Skip to content We Need Each Other's Prayers - The Humanity of Christ, Part 2 Mar 24 · 46 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:30 Matthew chapter 26, every other location standing, here's what it says in verse 36. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and0:42 pray. And taking with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, here's the humanity of Jesus. Listen to this phrase. My soul is0:54 very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch with me. Somebody say, watch with me. Watch with me. I I just want you to stop for a second. Think about that. Jesus needed them.1:07 Jesus said, I need you to watch with me. My soul is troubled, and I need you. Verse 39, and going a little further, he fell on his face praying,1:19 my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples, and he found them sleeping. And he said to them, so you could not even keep watch with1:30 me 1 hour. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. How many can relate to that 1? And he says this. And then it says1:42 this. And again, for the second time, went away and prayed, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. So1:54 leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the fur for the third time saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on.2:06 See, the hour is at hand, and the son of man is betrayed into the hand of sinners. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for2:17 Jesus, for the fact that he knows what it's like to be human, that we can know in our hearts and in our minds and through your scriptures,2:29 that we have a sympathetic high priest who knows what we go through, that he experienced suffering, he experienced shame. He experienced the2:41 pain of the cross for us that we might live without shame, without guilt, without fear, without condemnation. For we know2:53 that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We thank you, God, for the salvation that is ours, so rich, so full, so free. Help us in this moment to have3:05 ears to hear, hearts to receive, minds to be renewed, and eyes to see Jesus. In his mighty name, pray. And everybody said, amen. God bless you. Have a seat at all the locations. Let's get into this3:17 text. Let's get into this passage. I told you last week that I have an agenda. How many know pastors always have an agenda? Well, I have an agenda. Last last series agenda was we needed money to raise3:28 money for really big things. I'm so thankful. You guys listen up. You guys listen up. And I said a couple weeks ago, we're over 1000000 dollars in for really big things. God bless you. Thank you so much for giving. But3:39 this this series, we have an agenda. I want you to leave our sanctuaries, every location. Leave our sanctuaries, go out into the lobby, wherever that is at your location, and get into a LifeGroup. Somebody say,3:50 LifeGroup. LifeGroup. Somebody say, I need a life group. I need a life group. Oh, that wasn't so confident down here in Apollo Beach. Okay. Let's try it again. 1 2 3. I need a life group. I need life group. Very good.4:02 Yeah. You do. You need a life group. The first thing that Jesus ever did was start a life group. He started a group of 12 disciples. Now, yeah, he was going to invest in them and give them the words of the kingdom and4:12 the principles of the kingdom, and he was gonna teach them how to carry this movement forward. But in his own life, we see moments in the 3 years that he ministered on this Earth where he needed some gentlemen to come4:22 around him and lift him up. He needed some prayers. Here's my question. Write it down on the top of your notes, fill in the blanks. Do I have a prayer partner? Do I have a prayer partner?4:34 And I'm not talking about your spouse. I'm talking about somebody that you can relate to that is not your spouse if you're married, somebody of the same sex. And in case you were wondering, there's only 2 sexes.4:47 And they are people that you can call on when when stuff happens, when life hits you like a ton of bricks. Do you have someone like that? Jesus goes through this moment4:58 in Matthew 26, he needs some prayer partners. The verse that we just read, verse 38, my soul is very troubled, even to death remain here and what? Watch with me. I I need5:10 some people to come around me, Jesus said, and pray with me. And so last week, had you write this down, but but but I'm gonna add to it. I had you write down last week, if Jesus needed people,5:22 I need people. Here's what I want you to write down this week in your notes. If Jesus needed praying people, I need praying people. I need someone that I can5:34 call that will lift me up in the Lord's work and lead me forward in the battles that I face. Has anybody ever been through a battle?5:46 Yes. If you've been through a battle, say amen. Amen. Okay. If you haven't been through a battle, just wait. It's going to happen. Life happens. You're going to have struggle. You're gonna go to places5:58 you've never been before. You're gonna struggle with things you've never struggled with before. The good news is there are probably people in your church who have been where you are going or are where you are or might6:08 have been through where you are, and you have someone that you can call and say, God got me through that, and he can get you through it too. This is why the body of Christ is so necessary.6:20 When Jesus is asked by the disciples, teach us how to pray. He gives them the model prayer. We call it the Lord's prayer, but Jesus said, this is what I want you to say. This is what I want you to pray. So6:32 it's really not the Lord's prayer. It's the prescription prayer for the Lord's people. It's the disciples' prayer. How does that prayer start? Let's see if we know the first line of that prayer. Everybody6:44 say it with me on the contrary. 