Wednesday 3/27/13 Easter Week 3

Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil, for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever.  Amen.  

Dear Father, thanks for a great day, and thanks for carrying me through it.  Lord, please be with your children this week, please help a piano player be found by Pastor Kurt for Easter Sunday, please, Lord, be with our Ministry Team as we head into this busy season.  Please be with a man named Bob who made a very big mistake.  Be with those family members who, Lord, just seem not to get along, and watch over them.  Lord, You know them, and help me, dear Lord, to get the message to them that they must get long, they must do their very best.  Please bless gain this line and all who use it, thanks for keeping it open.  I love You, Jesus, and I pray in Your name.  Amen.

Hi, brothers and sisters, the snow is now over for the year as I took the snow plow off my plow truck today!!  If it snows again, Dolores will just need to shovel it.  We have a person on the line who does not get along with another person who might become part of their family.  Pray that the problem gets worked out.  Yes, I have withheld the names.  The one named Bob, and I withheld the last name, was stealing and lost his job.  What a beautiful day we had here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  All the snow has melted away, I spent about six hours outside working and I give all honor and glory that I can still do that.  What I did in those six hours I should be able to do in two, but I have slowed down, but again, I am thankful I can keep moving.  As I go now to the message, remember I am going out of line, so that I can have our next message be the "last Supper" and I am going to try and have it done and out very early Thursday morning.  Now, let us head to Gethsemane.

Wednesday 3/27/13 Easter Week, Day 3:  Gethsemane.

Please read Matthew 26:36/46.

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."  (Matthew 26:34)  Jesus told Peter that before the rooster crows in the morning that he would disown Him three times.

When Jesus arrived with His disciples t Gethsemane, He told them to (Matthew 26:36) "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 (and I don't have teeth) 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" (go back to the top and pray the Lord's Prayer again) 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 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and then an elbow from Dolores once in awhile to wake me up.  And now when I am preaching, well, there are some paybacks.  But at least when I am preaching, I stay awake.

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 land 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 fulfilled the 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 ...

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for the message of today, and please bless it and anoint it as it heads out through wires and space.  All honor and glory and thanks for all You do for us.  In Jesus' Name, I give thanks.   Amen.

Remember, communion tomorrow, and then a message about the cross on Friday.  And yes, there will be a message this week on Easter morning.  Now go forth, sharing your blessings and sharing your love of Jesus with others.  Love ya (pass it on).

Pastor Dan.