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you you you you you How far difference is that time to the real time one minute behind you you you you you you you you Sorry How far difference is that time to the real time one minute behind you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you him number 66, thanks brother 66 66 66 just two sixes oh there was there was multiplied to me my burdens liberty at Calvary alright help me out guys by gods word at last my sin I learned then I trembled at the law I'd spurned till my guilty soul to Calvary whoa mercy there was great and grace was free free pardon there was multiplied to me me then my burdens on my liberty at Calvary oh the love that true salvation's planned oh the grace that brought it down to man oh the might of that god at Calvary whoa mercy there was great and grace was free free pardon there was multiplied to me me then my burdens on my liberty at Calvary now I'm given to Jesus everything now I gladly own him as my king now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary whoa mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me me then my burdens on my liberty at Calvary Amen great singing hymn number 22 are you washed in the blood of the lamb hymn number 22 is that a yes? are you washed in the blood of the lamb hymn number 22 have you been to Jesus are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you fully trusting in his grace are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood in the soul of the lamb are your garments flawless are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you walking daily by the Savior's side are you washed in the blood of the lamb do you rest each moment in the crucified are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood in the soul planting blood of the lamb are your garments are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb when the bridegroom comes will your rose be white are you washed in the blood of the lamb will your soul be ready for the mansion's fright and be washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood in the soul planting blood of the lamb are your garments flawless are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb lay aside the garments that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood of the lamb there's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean are you washed are you washed in the blood in the soul planting blood of the lamb are your garments flawless are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb amen great singing please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew 26 Matthew 26 to be read by Matthew Matthew 26 to be read by Matthew how old are you brother are you 26 by Matthew 26 alright up to verse 46 Matthew 26 and it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings he said unto his disciples you know that after two days is the feast of the passover and the son of man is betrayed to be crucified then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him but they said not on the feast day lest there be an uproar among the people now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box a very precious ointment and poured it on his head and he sat at meat but when his disciples saw it they had indignation saying to what purpose is this waste for this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor when Jesus understood it he said unto them why trouble ye the woman for she hath wrought a good work upon me for ye have the poor always with you but me ye have not always for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body she did it for my burial verily I say unto you wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests and said unto them what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver and from that time he sought opportunity to portray him now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover and he said go into the city to such a man and say unto him the master sayeth my time is at hand I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples and the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them and they made ready the passover now when the even was come he sat down with the twelve and as they did eat he said verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me and they were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say unto him Lord is it I? and he answered and said he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall betray me the son of man goeth as it is written of him but woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man if he had not been born then Judas which betrayed him answered and said master is it I? he said unto him thou hast said and as they were eating Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said take, eat, this is my body and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins but I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom and when they had sung a hymn they went out into the mount of olives then saith Jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad but after I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Peter answered and said unto him though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended Jesus saith unto said unto him verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shall deny me thrice Peter said unto him though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee likewise also said all the disciples then cometh Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples sit ye here while I go and pray yonder and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy then saith he unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death tarry ye here and watch with me and he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying oh my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter what could could ye not watch with me one hour watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak he went away again the second time and prayed saying oh my father if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it thy will be done and he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy and he left them and went away again and prayed the third time saying the same words then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them sleep on now and take your rest behold the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise let us be going behold he is at hand that doth betray me let's pray holy father thank you for this opportunity for us to be gathered here in your house to hear the preaching from your word bless us through that preaching bless pastor as he preaches fill in with your spirit and give us soft hearts and ears to listen and to learn something from your holy word in Jesus name we pray Amen Okay before I get to the sermon just a shout out to Little Carolyn she wanted to be here we think she's here with us in spirit she might be listening online so Little Carolyn if you're listening online special shout out to you alright so alright so we're there in Matthew 26 and of course Matthew 26 has a lot of great stories in it you know not just the lead up to Christ but also his arrest and in Matthew 26 we have the Lord's table you know Jesus Christ is sharing the bread and the grape juice and the drink there with his disciples and of course we're going to participate in the Lord's table in a moment but I want to fast forward to an event that took place after this when Jesus Christ goes into the garden of Gethsemane to pray you know Christ is preparing himself for the greatest difficulty that he's ever going to face the greatest difficulty that any man could ever face that is to die for the sins of the entire world and so what I think we see in this passage here of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane is a really great example of a really great example of how to get through difficulties it's not just Christ that's going to go through some difficulties but his disciples are also going to go through some difficulties okay if you have a look there in Matthew 26 and look at verse number 31 Jesus Christ says in Matthew 26 verse 31 so not only is Jesus Christ going to be smote or smitten upon you know it's going to cause the sheep of the shepherd the sheep of the flock to be scattered and so this is a difficult time for Jesus but it's also going to be a difficult time for his disciples and I want to show you that obviously when we think of Christ we know that he's successful in getting through difficulties and when we think of the disciples during this time the three days and three nights they were fearful, they were afraid they ran for their lives, they hid themselves for fear of the Jews and so they both had a very different reaction so I want to show you the preparedness of Jesus Christ and I want you because you know life has difficulties you know there might be difficulties that you're about to face and I want to show you by the example of Christ how you compare yourself with such difficulties look at Matthew 26 verse number 41 you know if you want to get through a difficult a challenging time that you know is up ahead then you need to watch and pray you know to watch is to be aware of difficulties you know we should not be ignorant people and just go through life like an airhead or something you know there are problems there are challenges right life is not easy we should be aware that there is always difficulties there's always challenges ahead in our life and sometimes we know things may develop in the future you know we need to be watchful we need to be aware, we need to be smart Christians knowing that we're like sheep being led to the slaughter but watching is one thing and of course prayer, prayer is self explanatory right to ask God's help to prepare for the difficulties it's fine to watch yes I understand difficult times are coming but now we need to go in prayer to God and say God help us through this time of difficulty so then what is Christ going to do he's finished the Lord's table he knows that he's about to be arrested and he's going to suffer greatly for our sins but before he does that he watches and prays doesn't he so Matthew 26 verse number 31 Matthew 26 verse number 31 let's have a look at this then saith Jesus unto them all ye, actually no I read that already sorry verse number 36 Matthew 26 verse number 36 then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples sit ye here while I go and pray yonder alright so Jesus Christ takes his disciples so I need to go to a place of prayer you guys wait here and I go and pray yonder the first point that I have for you brethren in order for you to get through difficulties is that you need to go to a place alone and get a hold of God look when we talk about prayer look I understand we prayed before the preaching we prayed before as we started the service we're going to pray at the end of the service and you know the prayers that we do in church you know there's some 20 seconds long 30 seconds long potentially I'm not sure right but you know you need to understand it's good to pray that way it's fine to be talking to our Father on a regular basis but I strongly encourage you there comes a time when you're going through a difficulty that you just need to get away from everything you need to find your garden of Gethsemane as it were and go alone and just spend some time with God just go alone and grab a hold of God and say God I need your help like you know a 10 second prayer is not going to be enough you need to spend time with our Lord God and brethren you know we have relationships we have friendships in our church and of course when we spend time together you know it's not just 10 seconds alright hey brother see you later brother alright all good no no in order to develop our relationship in order to be able to share difficulties you need to