1, 2, 3. Our father who art in heaven. What's the first word? Our. Isn't it amazing that we kinda just skip over that word? But it's the first6:56 word, and it's the first person plural, so it's the night it's the concept that Jesus puts right into the beginning of our prayers. Your prayers are meant to be prayed in7:08 community. Now, yes, there are singular prayers all over the scripture. God help me. God save me. God forgive me. God deliver me. God, you know, help me against my enemies. Yes. Absolutely. They're all over the Psalms.7:19 They're all over the Bible. But the model's prescription that Jesus gives for us is that you and I partner together in praying to our father. And I thought about it. When we say those words,7:31 our father, we remind ourselves instantly in whatever challenge that we are facing that we are not alone. You're never7:43 alone, Christian. If you're alone, it's because you've made some choices to choose to be alone. But God's prescription for you is you don't wanna be alone. You don't want to go through the valley of the shadow of death7:53 alone. You want somebody there who can lift you up and pray you through. Amen, somebody. When Jesus is at the Mount of Olives, this is a difficult night. This is a difficult night. He has just shared the last supper with8:05 the disciples. He has just sent off Judas, who's gonna betray him. He has now closed out the Passover meal, having washed their feet. Now they go to a place. Here's how Luke says it. Luke chapter 228:17 verse 39. And it says he came and he went out, and as was his custom. This is a practice that Jesus got into. Right there, Luke 29 verse 39 22 verse 39. As was8:29 his custom, he went out to the Mount of Olives, his disciples followed him. And he was doing this regularly. What I'm trying to show you here is that Jesus went to pray with his friends and his brothers regularly.8:41 He did this on a regular basis. Quick question in your head. Don't answer out loud. When was the last time that you brought your prayers and your knees to someone else to lift them up for you?8:53 You say, I don't have an outlet like that. Get into a life group. You say, it's been a long time. Get into a LifeGroup. Whatever it takes, get into a LifeGroup because we need each other's prayers.9:04 Let me ask a question, pop quiz, Apollo Beach, since I'll hear from you and not the other locations. But if you're in trouble, what do you call? Mom.9:19 Our pastor's wife said, mom down here. Okay? But if I'm not mistaken, she lives in Brazil? Yeah. So that's gonna be a tough time as you wait for her to find a flight and get here. Okay.9:31 Let me ask this question 1 more time. If you let me let me hold this up as a hint hint. Okay? If you are in trouble, who are you going to call? Jesus. Oh,9:43 boy. Okay. Now we're being just now we're just being spiritual just to spite me. Okay. Let me yeah. There you go. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna give you 1 more hint, but okay. 9 1 1.9:58 Lord help these people in Apollo Beach. Okay. How this is not a question for anybody to answer because you are all so bad. I'm not gonna ask you any more questions.10:10 How did we get 9 1 1? I'm gonna tell you. You might not even realize this. 9 1 1 was instituted in 19 68 as a national emergency help service.10:23 4 years earlier now I'm gonna get dark on you. Forgive me, but it's necessary. 4 years earlier, a tragedy happened in New York City that eventually led to 9 1 1.10:35 In 19 64, a lot of murders happened in New York City. A lot of murders happened in a lot of cities, but there was a particularly high amount in 19 64 in in New York City.10:48 But 1 of them changed the world. The woman's name was Kitty Genovese. Kitty Genovese was finishing her second shift at work on the way home,11:00 walking to apartment her apartment when a a mugger came out of the darkness, grabbed her, started to strangle her, stabbed her, and she screamed out for help.11:12 1 neighbor yelled out from his window, leave that girl alone. And the mugger ran off temporarily. Kitty went to the back of her apartment building.11:24 She was gonna enter in through the back door, and the mugger caught back up with her on the backside of her apartment building, raped her, stabbed her some more, killed her, and took11:36 her money. Now amazingly, the scandal was not her death, as tragic as it was. The scandal was that when she11:48 first cried out at the first attack, the the the evidence shows that 30 some odd windows and lights were opened and turned on at11:59 the moment of her attack from