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Join us every Sunday morning at 9 or 10:30 AM in the Maywood Center. Sermons & Bible Studies available online on any podcast platform or visit our YouTube channel "@flipsidechristianchurch"! Download our app at https://flipsidechristian.churchcenter.com/setup for more info about our church and ministries.
Flipside Christian Church
Madera Ranchos, CA
Doing things a little bit differently.
I want to teach at the top of the service,
because it fits the flow of the passage
that we're going to go through.
We're going to end the service
with some worship
through song.
But before we get into it,
I want to make sure
that you know that you're invited
to my Bible study Wednesday.
This Wednesday night,
we're starting the book of Hebrews.
I'm going to write
everyone with an outline
as we go through this chapter by chapter.
There's a verse to memorize every week
a sample, a prayer to,
to pray throughout the week
based on the on the passage of Scripture
that we're going through in each chapter.
So please take advantage of that.
It will be good for you.
It'll be edifying.
I'll be encouraging. You'll grow in faith.
This morning.
Matthew 26.
There's 75 verses in that chapter.
The chapter numbers and verse
numbers are not inspired by God.
The word is, but the chapter numbers
and verses are not.
They were added later to help people
find certain passage
of Scripture to memorize Scripture.
So they divided it
all up in these chapters and numbers.
So whoever was doing
this got a little bit lost in the text
on Matthew 26 and forgot they were
supposed to put another chapter there.
And so it's 75 verses long.
It's a very long chapter.
And so we're taking four weeks
to go through it.
This is week
three to go through chapter 26
to help us understand the big idea
for this passage that we're in.
For these verses,
I want to help us kind of focus
in on what this passage is about and where
we're going to be landing in this.
The big idea is this at worship prepares
our hearts, prayer
strengthens our life, and the Holy Spirit
empowers our obedience.
And we're going to see those
in this passage keep those in mind.
Worship prepares our hearts.
Prayer strengthens our life.
The Holy Spirit empowers our obedience.
And so
as as we're going to start in verse 30,
and I'm just going to take maybe a verse
at a time, maybe a chunk at a time,
and we'll stop and and explain it all.
But I want you to watch for those things
worship, prayer, and then the empowerment
of the Holy Spirit.
So let's just jump in.
There's a lot to get through.
Chapter 26, verse 30.
The Bible says,
when they had sung of him,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
This follows
on the heels of the Passover meal
that Jesus shared with his disciples.
It was a long, multi-hour meal, symbolic
of the liberation from Egypt
when God set his people free,
it took on the full meaning in the
in the realization that it was Christ
that was giving for the given for them
as their Passover lamb shed his blood
for the forgiveness of their sin.
It was during that whole meal
that they shared together,
and Jesus revealed to them
that he was going to be crucified,
that he be resurrected,
that he was the Passover Lamb.
After that happened,
the Bible says in verse three that
they sung a hymn, and then they went out,
and I wanted to stop just with this one
verse, because I want to focus on this.
They sung a hymn part during the Passover
meal,
that singing was part of the meal,
and what they sang was called the Hillel.
And it was what we know as Psalm
113 through 118.
All of that scripture was the Hillel,
and during the Passover meal
they would sing Psalm 113 through 115
different points.
During the meal,
they would sing all of that scripture,
and then after the meal they would sing
what we know as Psalm 116 through 118.
And so after the supper,
now they
sung a hymn, and they went out with him.
That they sang
is what we read in the Bible as Psalm
116, 117 and 118.
I want you to understand
this, that Jesus sung
worship songs to his father.
Jesus, saying in worship
to His Father he.
In this context of the Bible, he was
he was leading his disciples
in this worship moment through song.
You understand what that means, don't you?
That he's the worship leader
leading the congregation in singing
worship to his father?
I was thinking about this this week.
How? Well,
how much different would you sing
if Jesus were on this platform
leading in worship?
Most of you would do a lot better job,
right?
Like.
And he is.
Worship through song to honor his father.
I want you to understand this,
and I want to take a little bit of time
to talk about worship.
Worship is not music,
but music can be worship.
Worship is much bigger than music.
The Bible talks about.
For the church, one of the priorities
and purposes of the church is to worship.
I want us to be mature
and not think that music is worship.
It can be,
but worship is much bigger than music.
The Bible says worship is the expressions
of love and honor to God.
So reading the Bible is an act of worship.
Memorize in the Bible
is an act of worship.
According to Scripture.
Fasting is an act of worship.