get to know one another you know God reveals who he is by his word you know God has given us you know a way to communicate to him and that is to pray please brethren there's been many times in my life when I've had to just go to a place all on my own and just pour my soul out to the Lord my question to you is when is the last time you've done that when is the last time that you've just got on your hands and your knees and you bowed your head and say Lord it's just you and me I need to talk to you Lord I've got so many things that I need to get off my chest you know as human beings we love to run to man we love to run maybe to the pastor we love to run to a therapist a psychologist or someone you know you need to run to God when it's difficult you run to him like he knows your pain he knows what you're going to go through like no man can really understand what it is like to be in your shoes but Christ knows because he paid for your penalty he paid for your sins he paid for your difficulties he paid for the consequences of your sins so brethren point number one is go to a place alone and get a hold of God you know I want you to get through difficulties it's said there in verse number 41 watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation what is temptation? temptation is not a sin we're all tempted temptation can be a reference to being tempted to sin or it could be a trial a difficult time and we all go through temptation the trial or the temptation in of itself is not sinful but if you fail if you give in to that temptation that is when it becomes sinful and Jesus Christ just makes it very clear watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation you know if you're struggling with some sin in your life that you're just battling day after day after day what is the answer? watch and pray be vigilant be aware stop giving in to the flesh understand what the dangers are that are causing you to give in to that temptation and go to God in prayer like if you're tempted to do something so wicked and you say you know what before I and before I do I'm just going to say Lord help me Lord I want to think of you I want to think of your son and your sacrifice and Lord right now I'm struggling I need to go to you Lord I'm telling you there's something about that closeness with the Lord going to him grabbing him one on one that's where you're going to find victory point number one is go to a place alone and get a hold of God let's keep going there verse number 37 I don't want to preach to long brethren I hope verse number 37 and the two sons of Zebedee so that's James and John and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy of course he's going to pay a great penalty look at what he says verse number 38 Jesus Christ takes his three best friends and says guys can you watch with me can you watch and pray with me the next point that I have for you brethren the next point that I have for you brethren is ask others to watch and pray for you yes you're going through difficulties there's nothing wrong with going to people that you care about and look we've been blessed with a great church here blessed at Hope Baptist Church you can go to your brothers and sisters and say you don't even need to share necessarily what it is that you're going through if you're kind of ashamed of what it is the Lord knows you go to say brother look I'm going through a difficulty can you please keep me in prayer you know brother I'm going through some challenges in my marriage right now sister can you please pray for me these things are good these things are proper even if you're not at church some of you travel far to be in church you know we've got the church chat you can use that people use that praise God when you do when someone's going through a challenge brethren can you please pray for me I'm in a tough situation point number two is ask others to watch and pray for you that's what he does right Jesus Christ takes his three best friends the sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful very heavy then saith he unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death tarry ye here and watch with me makes me really sad because I know they don't watch with Christ they fall asleep you know but we see the example it's a good example to watch and pray you know it makes me sad because there are people that say to me pastor can you pray for me and I forget you know and I've had to make a decision you know as soon as someone says to me can you please pray about the situation I'm like I'm going to pray about it now then alright I'm going to stop whatever it is I'm doing and I'm just going to spend a moment and say Lord please this person has asked for prayer can you please hear what they have to say can you please work with brother so and so or sister so and so it makes me so sad when I forget to pray just like these disciples you know the story they fall asleep they don't pray with Christ he's about to go through the greatest suffering any man can ever go through ask ask others to watch and pray for you so as I said you've got a pastor you know if you've got difficulties please reach out to me you don't have to give me all of it I don't really want all your dirty laundry okay but you just share just briefly what it is and I promise I'll be there I don't want to promise because I haven't done it all the time but I'll be there you know I want to make sure that I'll bow my head and take your requests to the father you know this is good to pray for one another verse number 39 and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying oh my father I want you to notice the next words if it be possible if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt first thing I want you to notice he goes to the father he prays falls on his face when's the last time you prayed like that falling on your face this is why you need to sometimes get alone like it's not you know probably in front