the neighborhood buildings around her. 38 people woke up, heard her cries, some of them opened their windows, and all of12:11 them turned on their lights, and here's the tragedy, not a single person came out to help her. Not 1. Well, the news broke through the New York Times12:24 and across the nation, outward outrage spread. How can we be so heartless of a country? What's wrong with us as a people that we will not12:36 help someone in their worst moment of life? The editor of the New York Times at that time was a guy by the name of A. M. Robertson, and he wrote a12:48 book as a result of this tragedy called 38 witnesses, the Kitty Genovese case. 4 years later, the federal government passed a law, and 9 112:59 1 was instituted as a national emergency hotline service. Now that's not where the story ends either. Of course, the psychoanalysts and the sociologists had to13:11 get in on this and try to figure out what what's wrong with us that that we won't help someone in distress. And I don't know if you're seeing what I'm seeing, but I see this kinda heartlessness coming back to our13:22 country. I do. I see too many people in tragic moments whipping out this and not handing people these. People are filming everything. You can see13:34 almost all all you want of human cars. And I'm always wondering, why are you filming it instead of doing something about it? We we we we've got a heartlessness in this country. But anyway,13:45 here's what they did. Some sociologists and some scientists did some research, and they determined something called the bystander effect. The bystander effect. And here's all the research. It all13:57 shows the same results. Countless studies have been done about this, and they found out this 1 simple truth. Are you ready for this? When tragedy is happening to somebody, the bystander effect says, the more14:09 people who witness it, the less likely someone will do something about it. Think about that. The more people who witness it, the14:21 higher the number seeing it happen, the less likely somebody's gonna get involved. The bystander in effect, let me tell you something, is killing community in our14:33 country and in our world. And let us not be a church that reflects the attitude and the atmosphere of our generation. Friends, we are not14:45 of this world. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. That means that we're different. People should meet us and say something's different about you. What is it about you? Because we are14:56 not people who just look at tragedy. We are people who mourn over tragedy, but we should be people who get involved in tragedy and help somebody because people need help in this generation like never before. And15:08 we're the church and we're the hope of the world. I was wondering about in a church like this where we we got thousands of people who belong to this church, and and some of you don't15:20 like big churches because you feel like you're gonna be missed, and I understand that. And some of you are watching the preacher by video right now, and you're like, see, this is what makes it worse. I'm not even close15:30 to you, pastor, and and I understand that. But but can I tell you that there is 1 simple solution to all of those issues? Is called getting to know each other.15:42 It's called getting to know each other. Now now now now let me just say something. Since I'm on location today, I can say this. Okay? I hear you when you say, I like the preacher to be in the building. Friends, even when15:52 I'm in the building, I can't talk to everybody. But guess what you can do as a follower of Jesus? You can get to know a couple of people. You can get to know about 5 to 10 people and have16:04 good close knit community with those people. And let me tell you something. These people will be there for you when life goes troubling for you. They will pray for you. They will lift you16:16 up. There's nothing like a brother or sister in Christ who will pray you through whatever the devil is putting you through. So at the end of the service,16:28 get out of the building, get out of the get out of the sanctuary in the lobby, and sign up for life group. In this passage, passage, Jesus needs his life group. He needs his he needs his men. He knows Judas is coming. He16:39 knows the cross is just hours away. And as you and I would feel, he was troubled. He was troubled. Jesus was walking full on16:51 into the most darkest season of his life. Let me tell you why that matters for you. Some of you don't even realize this. The world is walking17:03 right into its darkest moment in history. Some of you are not aware of this. Some of you are tiptoeing through the daisies, and you gotta wake up. You got to look at what's17:14 happening. You got to see the signs. You got to know the times. You got to know your scriptures, at least just the New Testament, to understand that at the end of this age, it gets exceedingly17:26 dark. We see the signs of 1 world government. We see the signs of a false global peace. We see the we see the signs of 1 world currency coming through with who knows what, Bitcoin or17:38 whatever. We we see the global is trying to or order everybody's life and and I think that the whole