Mark 14:37-45

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@seekHm1st> Okay folks........ Let's go ahead and get rolling.
@seekHm1st> Welcome to the Weekly CCNET Server Meeting and Bible study.
@seekHm1st> How is everybody this evening?
Aspros_Tigris> good thanks
Deacon> good
Snapstur> doing good
Anne> fine thanx
@seekHm1st> Good to hear.
@seekHm1st> I want to thank you all for coming.
@seekHm1st> Before we begin the study, there are just a few things I would like to mention.
@seekHm1st> As you all know by now.......
@seekHm1st> The server underwent a sweeping change last week
@seekHm1st> And I would like to thank all of those involved for their hard work.
@seekHm1st> As an almost complete computer stooge...........
@seekHm1st> lol
@seekHm1st> I had nothing to do with it.
@seekHm1st> I gave my prayer support.
@seekHm1st> But all of the long hard hours of work belonged to others.
@seekHm1st> So at this point, with things having transitioned so smoothly....
@seekHm1st> I would encourage you all to say a thanks in prayer to God for these people
@seekHm1st> Too....
@seekHm1st> If you are having any issues at all, please feel free to come into #help and do not be bashful about asking your questions.
@seekHm1st> We will do whatever we can to assist you.
@seekHm1st> Another friendly reminder.....
@seekHm1st> If you have need of any study materials, or for that matter, just about anything.......
@seekHm1st> you might want to consider looking at ChristianHouse is your online source Christian Apparel, Christian Books, Christian DVD, Christian Magazines, Christian Music, Christian Software, Christian VHS, and Unbox Items.
@seekHm1st> When you make a purchase through christianhouse a small portion of the profits come to CCNet
@seekHm1st> which helps to defray the cost of operating the server
@seekHm1st> and would be very much appreciated.
@seekHm1st> Also for those folks who are not yet aware.....
@seekHm1st> And I realize I may be drumming on this a bit...
@seekHm1st> Folks who wish to be registered here must be registered on the forums.
@seekHm1st> Forums @ Christian-Chat.Net
@seekHm1st> I have seen some of you directing other users there to do just that, as we are now fully integrated with the forums.
@seekHm1st> Thank you for that.
@seekHm1st> And thank you all for being so welcoming to others when they enter CCNET.
@seekHm1st> Okay.
@seekHm1st> Let's go ahead and open in prayer.
@seekHm1st> Would anyone like to do that?
@seekHm1st> Okay, I will go ahead :)
@seekHm1st> Father in heaven, we ask that You would prepare our hearts to take in Your word.
@seekHm1st> Open our eyes and hearts to what You have for us.
@seekHm1st> Give me words to say this evening Lord, and make them acceptable in Your sight.
@seekHm1st> In Jesus' name
@seekHm1st> amen
carol> Amen
Anne> Amen
MiRN> amen
Deacon> Amen
Phil> Amen
@seekHm1st> Okay...........
joy> amen
@seekHm1st> Last week we left off in verse 36, and Jesus had been in the garden praying, and He had asked his disciples to wait with Him and pray.
@seekHm1st> He had just showed us how a perfect man could act.
@seekHm1st> And should act.
@seekHm1st> 36 And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will."
@seekHm1st> Was it wrong for Jesus to ask this?
@seekHm1st> No
@seekHm1st> I want to take a closer look at that sentence.
@seekHm1st> In that sentence, Jesus acknowledges His close relationship with the Father.
@seekHm1st> It may seem silly for me to point out the obvious, but His intimacy as a man with the Father is as important to us as His harmony with Him as God.
@seekHm1st> He acknowledges that God the Father can do all things, and that nothing is impossible for Him.
@seekHm1st> He is God, but yet as fully man, He did not presume upon His Father.
@seekHm1st> As a man, the perfect man, Jesus submits Himself as He always had, to the perfect will of the Father.
@seekHm1st> Still, this meant that He would have to suffer---much.
@seekHm1st> and He knew it
@seekHm1st> We have spent a lot of time looking at the events that were and still are, at this point, building up to the Passion.
@seekHm1st> We have seen the attacks, the many attempts by religious leaders to discredit Jesus in every way.
@seekHm1st> And we have seen how He broke them down at every turn.
@seekHm1st> They tried to oppose Him, and He showed them, and everyone around them, what they were when they did so.
@seekHm1st> They were so angry with Him that they wanted His death.
@seekHm1st> Even now, they were hurriedly going about behind the scenes, no doubt striking deals where necessary to bring their evil plans to fruition.
@seekHm1st> All of this behind the scenes stuff though, was apparently lost on the disciples.
@seekHm1st> It was so lost on them that they were falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane.
@seekHm1st> So let's pick it up there.....
@seekHm1st> 37 And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
@seekHm1st> 38 "Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
@seekHm1st> They might not have been paying close enough attention to what was going on, but Jesus was keenly aware of what was happening.
@seekHm1st> . He Himself had made it possible. He had obeyed His Father. He had come to Jerusalem.
@seekHm1st> He had set the crucial deadline for Judas and for the Pharisees to respond to.
@seekHm1st> He knew what sort of hurried consultations and decisions would have to be made for them to get things done in their twisted view of morality.
