Wake Up and Pray

Instagram Introduction. (Show IG Pictures) Hi my name is Mark. I grew up in the Twin Cities and became a high school teacher. I met my wife there. She was the dance teacher and I was PE/Health teacher. We married and moved to Bolivia. Then we moved to paradise, I mean Panama. We had two of our kids there. And then God called us back to Minneapolis where I worked at a church where I was the HS and College pastor for 8 years. We adopted David 3 years ago. We love living in Minnesota. And we love living in the suburbs. Real Introduction. (Show Bad Pictures) Hi. My name is Mark. I grew up in the Twin Cities and my dad lost his job multiple times. When I met my wife Kelli her depression was really bad. We moved to Bolivia, but that strained several relationships in the church we were serving in. When we moved to Panama within the first month a friend of ours died in a motorcycle accident. Our first two kids were born in Panama and my son had three eye surgeries as a baby and then when we moved back to Minneapolis we found out that he had Cerebral Palsy. I worked in a church for 8 years. Did you know that the pastors and the staff of churches are imperfect too? We did foster care with David until his mother’s parental rights were taken away by a judge and then we adopted him. Living in Minnesota during the pandemic and during George Floyd’s death has brought so many challenges to our family and community. This is real life. How do we do this? How do we get through this? Because we will always be met with challenges. We live in a self centered, broken world. Right. How do I meet my next temptation head on and still follow Jesus? Our passage today shows up. Let’s look at Luke 22:39 46 Luke 22 39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Pray How do I meet my next challenge head on and still follow Jesus? 39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” When it says that he went out as usual… It means that he was a regular, this was his time of connection and prayer with the father. During that week, Jesus had spent His evenings there (Luke 21:37), and He refused to modify His routine, despite the fact that it meant Judas could easily find Him. It shows that you need a place of prayer… Because that’s what Jesus did… And then in other parts of the Scriptures and says that he slipped away early in the morning… So then you need a time of prayer… You need a place of prayer and time of prayer? Do you? The spiritual discipline of prayer is critical in the life of a follower of Jesus. You have access to the father. You have a direct line to him. There is a 5G cell tower that always connects when you lift up your voice and lift up your heart to Him. Do you have a place of prayer and a time of prayer? Well Mark, we pray before meals! God is great, God is good let us thank him for our food, Amen! Jesus had a consistent time and place where he would go and share and pour out his heart to his heavenly father. To talk, confess, ask, seek, listen. Shouldn't it be a discipline of mine and yours if it was a discipline of Jesus'? Do you have a place of prayer and a time of prayer? 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He began by warning the disciples of their need to pray. They have just come out of this dinner where Jesus had washed their feet. He told Judas he was going to betray him and then Judas awkwardly left. (Some of you just had that happen at Thanksgiving dinner, YIKES) And he told Peter that he would deny him 3 times and then a rooster would crow. And he told them that he was going to die. So now he says, Pray that you will not fall into temptation and I don’t know if they even hear him. That was such a crazy dinner. I can’t pray. I need to debrief. What is happening? Where is Jesus going? I don’t feel like praying. The times that you don’t feel like praying are the times when you need to pray the most. 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father… In one commentary it said: “The usual manner of prayer at that time was to pray in a standing position. That Jesus knelt down proves the violence of His struggle in Gethsemane.” (Geldenhuys) I can just picture Jesus falling in exhaustion on his knees or it was a posture of humility as he came before his father. He addressed God as “Father” (22:42). Matthew 26:39, 42 reports Him as repeatedly calling God “My Father.” Mark 14:36 says that He cried, “Abba, Father.” Abba was the Aramaic word of closeness and intimacy that children used in addressing their fathers. Jesus instructed us to pray to God as our Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:9). A Roman emperor was once parading through the streets of the imperial city, enjoying a victory celebration. Roman legionnaires lined the parade route to keep back the cheering people. At one place along the way was a small platform where the royal family sat. As the conqueror approached, his youngest son, who was just a little boy, jumped down, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to run out to meet him. “You can’t do that,” said one of the guards as he caught the boy in his strong arms. “Don’t you know who is in that chariot? That’s the emperor!” The boy quickly responded, “He may be your emperor, but he’s my father!” (“Our Daily Bread,” 1977). That boy had the privilege of access to the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire because he was related. Even so, we have access to the Sovereign God of the universe as His children through faith in Christ. We can draw near knowing that He will welcome us as our heavenly father. 