of a church you know it's a bit embarrassing maybe but you know you go alone with God and just fall on your face get on your knees, put your head down on the floor just break, humble yourself you know when you put yourself in that position bodily it helps your heart be softened you know and go before God as a needy person if it be possible let this cup pass from me what he says to the father is is there any other possible way you know for mankind to be saved from their sins what is another possible outcome brethren the next point that I have for you point number 3 is consider various possible outcomes consider various possible outcomes what are you talking about pastor there's not always one way to do things you need to understand okay if you're going to go for a difficulty you know I say this to people you guys know I say this don't put all of your eggs in one basket because you don't know if that option is going to work out Christ is asking if it be possible are there other possibilities you know you need to go to the Lord and say Lord what are the possibilities, what are the outcomes let me give you an example I had a great desire to start a church you know 5 years ago, almost 6 years ago desire to start a church and I'm here in Sydney I'm thinking well there's a lot of great churches in Sydney you know Lord I believe you want me to go somewhere but where is that where you want me to go what are the possible outcomes what are the possible destinations that you would want me to go I don't know I don't know Australia really all that well I never even heard of the Sunshine Coast believe it or not I heard of Queensland but not the Sunshine Coast Lord where, where do I go and I picked my family up, we went to Adelaide just for a whole holiday, family holiday so Lord is it Adelaide, I'll go to Adelaide I'll go visit some churches and see how the how the situation is of people preaching the gospel and I came back and I said well Adelaide's Adelaide was once in the 80s the hub of the independent Baptist movement and I kind of thought well if that's the case and there was a lot of IFB churches there you know Adelaide has had its opportunity I want to go to a place where the gospel is not being preached you know and it's like you just have to say Lord what are the what are the scenarios not my will but thy will be done I don't know Lord and you've got to be open and flexible with the Lord you know sometimes we have our will and we want it our way but it's not always the Lord's way but it's fine say Lord these are the scenarios at hand where do you want me to go eventually the Lord opened the doors for me in particular to go to the Sunshine Coast never heard of the place before what a beautiful place to go okay I'm very thankful for that I'm not just in your life Baptist Church but blessed are Baptist Church as an example I was in church and they were without fellowship they were without churches and I just decided Lord what are the outcomes what are the possible scenarios what do we do you know I love the brethren there in Sydney what do we do Lord you know so I came to visit Sydney try to meet with the families and it's like well maybe we can just start a bit of a fellowship you know a bit of a ministry of New Life Baptist Church down in Sydney a bit of a bandaid solution to see how things go I don't know maybe our old pastor is going to fix things up and you guys can return back there I don't know maybe there's another great church in Sydney that you guys can get plugged into I don't know maybe this church can take off and be its own thing I don't know Lord it's up to you what are the possible outcomes and you need to be flexible when you allow yourself to be flexible you're allowing the Lord God to guide you and to direct you in the way that he wants you to go Matthew 26 let's continue there in verse number 40 and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter What could ye not watch with me one hour? How long did Jesus Christ go and pray? One hour He comes back Peter's asleep He said Peter you could not watch with me one hour Reverend when's the last time you prayed for one hour? When's the last time you prayed for an hour? So most of our prayers are 20 seconds long Look Christ is the example Christ is God and even he prays for an hour to the Father when he's about to face difficulties Are you better than Christ? Am I better than Christ? Of course not Point number 4 and I kind of mentioned it a bit earlier but a five minute prayer would not suffice You know you're about to go to some challenge some difficulty you've got some big decisions to make in life Five minutes is not going to cut it I know you probably think you only have five minutes That's why you need to go alone and find God and grab a hold of him and say Lord at least an hour I'm going to watch and pray Christ returns to Peter his friend Peter's asleep We start to realize why Christ is successful as he goes through difficulties and why the disciples fail We start to understand why the disciples are fearful and they scatter and they hide from the fear of the Jews because they're not preparing themselves They're not watching and praying they're going to sleep I'm the kind of guy that needs my sleep I know if I was one of these disciples in the time of Jesus I'd be sleeping I know that it's been a long day It's early in the morning when Christ gets arrested and all that stuff I can understand I need my sleep So I can understand but brethren when there's difficulties and the Lord's been warning them leading up to all of this just how difficult it's going to be They're going to smite the shepherd and the sheep are going to be scattered What did Peter say? He'll never deny the Lord He's willing to die for the Lord Peter says He's asleep already He can't even watch and pray for one hour So brethren can you please keep your finger there and come with me to Genesis 32 Genesis 32 Brother Ash I know I've preached on this