INTRODUCTION:
How will I introduce the message?
When you live in fear, it will often appear in a sense of seeking power and control. When you encounter Jesus, you will find peace!
There are four great impelling motives that move us to action:
Fear, Hope, Faith, and Love
—these four, but the greatest of these is Fear. Fear is first in order, first in force, first in fruit. Indeed, fear is “the beginning of wisdom.” Scripture summarizes the chief cause of sin and crime: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
—Prairie Overcome Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 434). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
Your heart beats 103,689 times.
Your blood travels 168,000,000 miles.
You breathe 23,040 times.
You inhale 438 cubic feet of air.
You eat 3¼ pounds of food.
You drink 2.9 quarts of liquids.
You lose 7/8 pounds of waste.
You speak 4,800 words, including some unnecessary ones.
You move 750 muscles.
Your nails grow .000046 inches.
Your hair grows .01714 inches.
You exercise 7,000,000 brain cells.
… feel tired? Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 775). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
Our dear friend’s wife passed after a long battle with cancer. Some of her last words to her husband were . . . “I’m not afraid to die.”
Our Top Fears
• Fear of heights
• Fear of public speaking
• Fear of failure
• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of flying
• Fear of change
• Fear of death
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of spiders
• Fear of commitment
How will I organize my exposition of the passage? Matthew 18
Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested
1) After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees.
1) These things having said Jesus went out with the disciples of Him beyond the winter stream of Kidron where there was a garden into which entered He and the disciples of Him.
ONE. FINDING JESUS. JESUS HAS AN ADDRESS – A PLACE OF PEACE.
His place of peace is in the Prayer Garden.
Some people believe they have the gift of criticism. They may say to you… “This is going to hurt, but it comes from a place of love.” Really?
TWO. FINDING EVIL. JUDAS HAS AN ADDRESS, A PLACE OF POWER.
2 Judas, the betrayer, knew this place because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples. 3 The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
Knew now also Judas who was delivering up Him the place because often gathered together with Jesus there with the disciples of Him.
Therefore, Judas having procured the cohort from the chief priests and from the Pharisee's officers comes there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda
“Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.”– Unknown
“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.”– Rudyard Kipling
Don’t let anxiety and stress control you. Get these fear-based emotions under your control.
Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that are coming upon Him having gone forth also said to them. Whom seek you?
They answered Him Jesus of Nazareth. He says to them I am. Had been standing now also Judas who is delivering up Him with them. When therefore He said to them, I am they drew toward the back and fell to the ground.
Again, therefore He questioned them. Who seeks you? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. Answered Jesus I have told you the I am.
THREE. SAUL FINDS JESUS
THE OVERWHELMING PRESENCE OF JESUS
Acts 9:4
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
Revelation 1:17
7 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last.
“If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.”– George S. Patton
4 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5 “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.
“I AM he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7 Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8 “I told you that I AM he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”
10 Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. 11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
If therefore Me you seek allow these to go away so that might be fulfilled the word that He had spoken. Those whom You have given me not I lost of them not one.
Simon then Peter having a sword drew it and struck the high priest servant and cut off of him the ear right. Was now the name of the servant Malchus. Said, therefore, Jesus to Peter Put the sword into the sheath the cup which has given me the Father no not shall I drink it?
FOUR. THE SOLDIERS FIND JESUS
THE SOLDIERS HAVE AN ADDRESS, A PLACE OF POSITION
What stories or object lessons will I use to emphasize the message?
Professor Harold Urey, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry at the early age of 41, wrote a pamphlet entitled, “I’m a Frightened Man.” As a member of the Uranium Committee on the key operation of U-235, he said: “I write to frighten you. I am a frightened man myself. All the scientists I know are frightened—frightened for their lives—and frightened for your life.” Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 435). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
What will I ask my congregation to change as a result of this message?
If you live in fear, you will probably become insecure and controlling in some areas.
If you “find Jesus” you will look back and see, He pursued you until you had a real ENCOUNTER with Him!
What follow-up, open-ended questions do I want small groups to discuss?
• Who . . .
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• Why . . .
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• If . . .
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• Which . . .
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• How . . .
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Disciples. mathétés: a disciple
3101 mathet?s (from math-, the "mental effort needed to think something through") – properly, a learner; a disciple, a follower of Christ who learns the doctrines of Scripture and the lifestyle they require; someone catechized with proper instruction from the Bible with its necessary follow-through (life-applications). See also 3100 /matheteúo ("to disciple").
Knew, eidó: be aware, behold, consider, perceive
Delivering Him up. paradidómi: to hand over, to give or deliver over, to betray
Definition: to hand over, to give or deliver over, to betray. Usage: I hand over, pledge, hand down, deliver, commit, commend, betray, abandon.
3860 paradídomi (from 3844 /pará, "from close-beside" and 1325 /dídomi, "give") – properly, to give (turn) over; "hand over from," i.e. to deliver over with a sense of close (personal) involvement.
pollakis: often. Usage: many times, often, frequently.
Procured. Definition: to take, receive. Usage: (a) I receive, get, (b) I take, lay hold of.
2983 lambáno (from the primitive root, lab-, meaning "actively lay hold of to take or receive," see NAS dictionary) – properly, to lay hold by aggressively (actively) accepting what is available (offered). 2983 /lambáno ("accept with initiative") emphasizes the volition (assertiveness) of the receiver.
Cohort (300-600 Roman Soldiers, bound or twisted, by an oath)
speira: anything wound up or coiled, by ext. a body (of soldiers), i.e. a cohort
Definition: anything wound up or coiled, a body (of soldiers), a cohort
Usage: a cohort, the tenth part of a legion; a military guard.
anything wound up or coiled, by ext. a body (of soldiers), i.e. a cohort
officers
hupéretés: an underling, servant. Definition: an underling, servant
Usage: a servant, an attendant, (a) an officer, lictor, (b) an attendant in a synagogue, (c) a minister of the gospel.
5257 hyperétes (from 5259 /hypó, "under" and eresso, "to row") – properly, a rower (a crewman on a boat), an "under-rower" who mans the oars on a lower deck; (figuratively) a subordinate executing official orders, i.e. operating under direct (specific) orders.
Matthew 11:29 V-PI-1S. NAS: upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle
Matthew 18:20 V-PI-1S. INT: name there am I in [the] midst
Matthew 22:32 V-PI-1S. NAS: I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM,
Matthew 24:5 V-PI-1S. NAS: saying, 'I am the Christ,'
Sword. machaira: a short sword or dagger. Definition: a short sword or dagger
3162 má?aira – properly, a slaughter knife; a short sword or dagger mainly used for stabbing; (figuratively) an instrument for exacting retribution.