Meditating on Scripture
is an act of worship.
Tithing is an act of worship.
Serving is an act of worship.
Singing can be an act of worship.
But I want us to understand that
worship drives music.
Music does not drive worship.
In order
to be mature and to understand Scripture.
We can't walk out thinking
because of the music I worship.
No, you worship and so you sing.
That's biblical because of who God is
and the honor that I that I have for God.
Then I will sing in expressions of that
love and worship.
Worship drives music.
Music does not drive worship.
Worship is based on who God is
and his character, regardless
of the of the avenue
that we use to express that.
So they worshiped through song.
Do you follow so far?
Whatever
that expression of worship
is, has to be based on the honor
that God is due
and the love that I expressed him
because he first loved me has nothing to
do with my emotion, has nothing to do with
my experience, has nothing to
do with how I feel about it.
I want you to consider the lyrics
that Jesus led
his disciples in in their worship
of the father through song.
Psalm 116 one 1718.
Jesus is is on the.
He's on the verge of of being arrested
by a mob of hundreds
of men, Romans and Jews together.
No one is going to be flogged
and beaten and crucified.
And before any of that happens,
he worships his father.
True song.
And I want you to just listen
to what his worship sounds like.
Knowing what is going into
the chords of death entangled me.
The anguish of the grave came over me.
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord.
Lord save me.
I want you to feel
the weight of these words.
Imagine
Jesus knowing what he's going into.
This is how he responds
and this is how he prepares
for you.
Lord have delivered me from death.
My eyes from tears, my feet
from stumbling, that I may walk
before the Lord in the land of the living.
Jesus, you're going to die.
And he says, no, no, no,
I've already been delivered from death.
I will walk in the land of the living.
Praise the Lord,
all you nations Extoll him,
all you peoples.
He's worthy to praise. He's worthy to be.
I know what he has asked of me.
I know what he has required of me.
And he's still a good God
whose worthy to be praised by all people.
Can you imagine?
I was pushed back and about to fall.
But the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my defense.
He has become my salvation.
I will not die, but live.
I will proclaim what the Lord has done.
The Lord has chastened me severely.
You understand what he's saying?
But he is not giving me over to death.
Open for me the gates of the righteous.
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
The stone the builders rejected has become
the cornerstone.
The Lord has done this
and it's marvelous in our eyes.
The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With bows in hand, join in the festival
procession up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will praise you.
You are my God, and I will exalt you.
He's praising God in worship song
while looking at the cross.
Can you imagine?
Not because he feels like it, necessarily
because he's making statements of faith
about the honor of God and His love
for His father, even looking at the cross.
That's worship,
and it has everything to do
with the character of God
and the words of God in Scripture,
and has nothing to do with how he feels
or his experience.
And I want us to notice that he worships
before he goes to battle.
Worship must always come first.
Some of us have no idea
as the battles
we're going to face tomorrow.
And so we prepare for him
by worship today.
So they sung to him.
This is what they sang.
And then they went out.
Verse 31.
Then Jesus said to them,
you will all fall away because of me
this night.
For it is written,
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock
will be scattered as a prophecy from the
statement from the prophet Zechariah.
And Jesus understand
it was spoken centuries earlier about him.
He's the shepherd, and he'll be struck,
and the sheep are all going to run away.
But after I am raised
up, I will go before you to Galilee.
He knew.
He knew he could look at death because
he knew the resurrection was secured.
Peter answered him, though
they all fall away
because of you, I will never fall away.
Jesus said to him, truly
I tell you this very night,
before the rooster crows,
you will deny me three times.
Peter said to him, even if I must die
with you, I will not deny you.
Oh, Peter.
Jesus could go to the Gethsemane.
And then to the cross,
because he knew he would be raised up.
It's interesting
when Peter says, they'll all fall away.
I never will.
Just, just I mean, hours previously.
Jesus says, you're all going to deny me,
so I'm going to someone.
Someone who's going to deny me.
Whoever dips his hand in the cup
after me is going to deny me.
And what are they all asking?
Including Peter?
What do they say? Is it me?
Like they don't point fingers at anybody
because they know what they're capable of?
But now, a couple hours
later, Peter starts pointing fingers like,
no, they're going to fall.
There would be no.
And also the same thing.
I'll never fall away.
Jesus says, oh no, Peter,
you will.
And when he says, you will all fall away.
One way that we understand
what that means is not just the statement
that all of you will run away,
but it's this statement.
You, of all people, will fall away.
In other words, you know me best.
