Maundy Thursday: Holy Week 3

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Good Maundy Thursday morning, my dear brothers and sisters. I am so excited about these next days, they are a time for all to get excited about Jesus. Last Sunday we set an attendance record at the Bridges. It was wonderful, and our flock that Jesus entrusted to us were so full of joy and excitement.

This evening at The Bridges, at 6.30 PM, we will be having a communion/healing service, and you are for sure welcome. Tomorrow, Good Friday, we will be back at the Bridges in concert at 2.00 PM, and again you are invited. And you are also welcome on Easter Sunday Morning at 10:00 AM. Please come out and learn the joy of the love of our Lord Jesus. Remember Jesus did all of this for us, you and me.

Today being Thursday makes it family day on this line. Please pray for your family and mine and also for Tom and Kathleen Sansoni -- Kathleen has cancer. Also pray, and please do this daily, for Pastor Charles Idler and for Pat Parvin, both recovering from strokes. Again, thanks for your prayers for my health. I think I have some of those stones dropping down again, I think satan is trying to stop me from singing and preaching this week, and it just is not going to happen. I have a stronger power then satan, I HAVE JESUS ON BOARD ... AMEN.

Maundy Thursday: Holy Week 2: Yesterday we had our supper (communion) with Jesus in the upper room, and I pray that all of you enjoy online communion as much as I do. Today I want to walk along with Jesus as He goes to Gethsemane where He had a very serious talk with His (our) Father in Heaven.

Before Jesus headed out to pray he was talking to His disciples and telling them how they will fall away on His account. Peter told Jesus "Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will." Jesus told Peter that before the old rooster crows in the morning that he would disown Him three times.

When Jesus arrived with His disciples at Gethsemane, He told them to "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him. Jesus said to them. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Matthew 26: 39 - Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed. "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (NIV)

I want to bring a couple of things out of this one verse. First of all, even though Jesus knew all along that the day would come for Him to be taken under arrest, be beaten and put to death on the cross, you can tell here that He was a tad nervous about it. Was it the fact that He was losing His friends, or was it the pain He knew He was going to have? I don't know, but I do know that I get nervous when I know that I am going to the dentist or someplace for an appointment and there is going to be pain. But it is the next part of the prayer that I want you to take a real close look at. Here it is again ... "Yet not as I will, but as you will." If you recall when Jesus taught us to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer", we are taught to pray, "Thy will be done", and again as I have said many times in my writings ... our Lord Jesus teaches by example. Here is a good example of Jesus showing us this part of the Lord's prayer when He, Himself, prays in Gethsemane, "Yet not as I will, but as you will." Yes, we see and hear Jesus praying that it is His Father in Heaven whose will should be carried out and not that of Jesus. "Yet not as I will, but as you will." Please remember this, I think one very important part of the messages of Jesus, and there are many, is His bringing out that it should always be God's will for us and not our own. After praying he returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" Jesus said. Gosh, how many pastors have had that thought in their mind on a Sunday morning? Can you not stay awake for an hour during church? Guilty, gosh, the choir would sing before the message and relax me into my seat and it was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and then an elbow from Dolores once in a while to wake me up. And now when I am preaching, well there are some paybacks.

After Jesus was finished praying and while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. He had not been with the others and he arrived with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people and Jesus was arrested, taken into custody. You have the right to remain silent, no, that did not happen. But listen to this, as Jesus was taken, seized, one of the followers of Jesus pulled his sword and cut the ear off of a servant of the high priest. Now comes another act of love by Jesus. "Put your sword back in its place." "For all who draw the sword will die by the sword!" As Jesus put the ear back on the servant of the high priest, He said ... "Do you think I cannot call on my Father and He will put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" You see once again Jesus could have ended all of this, could have put a stop to it, but that would not have fullfilled that taking away of our sins, the sins of the world, which is the reason Jesus was here. Yes, Jesus healed the sick, He opened the blind eyes, He fed the hungry, He preached, He taught, but His main job was to heal us from our sins and pave the way for us to get into heaven ... So Jesus went forward ...

Please come back tomorrow morning, Good Friday, as we go to the cross with Jesus.

Dear Father in Heaven, if we learn nothing else from the message today, let us learn that we are to do your will. Open our little brains and our minds and souls to know and understand this. Let us know that Your will for us is always better than our own will. Father, we ask Your healing hand on families today, first we ask that You heal hearts, and Lord, today we also ask for healing from cancer for Kathleen and for healing from strokes for Pastor Charles and for Pat. Lord, bless this line and keep it running and thanks for Your healing hand on me. Bless all the families that are using this line. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings, share your love of Jesus, and REPENT of your sins. Enjoy your day ... love ya, dan.