Wasn't New Life Baptist Church on the wrestling or Blessed Hope? Jacob wrestling with God Was it New Life? I was New Life So this is still new for you guys, hopefully Okay let's go to Genesis 32 Genesis 32 verse 24 Maybe I did preach this here I don't know But Genesis 32 verse 24 We have this amazing story of Jacob wrestling with God And Jacob was left alone, verse 24 And there wrestled a man with him Until the breaking of the day Until right now that man is Jesus The only one that's a man, he says later on I saw God But he says he's a man There's only one that is man and God That's the Lord Jesus Christ He's wrestling Jesus Why would Jesus want to wrestle? What is this show of strength? And they wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day They're wrestling all night long until the morning comes I mean imagine that, wrestling that long My kids are Taekwondo And like after an hour of training They're done, they're exhausted Imagine going all day long wrestling with someone Wrestling with someone, verse 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him So he's not winning this battle right? This wrestling match He touched the hollow of his thigh And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joints As he wrestled with him Jacob is not letting go of Jesus They're both wrestling Jacob is not letting go He's got a hold of Jesus Christ And he won't let go And he said, let me go Jesus Christ is saying, let me go For the day breaketh Come on Jacob, we've been doing this all night And he said, Jacob said I will not let thee go Except thou bless me But when's the last time you prayed like this? This is a picture of prayer I know we're not going to physically wrestle Christ But praying is not easy Yeah, 20 seconds is okay Have you ever tried to pray for one hour? I bet you start praying one hour Your mind starts wandering on other things How many times have I prayed at night Exhausted and then I wake up in the morning Did I finish my prayer? I'm exhausted, this was a wrestling match I don't think I got through that I think I lost that match But Jacob would not let go He says, I will not let thee go Except thou bless me This is a hard time for Jacob He's returning back to see his twin brother Esau Who had made a vow to kill Jacob He needs the Lord to bless him He needs spiritual victory over his brother Esau Verse number 27 And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob But Israel For as a prince, thou hast looked power with God And with men And hast prevailed Jesus says, you've won Lord, you've got power over men And power with God And with men Brethren, you've got power with God You just have to bow your head And speak to the Lord And grab a hold of him all day long All night long And say, Lord, I'm not going to let go until you bless me I'm not going to let go until you give me an answer Until you direct my paths Look, the Lord blesses Jacob With this attitude You know, the Lord wants us to go And go in that wrestling match with him He wants to see your heart and your soul And your tears And your strength Given all in prayer to Jesus Christ Can you do it? Power with God And with men He has power over his brother Esau Esau's heart gets changed Esau had made a vow to kill his brother Jacob But when Esau sees Jacob He embraces him, he hugs him Peace between the twins Peace between the twin brothers Because Jacob went all night long with God Can you do that? Five minutes, point number four A five minute prayer will not suffice It's got to be an all night prayer And look, I'm not saying that you're going to do that every night But there just comes a time when you're just at your wit's end Have you ever been like that? When you just don't know the answer You don't know what the next steps are You don't know what God wants in your life Don't come to me And it's going to be exhausting But it needs to be done Back to Matthew 26 And verse number 41 Watch and pray That ye enter not into temptation It's the only way to overcome the temptations in your life You've got to watch and pray Look at this But the flesh is weak Look, the flesh of Peter and the disciples It's weak, they've fallen asleep Jesus Christ said, your spirit is willing Like the new man, when you're saved You have the new man, you're born of the spirit The spirit is willing The spirit is the one that says You know what, I'm going to watch and pray All night long I'm going to go hour long in prayer with my Lord God That's the spirit When you start, your body's like, oh man, this is tiring It's the flesh, your flesh is weak This is why you fail This is why you give in to temptation This is why, when difficulties come You know, you're at your wits end You've not prepared yourself The flesh is weak But God knows this, Christ knows this Reverend, the point number 5 that I have for you tonight is Address your weaknesses and limitations We all have strengths and weaknesses One thing we see here Your spirit is strong But your flesh is weak You say, hold on My spirit is strong, my flesh is weak Then I should always win in the new man No, the reason you lose is because your flesh is weak Like, the new man needs to operate through this flesh And if this flesh is weak, you're not going to succeed You're going to run away when times get tough You know, you're going to be scattered When things get difficult You're not going to be able to stand for Christ As much as you think you will We have Peter Don't forget Peter in this story It's like, I'm going all the way I'm willing to die, I'll never deny you Before the morning starts He's ready to deny Christ three times You need to just realize who you are Yes, praise God, you're saved Praise God, you have the new man that is willing The new man within you Loves God, wants to serve him Wants to always do the right things Wants to be in church Wants to sing praises But the reason you fail Is because of your flesh That flesh is sinful You know, when you sin, it's