COVID 19 pandemic was a test case for the tribulation and you've gotta be aware that this17:50 is coming whether we like it or not. We might be the generation that faces the darkest point in human history, but we've gotta be ready with our with with the attitude of community that says we18:02 might struggle alone, but we will be strong together in Jesus' name, and the world will look on us, and we'll have an opportunity to save some from the fire. That's what I'm hoping for. We're we're we're heading right18:14 into it. You can see the sign. You can see the days happening as the world gets crazier and crazier. Anybody notice that? The world's just getting, like, exponentially nuttier the the longer that18:25 Jesus waits to come back. Guess what's guess what you need? You need somebody to pray for you. You need somebody to pray for you. So here's 0.1. Write this down. Number 1, I'm gonna need someone else to pray for me. Now18:37 these are all very simple points, but they are confessions that I want you to make. I'm going to need someone to pray for me. You might be okay right now, but it doesn't18:49 mean you're gonna stay okay. You might be okay in your marriage right now. It doesn't mean you're gonna stay that way. You might be on cloud 9 right now. Okay. Good. If you're on cloud 9 right now, can you reach out your18:57 hand to somebody who might be on cloud 1? I don't know. Can you help someone else? Because God has not just called you to be helped. God has called you to be helped for someone else. I'm gonna need someone else to pray19:08 for me. Verse 37, and taking with him Peter and the 2 sons of 70, that's James and John, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful. Even to the what? Remain here. Stay. Watch19:19 with me. Now I have found that this is actually very common in the in the scriptures that when anybody gets alone, it goes poorly. Think about19:31 Elijah when he gets alone on Mount Carmel, and then he tells God, I'm all alone. I'm the only 1 left. And he wants to do what? Anybody know what he wants to do? He wants to die. He wants to commit suicide. Isn't that19:42 isn't that some when he gets alone and he feels like he's all alone, he wants to die. By the way, many of God's best men and best women, when they got alone, when they got19:53 isolated, when they decided to do things on their own, they they they gave up they despaired of life. And and and this is not what God wants you. This is not the prescription. In fact,20:05 I find this in the Bible. I was fascinated to learn this this week, that most times, the people who are praying or asking for prayer from other people in the Bible were some of the strongest20:17 people in the Bible. 1 of them is named the apostle Paul, and and he did this regularly, asking for people to pray for him. Second Thessalonians 3 verse 1, finally, brothers, pray for20:29 us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. Now Paul did not write Hebrews, but the writer of Hebrews also said this. Hebrews 13 18, pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear20:41 conscience. We think we're good, but we may we may never know. Paul back to Paul in Colossians chapter 4. He says, at the same time, verse 3, pray also for us that Christ may open a door for Or how about this verse in20:52 second Corinthians 1 verse 11? You must also help us by what? Prayer. Help us by I need some help. Pray for us. And then look at the so that. So that, in other words, if you help us21:04 by prayers, many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. How many need to know this today? Your prayers can bring blessing to somebody else.21:16 You can bless somebody just by your prayers. And I said this a few months ago, and it's it's worth repeating. And and let me just ask this question. If tomorrow morning, God were21:28 to answer all the prayers that you've prayed for the last 7 days, how many people would get saved? How many people would be healed? How21:40 many other people would benefit immediately because all of your prayers were answered instantaneously? Now you're quiet down here in Apollo21:51 Beach, which tells me I'm preaching to somebody. May maybe we need to remember that life is not all about us. Amen, somebody. May may maybe you are again, like I said, maybe you22:03 are okay, but but that doesn't mean that somebody else isn't okay. And maybe for some of you struggling with depression, anxiety, emotional hang ups, all these things, Can I tell22:15 you that the best thing, the best prescription might be for you to stop thinking about you? Stop thinking about your feelings, stop thinking about your fears, your worries, your trouble, and start thinking about somebody22:27 other than you, so that somebody else can get blessed through your prayers. I want somebody to realize today, you have the power. You have the power to22:39 bless somebody right now. Just pray for them. And well, I'll get to that, but some of you are like, no. I'm a new Christian. I have no power. I'll get to that in just a moment. You just wait for a minute.22:52 We're in a battle. We're in a spiritual battle. And the the way that you're supposed to read the Old Testament is to understand something about the Old