 strengthen Him. So God immediately showed that He had heard His prayer and sent an angel to strengthen 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:34.559 Him. Well, what did the angel say? Oh, that would be great to find out. The words of conference 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:37.920 sentencing, the Father knows, the Father is here, the Father is with you, the Father, 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:45.759 remember what we have, whatever, must have been remarkable. But He was reminded and encouraged 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:50.799 in God's will and able then to go forward and face what lay ahead because He knew the love 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:57.839 that was pouring out from the Trinity. But also the answer was not just in the Be strengthened, 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:04.159 but that He overcame death. You know, He rose from the dead. He was saved from the defeat of death 00:28:04.159 --> 00:28:10.159 and from the power of death in His own strength by His third day resurrection, which is our hope. 00:28:10.639 --> 00:28:19.279 That's why we have hope today. No insignificant part-time faith and hope that we have. It is 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:28.799 the reality of an amazing life with Him so that He answers, but very often not the way we expect 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:33.759 Him to answer. If you look at the quote from Tim Keller on your bulletin sheet, you'll see a really 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:38.399 useful reference to that, which I don't have, because I didn't take a bulletin up with me. 00:28:38.399 --> 00:28:45.440 So He answers above and beyond. And it's huge that we see that, that we don't see a relationship with 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:51.759 God as if God is some kind of genie in a lamp who will just when we go into His presence, He's going 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:57.920 to answer our prayers exactly the way that we want, and life will be just great and easy for us. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:03.759 It's a recognition that He is answering our prayers as believers in a far greater way than we could 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:09.840 imagine, wanting us to conquer the darkness, the battles, and the weakness that we have with His 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:17.599 transforming grace in His good way, which will be better than what our way is, even though it's 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:22.959 hard for us to understand that. That's a huge project that He's engaged in, but we go to Him daily, 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:29.679 and we know that He strengthens us and loves us and never leaves us and doesn't forsake us. So 00:29:31.439 --> 00:29:36.559 that's so important. And I implore myself and you as believers to 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:42.159 watch and pray. Watch and pray because of the world we live in, because of our own hearts, 00:29:42.159 --> 00:29:46.159 because of our weakness, because of the temptations, because of the struggles. 00:29:46.159 --> 00:29:51.200 You know, sometimes when we're really struggling, that's when we pray less often, isn't it? 00:29:51.919 --> 00:29:55.599 Somehow we're embarrassed, somehow we're ashamed, somehow we think God wouldn't hear us 00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:01.679 because of who we are. That's when I want you, He says, like, I know you're weak, this. And I know, 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:08.000 I know, I know, I know. And then as we close, what is God saying to you? If you don't believe, 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.400 if you're not a Christian, come on today, you know, whatever level, maybe it's the first time 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:17.440 you've ever been in the church here. Maybe you've come a lot of times to church, but you've never 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:21.680 committed your life and heart to Jesus. Maybe you don't know anything, maybe you know lots. 00:30:23.120 --> 00:30:29.120 Maybe it's just a way of life, but you've never asked Christ into your heart and asked Him to 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:36.559 forgive your sins. What do I say to you? Well, what do I think God is saying to you from the word 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:45.119 that we've read today? Well, I think he's saying, one, I know you, I know you. And He says, I even 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:54.000 know your spirit might not be willing. I know that you may be antagonistic, you've been dragged along 00:30:54.000 --> 00:31:00.160 today. Or I know you may be searching, or you may be religious, or you don't think you're a bad person 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:05.920 in any way, or you don't get sin, or you think being a Christian is weird, or you can't commit to 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:10.640 giving your life to Him, you can't take that step of faith. You don't know how to pray, you don't 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:16.720 understand, you love too many of the wrong things. You would love to believe, but you just don't get 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:21.599 it. I don't know what's swirling about in your head if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ today, 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:28.319 but God knows. He says, I know you. I know you. I know every thought that you have. I know you 00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:34.559 in the intimacy of your being, intimacy of your being. And He says, I love you. I love you more 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:42.159 than you can ever imagine. I love you. I made you. I've gifted you life. I knew exactly what you would 00:31:42.159 --> 00:31:48.319 be like when you were in the womb. And I now see your brokenness. And I see sometimes the spiritual 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:54.960 rebellion and the rejection of the living God. And I see your confusion and your anger. And I still 00:31:54.960 --> 00:32:04.559 love you. I still love you. I sent my son to die for you, to offer you life. So I know you, 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:10.399 and I love you. And I would just say to you, and encourage you also, therefore to pray. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:16.559 Just pray. If you've never prayed, pray, Lord, Lord, you know, show me my heart. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:23.839 And show me what I can't see. Open my eyes. Give me the strength to trust in you, even though it 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:29.919 seems a strange thing to do, to trust in a Jewish man from 2,000 years ago who died in a cross and 00:32:29.919 --> 00:32:35.599 who claimed to be raised from the dead a third day later. Show me that this is truth. Let me look at 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:39.599 the people around me who are Christians and see the transformation in their lives. And let me ask 00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:47.199 them, but above all, help me just to know your love and your grace and your truth. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:54.559 Pray that prayer. And I hope that we all recognize the power and the significance 00:32:54.559 --> 00:33:00.079 of daily prayer in our lives. Watch and pray so that you'll not fall into temptation. He knows 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:06.719 how prone we are to temptation. We thank God for Jesus Christ and for what He's done. Let's bow 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:12.880 our heads and pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are. We thank You for the amazing, 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:22.559 good news, the gospel, which exposes who we are and reminds us that You know everything about us. 00:33:23.360 --> 00:33:30.240 We just can't have any pretense, even though we may hide our real selves from everyone in the 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:35.680 universe. We know that You know, and yet we know that makes no difference to Your love, 00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:44.799 that You still invite us to Yourself, that You invite us to come to Jesus who has paid the price 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:52.160 for even the vilest of sins in our hearts and who offers us life and hope. We thank You for that. 00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:58.880 And we pray and ask that You would give us the courage and the strength and the dependence on 00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:06.960 You simply to invite You into our lives and hearts and to know You as King and Lord and to 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:14.720 know that transformation and that peace that passes understanding that isn't in any way 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:23.440 simply emotional or worked up in our own strength. So Lord, hear as we pray and bless us as we sing 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:29.840 together and respond to You in worship for Your worthy. In Jesus' name, amen.