in this body It's done in this body The spirit remains untainted, praise God for that You know, you're not going to heaven in this body Thank God I don't want to take this corrupt body to heaven God one day has promised us a new body one day But hey, in my spirit I can go to heaven Because it's without sin It's untainted That spirit is willing That spirit is strong, my flesh is weak And keep your finger there And come with me to Galatians 6 Come with me to Galatians chapter 6 Address your weaknesses and limitations As much as you might want to do great things for God You are limited And you have weaknesses And there are ways around this One great thing is church Because, like I said, we all have strengths and weaknesses An area where one might be weak Someone else in church might be strong And where that person is weak There might be someone else in church that is strong In that area That's the advantage of church Because we're the body of Christ, we're here together We're serving the Lord together And we can help each other as we come to church And serve our Lord Jesus Christ I mean think of the example of a Let's say one man is a plumber And one man is an electrician And the plumber needs electrical work done in his house But he's weak at that, he doesn't know how to do it And the man, the electrician has some plumbing work That needs to be done in his house But he doesn't know how to do the plumbing But those two come together and go, look, we've got weaknesses And we've got strengths You come to my house, you do the electrical work You come to my house and you do the plumbing work And you help each other out You're focused on your strengths That's the advantage of being amongst God's people Because we're all different We all present different gifts and different abilities Different strengths But we also have weaknesses And I want to read there in Galatians 6, verse number 7 This is so important This is how you win the battle of the flesh It says in Galatians 6, 7 Be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth That shall he also reap You want to reap? What do you want to reap in life? You say, I want to be always loyal and faithful to my God I want to be in church Every service if I can I want to read through my Bible At least the entire Bible once a year I want to go out soul winning I want to make sure I get out there at least At least one hour a week Whatever your numbers are But look, God is not mocked I know your spirit is willing But you need to make sure that you sow to the right things Let's keep going there In verse number 8 it says For he that soweth to his flesh Shall of the flesh reap corruption But he that soweth to the spirit Shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Look, you're saved by grace through faith On the finished work of Christ His death, burial and resurrection But now that you're saved you have a dual nature The flesh and the spirit The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak But you've got a choice now in your life Which one am I going to sow to? Which one am I going to feed? Like, you know, sowing is basically throwing out seeds For some fruitful season to come Well, there's a lot that we do in our flesh There's a lot that we do that just has no eternal value When you sow to the spirit it says you reap life everlasting When you reap into the spirit These things matter for eternity These things matter for eternity Like living godly and doing what God asks from you from God's word This matters for eternity because Christ is going to reward you If you win souls that matters for eternity Because that soul can go to heaven with you But there are things that you do on this earth That has no eternal value All it does is feed the flesh Hollywood movies Okay The entertainment, the music industry You know, whatever it is I don't even know music artists anymore All I know is from the 80s and 90s I have no idea what's happening these days But you know, if you just give yourself to these things that You know does not please the Lord You know there's no eternal value to these things You're sowing to the flesh You're giving what the flesh wants And brethren, if you You know, the example that I've heard many times If you had two dogs And you feed one dog But the other dog you don't feed And they get into a battle Which one's going to win? Obviously the one that you fed That one's going to be strong And the one that you haven't fed is going to be weaker And you know, come a battle time The strong one's going to win But if you sow to your flesh, you give what your flesh wants Over and over and over again Thank God that you're in church You're sowing to the spirit right now But brethren, when it comes to the type of temptation And you sow into the flesh The flesh doesn't get stronger It gets weaker the more you sow to that stupid flesh Because it reaps corruption in you You give your flesh everything it wants When it comes time to temptation You're going to give in to those temptations and sin against the Lord It gets weaker and weaker and weaker And brethren, you need time to sow to the spirit You know, going and having a prayer time with the Lord One hour, or resting all night if you have to That's sowing to the spirit That's a good thing to do Reading your Bible You know, coming to church And applying, more important Applying what you hear at church These things are sowing to the spirit Getting baptised Sowing to the spirit Fulfilling the great commission Going soul winning These things, sowing to the spirit Loving the brethren Serving the brethren Reading the Bible at church Singing together Praises to Jesus Christ Participating over the Lord's table tonight This is all sowing to the spirit We've got to watch and pray Because life is not easy And you've got to find yourself just constantly Giving in to the flesh Constantly failing When you sow to that flesh that gets in the way So brethren Address your weakness Your flesh