And by your own words,
you've confessed that I am the Messiah,
and even you all will fall away.
See, there's something incredibly painful.
When the ones who knew him
best would run away first.
And I see myself in that.
I know him well.
And it even I even I,
I think Jesus will look at me
and say, Carl, even
you know me.
Why do you deny me?
There's a point to it.
There's a painter that even even you
people.
And Peter's great confession.
Even if they do, I won't.
We have to be careful
that we don't confuse our sincerity
with our strength.
We feel very sincere
in our belief on Sunday
only to fall away.
Yeah.
Just as Peter,
before the rooster crows,
you'll deny me three times.
The actual phrasing
that Jesus says there is.
Is this before.
Before cock crow.
You'll deny me?
And the reason why it says that is
we don't understand.
This is just a little bit of,
of of like context for you.
The Roman,
especially the soldiers,
had this watch of the night
that they learned
that the roosters in that they would crow
between 1230 at three times
1230, 130 and 230, basically.
So the hours between midnight and 3 a.m.
they called crow.
So what Jesus is saying
is before cockroach,
sometime between midnight and 3 a.m.,
you will deny me three times.
It's not that he was waiting
for the rooster to crow at some point
during the night, like he knew exactly
during the time frame in which
the three hour period
that Peter would deny him.
You knew it.
Before cockroach?
Before 3 a.m., three times.
You're going to deny me, Peter.
So all of this, that we're reading this,
this the the
the hymn singing
what we'll see in the garden of sin. Me.
It all happens in this period. The arrest.
It all happens early, early,
early, late Thursday night.
Early Friday morning.
And Peter asserts, even if they do,
I won't like.
I am so sincere. God,
we got to be very careful.
First Corinthians
so if you think you're standing
firm, Peter, Carl,
be careful that you don't fall,
right?
Pride goes before destruction.
A hottie spirit before a fall.
Even if they deny you, I never will.
We got to be careful that
we don't confuse sincerity with strength.
Jesus will tell Peter this later.
You're you're
you're you're spirits willing,
but you just can't do what you want to do.
And none of us can in our own power.
Many of us walk out of places
like this on the sun and think, okay, man,
this week's going to be different.
And all of a sudden Monday shows
up and nothing's changed.
We're very sincere, but at the same time
we're very weak.
Or I'm going to address
that at the end of this message.
But just understand,
this is where Peter was.
Where all the disciples were.
Verse 36,
Then Jesus went with them
to a place called Gethsemane.
And he said to his disciples, sit here
while I go over there and pray.
And taken with him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.
He began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them,
my soul is very sorry even to death.
Remain here and watch with me.
And going a little further,
he fell on his face and prayed, saying,
My father, if it be possible,
let this cup pastoring nevertheless
not as I will, but as you will.
He goes with him to a place
called Gethsemane
that literally means
the place of the press.
And I was at the
base of the Mount of Olives,
and he goes to
the place where the olives were pressed.
Now the mountain balls are full of olive
trees, and they would harvest the olives.
And there was a press at the bottom,
and they would
the press was this big stone trough.
And in this trough they would
put the olives and they would roll a big,
a big stone circle overall,
and it would crush the olives.
And and from the olives would come the,
the oil of the olive,
and almost had this red tint to it.
So it did look very much like blood.
That's Gethsemane.
Jesus goes to that place.
He often went there.
This wasn't a new place for him.
It was a walled garden.
He knew this was
a common experience for him.
He wasn't running away from Judas
in the approaching army.
Judas knew he would be there.
He always went there.
He was going to the place
where he would always be,
so that Judas would know where to bring
the Roman soldiers to arrest him,
the Jewish leaders to arrest him,
and he goes to the place of crushing.
The significant thing about the olive
being crushed to produce the oil
prophecy.
And I think, says he was crushed
for our iniquity.
The chastisement of our sin was laid
upon him.
By his stripes we are healed.
He was crushed for our iniquity.
And all through the Bible all this is
implemented of the Holy Spirit.
And tell the son was crushed.
The Holy Spirit would not be realized.
So he knew this had to happen.
So he was at the place of crushing,
knowing that the Holy Spirit
will be revealed through this.
But the crushing
has to happen at Gethsemane.
He says, sit here and pray.
He takes it.
Peter, James and John,
they were the three of that God is special
glimpse of Jesus
that the others never got.
They were with those three, with Jesus
at the amount of transfiguration.
Those three were with Jesus
at the raising of Jairus daughter,
and those three Jesus in the garden.