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Repeatedly in the Old Testament, a cup is a powerful picture of the wrath and judgment of God. · For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down. (Psalm 75:8) Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God, who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the Father’s fury, so we would not have to drink from that cup. Taking this figurative cup was the source of Jesus’ greatest agony on the cross. “I am never afraid of exaggeration, when I speak of what my Lord endured. All hell was distilled into that cup, of which our God and Savior Jesus Christ was made to drink.” (Spurgeon) Jesus came to a point of decision in Gethsemane. It wasn’t that He had not decided nor consented before, but now He had come upon a unique point of decision. He drank the cup at Calvary, but the decision to drink that cup came at Gethsemane. 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. In response to Jesus’ prayers, the Father did not take the cup from Jesus; but He strengthened Jesus by angelic messengers to be able to take – and drink – the cup and endure the coming hours of suffering. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. It’s Jesus in the struggle. It’s Jesus wrestling. We see the full range of Jesus’ humanity. Fully God and fully man. All the emotions. Luke did not say that Jesus’ sweat was blood, but that it was like blood; either in the way that it poured off His brow, or because it was tinged with blood from the burst capillaries and dilated pores on His brow. However, “There have been cases in which persons in a debilitated state of body, or through horror of soul, have had their sweat tinged with blood… Cases sometimes happen in which, through mental pressure, the pores may be so dilated that the blood may issue from them; so that there may be a bloody sweat. It’s called: Hematridosis 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Jesus warned them twice to pray so that they may not enter into temptation. But they were blind to the real danger that was quickly approaching, and so they failed to pray. They didn’t pray…they fell asleep…and what happened directly after this moment…they ran in fear and denied Jesus. They were allowing the flesh to dominate the spirit. They were tired and depressed, and so they slept rather than prayed. When Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter started swinging his sword. When Jesus was led away, although Luke does not record it, the disciples left Jesus and fled for their own safety (Mark 14:50). Peter goes on to deny Jesus 3 times. They were operating in the physical realm. If they had been in prayer with Jesus, they could have responded in the Spiritual realm. Jesus commands his followers to pray and what do they do… They fall asleep… Has anything changed from 2000 years ago… Jesus is commanding us to make disciples baptize them and teach them to obey… And have we fallen asleep? Church, wake up… Church wake up… The time is coming… The time is now… Church wake up… How do I meet my next challenge head on and still follow Jesus? If you have fallen asleep with your spiritual disciplines. If you have fallen asleep with reading your Bible. If you have fallen asleep with time in prayer. If you have fallen asleep in sharing your faith. If you have fallen asleep in tithing and offering your finances to kingdom things. IF you have fallen asleep in serving others. WAKE UP. You were created by God to know him. To be in a relationship with him. Wake up. You were empowered by the Holy Spirit to be an ambassador for him. Wake up. You were called by God to love and care for people, as a servant for him. Wake up Years ago in Central Africa, the gospel reached a number of tribes and there were many new believers. Just as a newborn baby cries, so these babes in Christ began to cry out to the Lord in prayer. Since they had no church building, they cleared a central spot in the jungle where they could gather for prayer. Soon there were trails from many different huts that converged on that spot. Whenever a convert seemed to be losing his first love and enthusiasm, other believers would admonish him saying, “Brother, the grass is growing on your path.” Is the grass growing on your path to God? If it is, you will fall into temptation. Prayer or temptation—those are the options. “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” This Jesus is remarkable. You can trust him. Why? Because he knelt in a garden and he prayed knowing that everything that you’ve done wrong and I’ve been wrong was going to be placed on his shoulders and he said father you’re will be done. He came to rescue us from ourselves. We are all sinners in need of a savior. Copyright: Mark Warder Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.