Factors Affecting Our Trust And Obedience To Jesus Series

Let us continue to worship our God by learning more from the Gospel of Mark Chapter 14; please open your Bibles there….

Last week we learned from the prayer activity of our Lord Jesus Christ before He was arrested to be crucified. This morning we will focus on the actions of the first disciples that evening in Gethsemane.

Let us again read Mark 14:27-51……..

Let us again note the 2 significant truths Jesus stated in v27-28:

1. All followers of Jesus, at that time, will scatter!

2. Jesus will die but rise from the dead and gather His disciples again! – That was a Great Promise from Jesus! The disciples should have known by then that whatever Jesus said, it will happen. Do we still question what Jesus said? We all should live with the fact that whatever Jesus has said will happen! Jesus Christ is the ultimate Promise Keeper!

And so, Did the disciples believe and trusted Jesus? What was the first thing that the disciples did after hearing those truths from Jesus?

v29-31: All responded emphatically with their egos instead of humbly listening to Jesus!

Jesus just told them they will scatter but gather them back; All the disciples responded with pride – “Even if we have to die with you, we will never disown you." The disciples did not believe nor trusted Jesus because of their egos!

And what did we note from v32-35? Jesus asked the disciples to watch and pray as He prayed with His troubled heart! Jesus God was asking for support! But what do we see the disciples doing??

v37-41: Instead of watching and praying with/for Jesus, the disciples fell asleep 3 times!

Jesus woke them up and reminded them 3 times to watch and pray! The disciples did not believe nor trusted Jesus because they were sinners and physically weak!

How many times does Jesus have to tell us something?

Sometimes as I’m preparing a message I tell the Lord “we’ve heard this message before; do we really need to hear it again?” Then God speaks and says in my head and heart “Paul, on a scale of 1-10, how well are you doing what I’ve been telling you?” I then realize I need to hear again what God has been saying.

We all need to do this; next time we hear a message that seem we heard it before, ask, on a scale from 1-10 how am I really doing on a daily basis what Jesus has been saying?

Next week, we will be at the Folk Fair and I will be preaching from Matthew 11:28-30, the welcome call of Jesus, but in 2 weeks we will come back to Mark 14 and talk about Judas. For this morning let us just note this general truth about Judas.

v42-49: Judas initially believed and trusted Jesus but then betrayed Jesus. Judas, one of the first disciples, did not believe nor trusted Jesus for many sinful reasons: selfishness (money and jealousy) and evil influences!

And finally in v50-51: All of Jesus disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested. One disciple was so scared, he ran away naked!! The disciples did not believe and trusted Jesus out of fear!

After He shared truths and a great promise, the disciples did not believe nor trusted Jesus for many reasons:

- Egos and selfishness

- Sinful & physically weak

- Evil influences

- Fear

What about us today?

- Has Jesus given us truths and promises? Are we truly listening and trusting Jesus?

Now, do any of the influences which impacted the first disciples to fail impact us??

How do we deal with:

- Egos and selfishness – yield to the Lord

- Sinful & physically weak – pray always

- Evil influences – say no to the world

- Fear – put on the full armor of God