They got a special glimpse
of both his exaltation on the mountain
Transfiguration, his power in raising
just his daughter, and his humanity
in the crushing at the garden.
He began to be sorrowful, in trouble.
He said to them,
my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
There was such
deep, profound, heavy sorrow
that had come over him.
It nearly killed him.
And the book of John tells us, I'm sorry.
The Book of Luke, chapter 22, verse 43,
tells us that heaven dispatched an angel
to strengthen him so he wouldn't die
under the sorrow of what
he was looking at, that keep him alive
so he could die on the cross.
So so profound.
And he says, just watch.
Stay awake and pray.
You'd think that was all the motivation
they would need to be faithful
and stay awake and pray.
And they couldn't even manage that.
The Bible says in Luke 2244
that this, this, this pressure was
so intense that he sweat drops of blood
that the capillaries in his head
burst from the internal pressure.
Watch and pray.
When I look at this
and I look at how troubled
Jesus was, have you ever thought of this?
Why was he so troubled about death?
He had come from the father.
He was. He laid aside heaven.
He knew heaven was real.
He knew he was headed.
Why was he so troubled?
Why were so many others after him
could face death
with even joy and anticipation in it?
He's so troubled.
You ever thought about that?
Jesus. You of all people.
Well, I was thinking about that.
And this is what I.
You look at others who face death and.
John Huss,
the martyr for his face, said
what I confess with my lips.
I now see it with my blood.
He embraced it.
The Bishop Polycarp said,
these 86 years I have served my Lord,
and he has not once injured me.
I will not deny him now.
And Jesus in the garden says, God,
please, no.
Do you know why?
Because Jesus is the only one
who will experience
the full wrath of God's rage
because of sin.
Everyone after him
that are his looks at death, not with fear
and the pressure of the wrath of God,
but with the liberation
and the joy of the resurrection of God.
So it's different.
He and He alone looks
at the full wrath of the fury of God
that will be poured out
for all of humanity's
sin on himself alone.
It's so
overwhelming that it nearly kills him.
An angel has to be dispatched
to keep him alive,
because he knows the fury
of the wrath of God.
And he says, father,
if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me.
It was this cup
that he was about to drink.
Wasn't the cup of the crucifixion.
It wasn't the cup of pain.
It was the cup of the wrath of God
all through the Old Testament.
The Bible speaks about the cup of wrath.
Psalm 75 for in the hand of the Lord
there is a cup of foaming wine,
well mixed, and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of there shall drain it
down to the dregs, the wrath of God
that will be poured out on those
who are not his.
Wake yourself, wake yourself.
Stand up on Jerusalem, you
who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs of the bowl,
the cup of staggering,
the wrath of God poured out.
Thus the Lord,
the God of Israel, said to me,
take from my hand
this cup of the wine of wrath,
and make all the nations
to whom I send you drink it.
This is what Jesus is referring
to, the cup of the wrath of
God that will be poured out
because of man's evil.
In revelation
614 and 16,
he talks about the wrath of God,
the ultimate punishment of God's
wrath on the sin of humanity.
This is what Jesus is experiencing.
Every follower of his
after this time faces death
not with fear of wrath,
but with a promise of life.
Jesus alone
looked at the full wrath of God all alone.
Children.
His work of 1938 said this.
As his death was unique,
so was his anguish.
Our best response is hushed worship.
This is why we can look at death
without fear, without anxiety.
This is why Paul wrote
in first Corinthians 15, where, O
death is your victory,
and where, O death is your sting?
There's no fear.
I've told some friends of mine
that the new way
I want to respond when people say,
hey pastor, how are you doing this?
I want to respond.
The only thing that would make this
day better is if I was dead.
Not because this day is bad,
but because I believe what Paul said
to live as Christ, to die his game.
The only thing that makes this day better
is if I'm in heaven.
Because we look at death differently now
because he bore it all.
He says, if it's possible,
let this cup pastor me.
There's one sense that there's nothing
impossible for God.
Do you understand that?
Nothing a possible for him.
But there's another sense that there are
some things that are impossible for him.
It's impossible for God to lie.
It's impossible for God to sin.
It's impossible
for God to be tempted by evil,
and it is impossible
for God to do anything
that is contrary to his redemptive plan.
And so it was not possible
for the cup of God's
wrath to pass from Jesus.
But Jesus is saying something else here
to not only
not only will I subject myself
to your full wrath poured out on me,
but if it's possible,
let that cup not let it pass from me.