Testament. I'm gonna teach you real quick. Some23:03 of you struggle to read the Old Testament, and I wanna teach you a principle on how to read it so that you'll start loving the Old Testament. Are you ready? The Old Testament is a physical picture23:15 of our spiritual battle. When you read the Old Testament, you are looking at history. You're looking at stories. You're looking at real life physical things that God's people experienced23:27 so that you can make corollary principle truths to your spiritual life. Now, in the Old Testament, there's a lot of fighting. In the Old Testament, there's a lot of battles. God's people battled all over the Old23:38 Testament. When they're about to go into the promised land, God gives them the Torah, the prophet, the law on how to fight well. And here's a promise from scripture in the Old Testament about23:50 their their physical battle that we can apply to our spiritual battle. It's in Leviticus. Now now nobody goes to Leviticus for a Bible memory verse. Amen, somebody. But this 1 is powerful. Look what it says in24:02 Leviticus 26 verse 7. You shall chase your enemies. Oh, I like that 1. Amen. See, some of you gotta claim that right there. Some of you have been chased by the devil, and you got it all wrong. It's not that the devil24:13 should be chasing you, it's that you should be chasing the devil. Oh, I wish I had a better amen for that. But anyway, we'll go on. Look at verse 8. 5, somebody say 5. 5. 5 of you shall chase24:25 how many? 100. Hundred. Now these are spiritual principles. These are spiritual principles that God is applying to Israel physically. But 100 of you shall chase how many? 10 10000. And your enemy shall fall before you24:37 by the sword. That there's the the promised victory. But did you see? And I don't know if if anybody is anybody into math? Yeah. Yeah. When I was in high school, I hate to confess this, I was in24:49 math league. That was my sport. I was in math league. Yes. I was a dork. I wasn't always this cool. Okay? But I know math. 5 times 20 equals 100.25:01 Yes? Yes. Okay. Good. But what's 100 times 20? See, this is Apollo Beach. You guys have no answers this morning. Okay. Let me try25:13 sunstroke. Okay. 100 times 20 is 2000. If the ratio of number of people25:24 fighting to impact was a straight line on a graph, so number of people fighting would be along the horizontal axis, Impact would be along25:36 the vertical axis. Am I am I going too high for everybody here this morning? Just I know it is Apollo Beach. Okay. Anyway, number of people fighting spiritual impact. If it was a straight 1 to 1 ratio,25:48 the line would go like this. 5 would chase 100, and then 100 would chase 2000. But that's not what God says, is it? Notice that the power of their impact is26:00 exponentially added to them. The more people can coordinate together. So 5 beat down 100, but26:11 but but 100 look at the look at the line now. It's not a straight line. It's it goes like this. It goes, 100 chase 10000. What is the principle that God is trying to communicate for us New Testament people?26:23 Here's what it means. The more united we are as God's people in prayer and in fighting the spiritual battle, the exponential power of God is experienced among ourselves.26:35 Write this down so I know you're getting it. Partnership in prayer produces the power of God. And yes, there's a lot of p words in there on purpose. Partnership. I need26:47 somebody to pray for me. I need somebody to lift me up. When we go come together as a church and pray, the power of God is released. 1 of the most26:59 famous passages that we quote, we don't even know where it is sometimes, but we say it all the time. The prayer of a righteous person avails much. The prayer of a righteous person avails much. Some of you have heard that27:07 your whole life, but do you understand that even that verse itself is in the context of community? Let me go and show you where it is. It's in James chapter 5 verse 15. Just backing up a little bit. It says, the prayer27:18 of faith will save the 1 who is sick, the Lord will raise him And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Now look at verse 16. Therefore, confess your sins to 1 another and what?27:29 The the the text the text is not pray for yourself. The text is not get alone in your prayer closet and pray. The text is pray for 127:41 another. Get into community and pray. And in that context, James then gives us the qualifier, because the prayer of a righteous person has great27:52 power as it is working. See, some of you say, I've been praying, but nothing's been happening. Have you tried com have you tried corporate prayer? Have you tried getting somebody in on this with you?28:04 And just practically speaking, I have found that people will never pray certain prayers in a group that they pray alone all the time. You know what I'm talking about?28:17 Because some of you are struggling in a marriage situation, and you're like in your private prayer time, you're like, Lord, just kill them. That would be like the you know, just take them out, Lord. That would be you28:28 know, we'll we'll mourn. It'll be over. Amen. I can move on. How many know you're never bringing that prayer