is weak Address your limitations Your spirit is willing Your spirit is strong Your spirit serves the Lord Then you've got to strengthen that spirit By sowing to the spirit By doing what the Lord requests from you Come back with me to Matthew 26 Matthew 26 and verse number 42 So Christ We saw he went to pray for one hour He comes back, Peter's asleep Christ is a bit frustrated at this And then he goes and prays again He says in verse number 42 He went away again the second time And prayed You know What an example of Christ though This might be another hour, I don't know I don't know exactly how long he prayed for But I want you to notice a change Remember he said to the Father before If it be possible Look what he says this time when he prays Oh my Father If this cup may not pass away from me Except I drink it Thy will be done Instead of saying Lord is it possible Is there other possibilities Now Christ realizes no, this is the only one This is the only choice This is the only way it can happen He gives thy will be done Point number six that I have for you brethren Accept the will of God Accept the will of God I know there are possibilities, different outcomes And as I said to you, you need to listen to the Lord's Guidance But brethren again One of the only ways you're going to get the guidance from the Lord Is just getting out there And just praying Get out there alone, let me encourage you Find a place that you can be by yourself For a few hours Get a hold of God And say Lord what is your will And you can see he goes and prays the second time Now he knows definitely the will of the Father He says if this cup may not pass away from me And I drink it Thy will be done except I drink it Thy will be done And the will of God I've been sharing this with a few people actually recently You know God opens doors and God closes doors And you need to You need to set aside Your preferences Okay And say Lord what door are you opening right now And then you've got to take that door You've got to walk through that door Because then doors close You know when I was telling you about New Life Baptist Church I said Lord where do you want me to go And the doors started to open And the doors opened for Sunshine Coast I met someone looking for a church And I was like Lord maybe you want me to go there It doesn't look like the churches that are there are preaching the gospel Maybe that's where you want me to go I've shared this story many times I said Lord maybe Maybe that's the will I don't know Are there any other possibilities And then my parents come up to me about a month later They've never been to the Sunshine Coast And they're like Kevin we're going to the Sunshine Coast on holidays Do you want to come with us? I was like well That's where I need to go if the doors are opening And I went on my holidays and met other people Tried to get brethren together And then Got back here Met some friends in Newcastle One day and I shared with him look I'm thinking of starting a church one day And he's like I told him I'm thinking of the Sunshine Coast What do you reckon? I forgot that he's from Queensland He's from Brisbane originally I forgot about that And on my last trip to the Sunshine Coast I told my wife I said you know what I think we're going to start a church in Caloundra In the Caloundra area Of the Sunshine Coast Anyway I'm talking to my friend I'm thinking I'm thinking of going to the Sunshine Coast what do you reckon He says to me you know what that's probably the best place to go And I highly recommend that you go study in Caloundra So I was like alright Lord that's enough And there were other things that led up to it But it became very obvious that's exactly Where God wanted me to go But I realised if I don't go If I don't make a decision If I don't settle this And start preparing our journey That door can close Like this is the time The Lord has opened the doors And if I don't walk through those doors I'm afraid what might happen because I've been asking God Where do you want me to go Lord what is your will? What is your desire? You know when I told my wife that I wanted to start a church She said oh anywhere but Queensland The Lord's will be done The Lord's will be done right God's will is better than your will You'll learn that in time I promise you'll learn that in time if you don't know that already Because I've not been young I remember being 14 years old and saying I want my will Lord can you just make it happen for me The way I want things to happen Man if it was my will I'd have three kids God never gave me three kids We went from one to two to four Twins If it was my will that's it free kids God's will is better than your will That's it free kids God's will is better, God knows Once you get to four, five doesn't matter anymore Once you get to five, six doesn't matter anymore And that's the journey But accept the will of God He's got the best interest for you And I'm telling you if you just walk in God's will He's going to make sure you're equipped And able to get through your difficulty Your challenge The big question marks that you have in life God will equip you It's his will If it's his will he'll make it happen You know if it's God's will He makes sure the finances are there He'll make it happen He'll give you the job, he'll give you the relationship He'll give you the children, he'll give you the family He'll give you the friends, he'll give you the church As long as you step into God's will Accept the will of God in your life Verse number 43 Verse number 43 And he came and found them asleep again For their eyes were heavy And he left them and went away again And prayed the third time saying the same words What are the same words? He's accepted, right? Thy will be done He's accepted the will of the Father But notice again the disciples Like we're comparing Jesus with the disciples It's a totally different attitude They're about to go through some of the biggest challenges