Watch and Pray - Sunday Sermon Review

Sunday Sermon Review from my home church I attend regularly. We are continuing on in our Matthew series. This Sunday's sermon was from Matthew 26: 31 - 46 with the focus verse 41 being verse where it says:   Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.


Matthew 36: 31-46 

31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

Here are my sermon notes:

We have come to the climax of the book of Matthew. The darkest part of a story is the climax.

Things don't always work out as we had hoped or expected. There is loss of hope and we experience pain.

Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He is troubled and He is sorrowful. He calls on the disciples to pray with him. They fall asleep though He urges them to "watch and pray!" These are words for all of us - Watch and Pray!

How do we watch and pray?

We must remember that when we pray we are calling out to our Heavenly Father - our Abba that is our "Daddy".

We are to pour out our heart to our Heavenly Father.

Why would you hold back? Our Heavenly Father has a furious love for his children.

Jesus prays " nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt".  Jesus is driven to glorify God. He has learned obedience as a Son as we learn in Hebrews 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

How can it be the Father's will that Jesus would suffer?

Jesus is fully human and fully God. Jesus chose to suffer and die for us out of love for us. The human side of Jesus does not want to go through this but He prays "  not as I will, but as thou wilt". He submits to the will of our Heavenly Father.

Prayer is about coming to accept the will of the Father.

Bring everything to Him. We need to have the same attitude as Jesus had.

Some people resist submitting to the Father.

Our flesh needs to die -  our flesh needs to be exposed. We need to walk in the Spirit.

Jesus is overwhelmed to the point of death. He pleads for a different way but He submits to the will of the Father.

Ask your Heavenly Father for protection from temptation.

To watch means you make a plan to help you to avoid falling to the temptations. Do what it takes to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus, to remain faithful to the will of our Father in Heaven.

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I once heart Woodrow Kroll pray this pray and I thought I would make it my own: 

Heavenly Father - Your will be done, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

Amen

Parenting Advice - Raising Children

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Parenting can be a very challenging experience but it is a great honor. We are very blessed to be entrusted with these precious children to raise up to love and serve the Lord. We all come into it unexperienced so it is always a time of learning for both the parents and the children as well.
It is very important that we live our lives intentionally - that we do what we do because we are making an intentional choice. We do not want to live in regret for having made unwise choices when emotions run high in difficult circumstances. So that is why it is important to set up some goals for oneself in life and that would include parenting.
I was listening to Back to the Bible recently and in the program Woodrow Kroll shared some of Susanna Wesley's parenting advice.  I jotted down a few notes and so I would like to share it with those of you who come here to my blog.
Susanna Wesley is the mother of the well known brothers Charles Wesley and John Wesley. ( Sometime ago I wrote  a post on the life of John Wesley - link to post here:  http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/08/heroes-of-faith-john-wesley.html  )
Susanna Wesley was married to Sammuel Wesley and they had 19 children. So we can see that Susanna Wesley had a lot of practice at parenting over the years.  Susanna Wesley would take 1 hour per week for each one of her children individually to have one on one time with them to talk about spiritual matters with them. She was truly a great woman of faith.

Here are Susanna Wesley's Six Rules for Raising Children
1) Subdue self will in a child and thus work with God to save him.
2) Teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak.
3) Give a child nothing he cries for, and only give him what is good for him and he asks for politely.
4) To prevent lying, punish no fault which is freely confessed, BUT never allow a rebellious sinful act to go unnoticed.
5) Command and reward good behavior.
6) Strictly observe all promises that you have made to your child.

Note - for more parenting tips please read my post titled  "Snippets from my Fridge - Family Rules and Discipline"  link to post here
 http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/10/snippets-from-my-fridge-family-rules.html 

The Oil and the Wine...

Revelation 6: 5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

I was listening to Back to the Bible yesterday where Woodrow Kroll was teaching on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. What caught my attention was his explanation of the line in verse 6 of Revelation 6 where it says : and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.  The first seal is the antichrist making his appearance, the second seal is a war on the earth and then the third seal  represents a famine. During the times of this famine, it will cost a person's entire daily wage to buy food sufficient for just one person. Then we come to part "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine".  What does that mean?? Woodrow Kroll seemed unsure of the meaning but he suggested that in the days of this tribulation there will still be a divide among the rich and poor people on the earth. The poor struggling to put food on the table and the rich having excess described by the terms oil and wine. BUT, I would like to share a different perspective on the interpretation of "the oil and wine". My Dad ( he has already passed on to glory) was a preacher and Bible teacher and he had quite a different explanation for this. He believed that the "oil and wine" refers to medicine and heathcare being available to those in need of it. (Whether it will be government run is not clear but  perhaps you could think of organizations such as The Red Cross etc) Let me explain why he thought "oil and wine" could refer to medicine and healthcare. We all have heard Bible teachers say you must interpret Scripture with Scripture. When you look in the story of the good Samaritan - what does the Samaritan use to dress the wounds of the injured man who fell among thieves. Luke 10:34 says And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. We can see from this that oil and wine were used in Biblical times for medicinal purposes.
 So to conclude, I cannot say whether Woodrow Kroll has the correct interpretation here or whether my Dad does but for the benefit of those living in the days of the tribulation period, I would hope that healthcare and medicine would be available to them in those days.

Fuel for the Soul!

The other day I went to the gas station to fill up the family van. The tank was mostly empty again. As I stood there filling in the gasoline, it reminded me of the importance of filling up our spiritual tanks regulary.  Just as we can not run our vehicles very far on an empty tank, neither can we live in victory as Christians if we do not take time with the Lord daily. It is important that as individuals we spend time reading our Bibles and praying every day. A person might say " I am too busy to read and pray, I have a lot to get done today." But from my own experience I can tell you that time with God is never time wasted. There is really nothing else as sweet as being in God's presence in personal time with Him. Someone has said that if we are too busy to read our Bibles and pray everyday then we are just too busy. I would say that for me, the day goes better if I make my time with the Lord a real priority.
The Bible likens feeding our souls to the intake of food or milk. In John 6:35 Jesus says : " I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
Jesus satisfies our deepest longings and needs. No one can do this except Jesus. When we take the Word into our own life and apply it to ourselves personally, we are really blessed.
In 1 Peter 2:2 it says - As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  Just as a baby needs milk in order to grow and mature so we also need the milk of God's Word to grow in our Christian walk. We begin with milk and grow and mature in our faith and come to need the meat of the Word.
Someone may say - But what if I cannot remember what I have read, what does it help me?  When we put the Word of God in our minds through Bible reading, it slowly grows us and shapes us into right thinking and helps us to live a  God-honoring life. We need the consistant intake of God's Word to become  more and more like Jesus. Consider the  nourishing of our physical bodies with food, we cannot remember either what we have had for lunch or supper a couple of days ago but still it has nurtured us and helped us and carried us till our next meal. So it is also in our spiritual life. It helps us immediately and also in the long-term.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy  that the Bible is written by the inspiration of God Himself.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 says
¹⁵ And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

As Woodrow Kroll says - God only wrote one book and He'd be pleased to have us read it.