Let’s continue our worship by reading and learning from the Gospel of Mark 14; open your Bibles there , page….
We will focus this morning on the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ but let us read the entire passage Mark 14:27-51…….
There are actually 3 main stories in this passage, the actions of the first disciples, the prayer activity of Jesus, and the betrayal leading to the arrest of Jesus. Again for this morning and in preparation for Communion, let us learn from the prayer activity of the Lord God Jesus Christ.
Let us first note the 2 truths Jesus shared in v27-28: All the disciples will fall away from Jesus but Jesus will rise from the dead and gather the disciples again! What significant about these truths??
Jesus knew that the disciples were going to flee and He was going to die but trusted God and alluded to the disciples to trust in Him no matter what!
Jesus loved His disciples and was concerned for them, so He prayed!
What can we note from Jesus’ prayer activity?
v33…. Jesus asked for support!
He asked them to watch and pray! In other words, Jesus was asking them to pray along with Him although He was in a different location.
v33-34… As Jesus went to pray, how were His emotions?? Jesus had a troubled heart as He went to pray!
v35… Why do you think Jesus fell to the ground?? Jesus was emotionally drained but in context, Jesus likely fell to the ground to humble Himself before God the Father!
v36? Jesus acknowledged God as Abba, Father and acknowledged the power of God! What do you think Jesus meant when He said to God “Everything is possible for you!”??
God is so powerful that if He wanted to, He could save people’s souls without Jesus dying on a cross; God is an Almighty God!! Ponder on that for a moment: God has power over every soul but chose to show His love by letting Jesus (who is One with God) die for forgiveness of sins!
Why do we do communion? God wants us to realize and remember how great His love is for us! God could have saved us some other way, but we are saved through the agony and death of Jesus Christ! (John 15:13)
And so, how serious was Jesus with His prayer request??
v34-36: Jesus’ prayer request was deep and intense! (Luke 22:44…)
Now, Jesus certainly was in agony as He prayed (we can note in Luke 22, Jesus sweat blood as He agonized about the situation); In His agony, did Jesus force God to do what He wanted??
v36b: Jesus prayed for an escape from His situation, but He yielded to God’s will instead! Do we force God into doing something for us as we pray? We are to pray and ask intently but we must yield to God’s will not our own.
There is one more thing we can note from Jesus’ prayer activity. Did Jesus just pray once?? v39-41: Jesus gave His prayer plea 3 times!
Jesus Christ is God but prayed intensely to God the Father! Why did Jesus pray and should we follow His example? Jesus answers this question in v38!
v38…… Why did Jesus pray and should we follow His example?
- disciples were instructed to watch and pray
And what does falling into temptation mean??
Falling into temptation means one will sin against God!
- without prayer people can easily sin
- people are both spiritual and physical, but the physical is weak!
And what was Jesus’ status at that time before death and resurrection??
Why did Jesus pray?
- Jesus Christ was both God and human while on earth therefore Jesus needed strength from heaven
- Jesus prayed as an example to His disciples
The application for our lives today? Simply, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ instructs us to pray and He showed us how!
As we review Jesus’ prayer activity from this passage,
We are to pray for the love of God and people!
We are to pray with support from others.
We are to pray especially when our hearts are burdened!
We are to pray in humility before an Almighty God!
We are to pray with intensity and seriousness!
Many times our prayers are so blase.
We are to pray and ask aggressively but we are to yield to God’s Will.
We are to pray often!