in their life Different attitude Christ goes a third time to pray Reverend, again a good example Remember Jesus is God Jesus is God Are you better than Jesus? Then you need to go to God at least three times You need to go to God three hours One hour, another hour, another hour Until you get the answer you need Until you get the help that you need Now this passage doesn't explain what happened Another gospel it is The Father sends angels to minister unto Christ If you know the story So the Lord God, the Father Comforts and encourages the Son And I'm telling you When you just spend a long time with God And just pour out your hearts And you say Lord your will not my will be done I promise you you're going to be encouraged You're going to be lifted up You're going to have a great time Sometimes when people hit the gym They get exhausted and are like that was a great workout It feels good after a good workout When you spend time alone with God And have a good workout with God A good wrestling match with God Sow into the Spirit Sow into the Spirit So it says the same words Look at verse number 45 Then cometh he to his disciples And saith unto them sleep on now And take your rest Now you're saying Jesus Christ feels sorry for them Letting them sleep He's using irony Do you know what irony is? It's basically Conveying the opposite to what your words are Jesus Christ is not saying Have a sleep guys Sleep on now and take your rest Behold the hour is at hand And the Son of Man is betrayed Into the hands of sinners So he's saying alright guys just go to sleep Because I'm about to be betrayed right now Because then he says this Rise, wake up, let us be going Behold he is at hand That doth betray me So verse number 46 is really what he means Wake up, come on, now is the time So the whole sleep on now is just Just the irony right It's expressing the opposite to what he said You know Christ is telling you Look you've lost your chance You might as well just keep sleeping then Like you've lost your chance to watch and pray And you know brethren When you see something down the track Some challenge that you're about to face Prepare yourself Okay don't just go I'll deal with that when I get there Prepare yourself now Son of Gethsemane and prepare yourself now Because once the challenge and the difficulty Comes in your life It's too late You've not prepared yourself The disciples did not prepare themselves They were scattered They fled They were fearful for their lives They were hiding until Christ was resurrected Listen the disciples failed During those three days and three nights But of course Jesus Christ was victorious He went through the biggest challenge That is anyone The Lord God has gone through Paying for your sins, my sins, the sins Of the whole world upon himself Point number seven brethren is don't neglect Your opportunity to watch and pray Don't neglect the opportunity to watch and pray Because before you know it There's the challenge There's the trouble There's the difficulty right around the corner And there's not enough time anymore You've got to face the difficulty Have you prepared? Jesus Christ prepared Watch and pray And as I said brethren I know I failed Pray for me is hard Like attending church is easier Than praying for me I don't know why that is Maybe it's because I'm the pastor and I've got to be here I don't know what it is But spending that time with the Lord is hard It's hard And you've got to find time because our lives are busy But brethren you've got to be watchful Be alert Don't be stupid Christian Stupid is not the right word Don't be negligent Christians Okay Satan is as a lion roaring about seeking whom he may devour You know we live in a world The devil is the prince of this world You've got the battle of your flesh You've got a battle in your mind There are so many battles It's exhausting And in order for you to have victory when the challenges come In order for you to overcome temptations You must watch and pray Interesting conclusion Let me just give you the seven points From this story Number one Go to a place alone and get a hold of God Number two Ask others to watch and pray for you Number three Consider various possible outcomes Number four A five minute prayer will not suffice Number five Address your weaknesses and limitations Number six Relect your opportunity to watch and pray Okay let's pray Yes Heavenly Father Lord I want to thank you for the example of Christ Lord as he was about to face the most difficult time to take on the sins of the world Lord what an example he's given us To go to the Garden of Gethsemane And to go in prayer three times to speak to you And Lord I just thank you that you've made us your children I thank you that you've given us access to you Lord in prayer And Lord I pray we would not take it for granted that we can speak to the God of the universe The God that can help us in all difficulties and trials The God that can help us have victory over temptations And Lord help us to have that wrestling match with you Lord sometimes We need to get a hold of you And we can't let go Lord Help us not to let go Help us not to give in to the weak flesh But to Lord in the strength of the new man As we sow toward this new man Lord you would give us a victorious Christian life And Lord please help us for that And Lord please help us for all the difficulties and temptations that we go through in life We pray all these things in Jesus name Amen Alright please take your hymnals And turn with me to hymn number 250 Obviously the theme of all our songs are about the cross and the sacrifice of our Lord 250 Burdens are lifted at Calvary 250 Burdens are lifted at Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Cast your care on Jesus today Leave your worry at fear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Traumatized The Saviour can see Every heartache and tear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near Jesus is very near