"jesus Prayed"

“JESUS PRAYED” Matthew 26:36-46

CWBC – 4/7/19

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Good morning everyone! There’s no better place to be today than to be right here worshiping Jesus Christ, our Savior & Lord!

Jab 1 – Whenever someone says to you, “I’ve got good news & I’ve got bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Most of us want to hear the bad news first & get it over with. Then we want to hear the good news, hoping that it will overshadow whatever bad news we got.

Like the lawyer talking w/ his client –

- Lawyer: I’ve got good news & bad news.

- Client: Give me the bad news first.

- Lawyer: The bad news is that the DNA tests showed that it was YOUR blood that was all over the crime scene.

- Client: Oh no! I’m in big trouble! What’s the good news?

- Lawyer: Your cholesterol is down to 130!

Jab 2 – Check out this video: “Best News Ever” video

Jab 3 – Today, we are starting a series of message that will tell best news that the world has ever heard. The title of the series is, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” If there is any time of year that reminds us just how much Jesus loves us, it is this season as we move toward Easter & celebrating His resurrection from the grave. It truly is the “best news ever!” This would be a great time for you to be inviting your “1” to come to church w/ you b/c I can guarantee you that the best news ever will be preached over the next month!

EXPLANATION – This chapter begins the events that are the culmination of the life of Jesus. Right after this experience in the Garden of Gethsemane (show pics), He would be arrested, abused, humiliated, falsely accused, & scourged. Then He would be crucified on Golgotha. He experienced the most excruciating form of execution that a human could endure. The Romans were experts at making sure that it lasted as long as possible so that the suffering would be extended to the maximum degree.

- Charles Spurgeon: “Crucifixion was a death worthy to have been invented by devils. The pain, which it involved, was immeasurable. I will not torture you by describing it. I know dear hearts that cannot read of it without tears & without lying awake for nights afterwards.”

- Erwin Lutzer: “What a contrast outside the city of Jerusalem that day! On the one hand, redemption is being purchased for those God would redeem; on the other hand, the soldiers mark time by playing their tired games, waiting for the ordeal to be over. Those who love Jesus are in grieving despair; those who hate Him are in a mood of spiteful rejoicing. Heaven hovers over the cross, waiting for the payment of our sin to be made. But hell is there, too, with its cruelty, indifference, & darkness.”

APPLICATION – There’s a simply application point that I want to make from this passage: We need to learn to pray like Jesus prayed.

Jesus prayed regularly – We see it early on in His earthly ministry that Jesus made prayer a priority in His life.

- Mark 1:35 – “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, & went out to a solitary place, where He prayed.” (NIV)

- Luke 6:12 – “…Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, & He prayed to God all night.” (NLT)

If Jesus, the very Son of God, knew He needed to have regular times of personal, solitary prayer to His Father, how much more do we need that in our lives!

- Spurgeon: “Though infinitely better able to do without prayer than we are, yet [Christ] prayed much more than we do.”

You & I need a regular time of prayer in our lives.

- Daily – Start your day in prayer. But don’t just limit your prayer time to just your morning quiet time. The Bible says to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Pray all throughout the day.

- Defined – Have a place. Have a plan (different groups on different days of week – have a written prayer list – notebook or app on phone).

- Distraction-free – Unless you use an app on your phone for your prayer list, I would urge you to leave your phone in another room.

Jesus prayed passionately – Can you sense the passion, the desperation, the intensity, the gut-wrenching fervency in His prayer here in the Garden?

- v. 37 – “…He began to be sorrowful & troubled.”

- v. 39 – “And going a little farther, He fell on His face & prayed…”

- v. 39, 42, 44 – Prayed 3 different times during this excruciating experience for Him.