Don't.
I don't want to live in that forever.
I don't want to live in your wrath
for eternity.
So I will drink of the cup of your wrath,
but let it then pass from me.
Do you understand what he's saying here?
If it's possible.
Verse 40.
And he came to the disciples
and found them sleep.
And he said to Peter, So Peter,
did you not watch
with the one hour watch and pray
that you may not enter temptation?
The spirit is indeed willing,
but the flesh is weak.
Again for the second time
he went away and prayed, My Father,
if this cup cannot pass from me
until I drink it, your will be done.
And he came again
and found them sleeping in.
Their eyes were heavy,
so leaving them again,
he went away and prayed
for the third time, saying the same words.
Then he came to his disciples and
said to them, sleep and take your rest.
Later on.
See the hours at hand.
The Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
Rise! Let us be going.
See my betrayers at hand.
He comes back and
says, can you not stay awake
for even an hour?
He does it three times.
He's probably in that garden
praying for three hours.
He didn't expect much of his disciples,
just that they would stay awake
and pray after pledging him
their allegiance and to die with him.
They can't even stay awake and pray.
I love the fact that Jesus models for us,
praying alone in his own prayer
closet and praying with each other.
He models both.
Peter claimed they would die for him
and he can't even stay awake
and pray for him.
Peter had great aspirations.
He had very little discipline.
We cannot prepare
for great acts of courage
while neglecting quiet acts of dependance.
We can't prepare
for the battle tomorrow without praying
intimately today.
People in church, we often want
spiritual victories without the discipline
of spiritual dependance.
And this is what Jesus is saying.
You're going to face temptation.
Pray because you, your spirit wants
to, but your body you can't.
You must spend time
in prayer.
I want you to understand this, that
praying is harder than making promises.
We've got to be a house of prayer.
And that comes by not saying
that we are, but by actually praying.
It means that individually,
as Christ followers,
we have consistent, separate
times of personal prayer
in our lives every day.
But it also means we have the opportunity
of the first Tuesday of every month
to be a house of prayer.
It also means that every Sunday,
we have the opportunity to approach
God's throne of grace with other people
right here in this place.
Making promises is a lot
easier than praying.
He says.
Your will be done.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray,
he taught them that prayer
your kingdom come, your will be done.
And then he practiced it in the garden.
He is the supreme model.
Of obedience.
Verse 47.
While he was still speaking,
Judas came out of the 12,
or Jesus, Judas came one of the 12,
and with him a great crowd with swords
and clubs, from the chief priests
and the elders of the people. Now
the betrayer had given them a sign saying,
the one I kiss as the man sees him.
And he came up to Jesus at once and said,
greetings, Rabbi.
And he kissed him.
And Jesus said to him, friend,
do what you came to do.
Then they came
up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.
When the Bible says, A great crowd
came with Judas,
what we understand is
it was a literal detachment of soldiers,
and a detachment in that day
was one tenth of a legion.
Allegiant is 6000 soldiers.
One tenth of that is how many of you
math students?
Up to 600 men came to arrest Jesus.
And the fact that Judas looks at him
and says,
greetings, Rabbi, what a hypocrite.
And he kissed Jesus.
That was the sign that he had worked out
with the authorities to indicate
who Jesus was.
Because they didn't have facial
recognition, they didn't have photo ID,
they all heard about Jesus.
But if I'm never even saw him,
it was dark in the garden.
There were no lights.
And so the sign was whoever
I kissed, that's the one.
And so he kisses him with this brotherly
love kiss
says, greetings, my rabbi.
I can't imagine the betrayal.
And Jesus response is so gentle
friend.
Do what you gotta do.
They laid hands on him.
Verse 51, to behold,
one of those
who were with Jesus stretched out his hand
and drew his sword, and struck the servant
of the high priest and cut off his ear.
And Jesus said to him, put your sword back
into its place for all who
take the sword of Paris by the sword.
Do you think that
I cannot feel to my father?
And he will at once in me
more than 12 legions of angels?
But how then should
the scriptures be fulfilled?
That it must be so?
We know from the
book of John that the one who grabbed
his sword was Peter,
and the man whose ear was cut off
as the high priest servant Malchus.
It was said of that day, in that time
of Israel that was so dangerous at night
that a man did not walk around after dark
without at least one
sword, maybe two.
So? So all the disciples
all had their carry permits.
You know, they had practice at the range.
And one of them draws.
It's interesting.
Some people say, well, see,
this means that Jesus was a pacifist.