request to your life group? They'll be calling 9 1 1 on you real quick.28:41 Or some of you are like, Lord, help me win the lottery. Lord, help me get rich. But you get into a Christian community and people say, oh, what's your prayer request? How many know you have no guts to say, I'm praying to28:52 win the lottery? Could somebody just lift that? Could somebody just agree together with the Lord with me for that? See, what I'm trying to tell you is that this is why you gotta have people around you because they will29:03 hold you accountable even in your spirit of prayer. Some of you gotta get out of your selfishness. Some of you gotta get out of your me oriented prayers. How do you do it? By facing each other and lifting each other up.29:15 Okay. Here's point number 2. I do not realize how much I need someone to pray for me. I do not realize I need someone to pray for me, and I don't even get how much I29:27 need it. That's what I'm trying to say here. Okay. So new Christians and you and and those of you who feel like, well, I'm just not good. I I just don't know. I I don't have a real good track record. I'm struggling with29:37 obedience in this area of my life. I'm sure that the Lord is disappointed with me here and there. And so I I don't think that I could possibly I don't think that I could possibly have any impact in prayer. Hold that29:46 thought. Hold that thought. Verse 40. Let me read the scripture. And he came to the disciples and found them what? Sleeping. Sleeping. Now you would think that Jesus would say, that's it. I'm done with you. Get29:58 out. He doesn't, does he? By the way, if the Lord if the Lord Jesus himself asks you to pray and he comes back in 15 minutes and he finds you sleeping, how many know that's a bad day for you?30:12 But what I love about the Lord, notice his tender compassion. He just he just says, look. Watch and pray, guys. Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation. And and notice30:24 notice the humanity here, his sympathy here. What does he say? The spirit indeed is willing. In other words, here's what he's saying. I know how you feel.30:36 I get it. I've lived in this body now for 33 years. I understand the human condition. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is30:48 what? Weak. Weak. Jesus understands. Oh, I love this about the Lord. And that's why he says, watch, verse 41, and pray that you may not30:59 enter into temptation. And and and this is Peter, James, and John. Peter, James, Peter, James, and John. They are the 331:11 inner disciples of Jesus, and they should have known by now, if you read the rest of the gospels, these 3 should have known by now that if Jesus separates you31:23 3 from the other 9, and in this case 8, something big is about to happen. You understand how the story goes? See, these 3, Peter, James, and John, were with Jesus in the room31:35 privately when he raised Jarius' daughter from the dead. Peter, James, and John were called away from the 9 to go up to the mountain where Jesus was transfigured before them, and they saw31:47 his glory. And they said, Lord, and they even saw Moses and Elijah show up, and they heard the voice from heaven. And Peter was so overwhelmed. He said, Lord, this is amazing. Let's stay right31:58 here. My point is trying to tell you that these 3 guys should have known that when Jesus pulls you 3 aside, something big is about to happen.32:11 And yet they failed. And yet Jesus comes back and says, no. No.32:23 No. Pray. I I got I got good news for somebody who's failed God. He still wants you. He still wants you to pray.32:36 I got good news for somebody who are you ready for this 1? You don't even know that you are on the verge of your worst moment as a32:47 Christian, and he still wants you to pray. How do you know that, pastor? Where is that in the text? Because in about 30 minutes, Judas is gonna show up.33:00 All those guys, all of them are gonna run for their life. Peter's gonna have 1, like, you know, 60 second bout of courage, and the best the guy's gonna do is cut33:11 off someone's ear. He's a fisherman. He's not a swordsman. Amen, somebody. And then after that, they're all running for their lives, and then Peter's gonna take it up a notch because he always does,33:23 and he's gonna deny Jesus 3 times. Did Jesus know that was gonna happen? Yeah. He told them at the last supper. Did Jesus know that Peter was gonna deny33:35 him? Yeah. He told him that at the Last Supper. Okay. Don't answer this out loud because I don't want you to feel bad. Does Jesus know you're gonna fail him? I said not out loud, but okay.33:47 Somebody is very confident about that. Amen. Amen. He knows your weakness, and he still wants you to pray.33:59 Is this helping anybody? So the the the point that I'm trying to make here is that you don't know how much you need somebody else to pray for you. The flesh is weak. Not only34:11 is the flesh weak, I would like to say this, it's disastrously weak. It's disastrously weak. Paul the apostle wrestles with the flesh all throughout Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, if you've never34:23 read it, read it. It'll bless you because he talks this is Paul the apostle, and he says, I want to do