@seekHm1st> 39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
@seekHm1st> 41 And He came the third time, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 "Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"
@seekHm1st> And here He was at the time of His betrayal.
@seekHm1st> If Jesus had not been God, and if He had not been a perfect human being, He would’ve had other options.
@seekHm1st> If that sounds odd... bear with me.
@seekHm1st> One option: He could simply have stayed out of Jerusalem in the first place.
@seekHm1st> but He had rebuked Peter for thinking like that.
@seekHm1st> Another option would have just been to have crested the hill at the Mount of Olives and just kept on walking.
@seekHm1st> He could have kept going, and found a place to sleep in Bethany, and then just moved on.
@seekHm1st> Instead, He left a great big bulls-eye on His own forehead while He stayed in the garden and.......
@seekHm1st> prayed.
@seekHm1st> He had prayed, and He had waited, knowing that He had obediently set all of this in motion.
@seekHm1st> His long, prayerful wait in the garden shows that the events that followed were no accident.
@seekHm1st> Back in late April I believe, we looked on as Jesus responded to the ambitious requests of James and John
@seekHm1st> They and their mother had approached Jesus.
@seekHm1st> The wanted to sit at His side in His kingdom.
@seekHm1st> They didn't have a clue about what they were really asking from Him.
@seekHm1st> So He told them that even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
@seekHm1st> That hour had come.
@seekHm1st> and Jesus embraced it.
@seekHm1st> 43 Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
@seekHm1st> Judas, "one of the twelve."
@seekHm1st> Remember Judas? As we have read through this chapter in Mark, Judas has not been mentioned specifically since verse 10.
@seekHm1st> One of the twelve. That's how the gospel writers referred to him.
@seekHm1st> This displays an amazing amount of restraint, given the magnitude of the betrayal that Judas committed.
@seekHm1st> Somewhere between the Passover supper, and the Mount of Olives, he had left.
@seekHm1st> Now we know where he had gone.
@seekHm1st> 44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard."
@seekHm1st> 45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, "Rabbi!" and kissed Him.
@seekHm1st> I think we'll stop about there...
@seekHm1st> But before we go let's look at some things..
@seekHm1st> By calling Jesus Rabbi, his meaning was, my master, my teacher.
@seekHm1st> seize Him and lead Him away under guard
@seekHm1st> If you go to a Greek translation of that sentence
@seekHm1st> a more literal translation would read....."lead Him away safely"
@seekHm1st> Was Judas expecting Jesus to undergo what He was about to?
@seekHm1st> If you have been here over the last few studies... I have asked you all to take some things into consideration....
@seekHm1st> ALL of the disciples abandoned Jesus.
@seekHm1st> They will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter..
@seekHm1st> Judas had made his decision.
@seekHm1st> and he had decided to try to manipulate the course of events involving Jesus to try to suit himself.
@seekHm1st> What was his motivation? Did he betray Jesus simply to put some cash into his pocket?
@seekHm1st> Was he impatient to see Jesus come into an earthly kingdom, in which he himself should play a part?
@seekHm1st> Was he trying to force Jesus' hand that way?
@seekHm1st> Was he stressed out about all of these things?
@seekHm1st> Or had he just decided that Jesus was some sort of mistaken dreamer?
@seekHm1st> Might as well profit now before it all goes down?
@seekHm1st> This is something that for now, we can only speculate about.
@seekHm1st> But we know that while Judas failed, Jesus succeeded.
@seekHm1st> He succeeded in following perfectly, His Father's will.
@seekHm1st> Jesus was certainly stressed out.
@seekHm1st> Bit of an understatement there.
@seekHm1st> But He did not give way to any sort of temptation. He instead showed us what we ought to do.
@seekHm1st> First and foremost, He prayed.
@seekHm1st> He sought the fellowship and support of close friends
@seekHm1st> and even though they let Him down in this instance, He remained steadfast in His intention to concentrate on the purpose God had given to Him.
@seekHm1st> We need to do these same things.
@seekHm1st> Let's pray.
@seekHm1st> Father, we come before You as Your flawed and imperfect children.
@seekHm1st> And we ask that You would help us to remember always to look to Your Son for the perfect example of how we should live and think.
@seekHm1st> Sometimes we forget Father.
@seekHm1st> We forget that the answers are contained in Your word.
@seekHm1st> Give us a thirst for it daily Father.
@seekHm1st> And give us the wisdom to understand it Lord, and help us to keep it in our hearts,
@seekHm1st> give us the courage to apply it straight from our hearts and to our lives.
@seekHm1st> As we show others the love that You have shown us.
@seekHm1st> Being as You have told us to be----
@seekHm1st> at once wise as serpents...and as harmless as doves.
@seekHm1st> We ask these things in Jesus’ name,
@seekHm1st> Amen
@seekHm1st> Thank you all for coming folks.
Deacon> Amen
sunnylady> amen
carol> Amen
Anne> Very Good Seek!.. Amen
@seekHm1st> Have a wonderful evening.
Aspros_Tigris> Amen
carol> Thanks seekHm1st very good study
@seekHm1st> Thanks Anne
@seekHm1st> My pleasure
carol> God bless you
@seekHm1st> God bless you too carol
@seekHm1st> see you all around the server