Not My Will Or 16 1/2 Minutes

NOT MY WILL

OR

16 ½ MINS.

B.R.: Luke 22:39-42

TEXT: Luke 22:42: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Introduction: In the crowded elevator lobby on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center’s south tower, a woman cried on the shoulder of her girlfriend. Just after the explosion in the north tower at 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, she had run to the window and seen smoke and flames engulf the floor where her friend worked.

She had dialed his number, No answer. She had talked to her husband. She had called 911. She feared the worst.

Crying, she walked down 22 flights to the 78th floor elevator lobby, he friends comforting arm around her all the way.

They huddled there with four other friends, in a crowd of worried, uncertain people who were waiting to board elevators that could whisk them to the ground in a minute.

She didn’t know what had happened in the north tower. She had no way of knowing that a second jet was roaring toward her.

In the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the 78th floor elevator lobby was where life and death intersected most violently.

At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 cut like a hunters knife through the packed elevator lobby. Death’s scalpel sliced between people standing inches apart, killing one while sparing another.

Based on information from survivors, USA TODAY estimates that 200 people were in the 2,600-square-foot lobby when the jet hit. It was the deadliest place in the south tower: About one-third of the 611 people who perished in the building died there.

Just 12 people who were in the elevator lobby when the second jet hit escaped before the south tower collapsed 56 minutes later. Nine were at the north end of the lobby, farthest from the jet’s impact. Three were in alcoves off the main lobby, in local elevators that went to higher floors.

Everyone else on the 78th floor died, even people who had guided survivors to escape routes.

In the 16 1/2 minutes between the first strike on the World Trade Center and the second, the 12 people who survived the 78th floor never knew just what was happening or the danger they were in.

They didn’t know that every action they took influenced whether they lived or died that day.

In our bible reading, we find Jesus and his disciples at the Mount of Olives. Jesus spent a great deal of time at the Mount of Olives, teaching, praying and resting with his disciples after long days in Jerusalem.

But this day was not going to be an ordinary day for Jesus and his disciples. There was something weighing heavily on Jesus heart that day. He didn’t even pray with the disciples. The bible says he was “withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast away”. And he kneeled down, and prayed!!

1. Jesus prayed to the Father

Jesus was a praying man. Maintaining a healthy relationship requires communication. Think of someone that you really love. Now think of not talking to that person for a couple of weeks. Do you think that is a healthy relationship? Jesus always kept in contact with his Father.

In Mark 1:35, after a full day of healing and casting out devils, the bible says he, rising up a great while before day, went into a solitary place and prayed.

Prior to appointing the 12 apostles He spent all night in prayer.

After feeding the multitudes, prior to walking on water, He prayed.

It would seem that before and after every major miracle that Jesus did….He prayed!!!

Did you know tonight, someone prayed for you!!! It’s not a coincidence that you’re here but God by his Spirit led you here for one purpose and one purpose only and that is that you would draw nigh unto Him.

2. NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE

Jesus said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Jesus knew his days on earth were numbered. He knew the cup he had to bare was the sin of all mankind on his shoulders.

He said, “NOT MY WILL, but thine, be done. What if Jesus had did his own thing? Where would we be today?? (If it had not been for Gods salvation plan, there would be no hope.)

• Your own will always wants to do the opposite of what God wants done. Jesus always submitted to the Fathers will.

Jesus knew the bigger picture. Sometimes we don’t see everything that’s going on around us like those people in the Word Trade Centers lobby that’s why the bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.