right, but I keep doing bad. He says, I I want to do what's I want to avoid evil, but I keep stumbling right into34:35 it. And then he says, I got this law inside the members of my flesh. It's waging war against my spirit. It's causing me to do what I do not want to do. And then he gets to the end of the chapter and he says, wretched man34:46 that I am, who will save me from this body of flesh? I got a flesh nature. You got a flesh nature. You're gonna wrestle with this until Jesus comes or until you die.34:58 Hopefully, the former, not the latter. But the good news is is that you've got a god who understands it and has been where you are without sin and sympathizes with you and still wants you to35:10 gather together and pray even if you've just come from your worst moment or you're in your worst moment, or you're about to go into your worst moment, because the gospel of Jesus Christ is not for successful saints, it's35:21 for failed miserable sinners, people who need a doctor and need a healer and need Jesus. That's who we came for. That's who we came for. Watch and pray. Circle the word watch in your35:33 notes. Circle the word pray. Because you don't know this from the English translation, but in the Greek translation, we know this that these 2 words are second person plural. In other words, he's telling them to pray35:43 together, watch together. Many know we got a lot of Christians who like to watch, but not a lot of Christians who like to pray? You like to watch, but you don't like to pray. And what I mean by that is you like to what35:53 what what are they doing over there? Why are they doing that? I don't understand why they do What kind of Christian does that? And have you heard about what someone and then you don't pray, you just say, amen, somebody.36:02 You you watch, and then you say to somebody else what you watch somebody else do. We call that judgmentality. We call that being condescending. Or in more layman's terms, we call that being a jerk.36:15 Don't be a jerk. Pray for them. You see somebody not living right, pray for them. You see somebody not acting right, pray for them. Don't take your case horizontal,36:27 take your case vertical. Come on, somebody. Don't gossip, give it to God. Watch and pray. And maybe you need to pray with them. Hey, I noticed that every time we're around36:39 these people, you swear, And, we're Christians. And, maybe maybe we should just pray about that together. What do you think? But it's so much show it's so much easier, isn't it, Christians, to just go and talk to36:50 somebody else about that person swearing? Guess what else that is? It's demonic. Because the bible says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Do you know who watches and says? The37:01 devil. He looks at people who fail in in Jesus, and he just says, look at them. Look at them. Look at them. And if you're 1 of those people, you are doing his work. Don't watch and say, watch and pray. Say it after37:13 me. Watch and pray on the count of 3. 1 2 3. Watch and pray. Amen. Amen. Oh, you're getting okay. Write this down. We overcome the flesh when we come together and pray. The flesh is37:25 weak. It's weaker than you realize, and you need to pray because you got the spirit, but you you need to hold on together in faith37:37 in Jesus' name. I thank God for the people who prayed with me when I was weak. Let me tell you a story about our church's history. You know that we're just right now in the building process, looking for land here down in37:47 Apollo Beach or a building, looking for a place in South Carolina, and we're we're always building as a church. Well, many years ago, about 9 years ago, in fact. 10 years ago. We were praying for37:59 land in our main location up in Massachusetts. And at the time, we were worshiping in a 20000 square foot facility. In 20000 square foot, that's not small, but it had grown too small for us. We were at38:10 5 services a weekend. We were packed out. We were growing like crazy in the heart of New England. How many know that's a work of God? Amen. And I but we were in a lease. We didn't own the building, and I was looking like38:22 the train down the down the tunnel, and the light was coming, and that lease was coming to an end. And I said, Lord, I don't know what we're gonna do. We don't have money. We don't have a place. We don't have a plan. And38:31 so I started to pray, but I started to plan. I gathered around me 7 guys who would we we would do feasibility studies. We would, fundraise. We would do all the things necessary to start and plan to make sure that we38:40 could get out of that lease and get into a place we owned. And door after door, tell me if you've ever been there, was just slam shut in our faces. We would we would38:52 we would call make a second call about a facility that we were very interested in, and the the realtor I can't tell you how many times this happened. The realtor would say, sorry. Just sold yesterday.39:04 Like, this would on a regular basis. And so we would meet, and we would plan, and then we would try to purchase, and then slam shut door. So we're at 1 of the meetings, and I I'll never forgetShow more
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