Maybe, but but please understand,
he didn't say, throw your sword away.
He said, put it back in his place.
It has a place.
But violence
and aggression
in defense of Christ is never appropriate.
He can take care of himself.
He says, you think I
couldn't ask
my father for 12 legions of angels?
If a legion is 6000, 12
legions is how much?
72,000 angels.
Now you go back to the Old Testament.
There's an account in the Old Testament
where one angel
killed 185,000 soldiers in one night.
So 72,000 times, 185,000 is over
13 billion.
That's the army
Jesus has at his beck and call.
I think he's okay.
And you're going to be so ignorant.
You come at me with a club.
You do not understand who I am.
And I love the fact
that Jesus healed Malchus ear. Why?
Because Peter, at striking
the high priest, was high Priest's
servant was guilty of a capital crime.
He deserved death for his sin.
And Jesus said, let me heal that
so you don't have to die for your sin.
Why did Peter strike Malchus?
Well, one I think Peter thought Jesus was
a national national, a national Savior.
He attached his politics to his Savior,
so he stormed the Capitol.
It just.
And he also had just promised
he would die for Jesus.
So now was the time to prove it.
And at this point you said,
I don't need you to die from.
I need you to live for me.
You'll die for me later.
Verse 54.
But how then should the scriptures
be fulfilled, that it must be so?
At that hour Jesus said to the crowds,
have you come against out
as against a robber
with swords and clubs, and capture me?
After day I sat in the temple teaching you
didn't sees me.
But all this is taking place
with the scriptures of the prophets
might be fulfilled.
He said, I'm in control of all of this.
I'm orchestrating all this.
I am doing this so that the Word of God
continues to be fulfilled.
This is at my direction, not yours.
I have this literally in my life down.
I have the Lord to pick
it up and now is the time.
And then the most telling verse
in this section,
the second part of verse 56,
then all the disciples left him
and fled.
They ran away.
Cowards,
very sincere and very weak.
And they remained cowards
even after they saw
the resurrected Lord.
They remain cowards.
This led to his crucifixion,
which led to his resurrection.
They saw him. They ate with him.
They talked with him.
They watched with them,
and they remained cowards.
Even after believing
in the resurrected Jesus.
And though they started as cowards,
they ended up as martyrs,
bold and courageous. How? What happened?
What changed them?
It wasn't the realization
of the resurrection.
They knew that before
and they still stated cowards.
What changed
50 days later
that what we call Pentecost.
Jesus said in acts one eight,
stay until the Holy Spirit comes upon
you and power.
Luke says it this way until you are closed
with the power of the spirit,
and when you're clothed with the power
spirit, you will receive power,
and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.
What changed was the Holy Spirit.
They started as cowards.
But the story doesn't end is cowards.
They tried to follow God
and be obedient to God in their own power,
not relying on the power
of the Holy Spirit to come upon them,
to enable them to live a holy life
and a righteous life and obedient life,
and a courageous life and a bold life.
Everything done in their own
power was a failure.
They ran away as cowards, but once closed
with the power of those spirit,
everything changed before
the Holy Spirit came upon them in power.
They didn't understand Scripture.
They didn't understand God's Word.
They misinterpreted it.
They didn't understand God's plan.
They ran away from little junior
high girls that question them.
And once the Holy Spirit came
upon them in power, immediately brilliant!
Understood
God's Word in the intricacies of it all.
Incredible teachers and preachers
leading multitudes to Christ,
faithful in their witness, martyrs
willingly.
Everything changed.
Had nothing to do with the Bible study,
had nothing to do with more service,
had nothing to do with another program,
and everything to do with the Holy Spirit
come upon.
Now, here's the thing.
You and I
can feel very sincere in this place
and walk out cowards,
because we try to muster up
that I will be faithful
and I'm going to be good.
And even if I have to God,
I will never relying on the Holy Spirit's
power to come upon us.
When I accept Jesus as my Savior
and I pledge my allegiance
to Him and Him alone,
he enters my life through the Holy Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit is in me.
But there's a there's another thing
that has to happen for me,
to the holy life and a righteous life
and a bold life and understanding life,
and the Holy Spirit has to come upon me.
He's in me for salvation.
He's upon me for power.
And as Lucas said,
when you're clothed
with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Not talking about salvation,
the Holy Spirit is in you
by profession of faith, but upon you in
power.
There's a lot of talk about Jesus.
Come be my personal Savior.
I want us to be careful about that
because he's not our personal chef.
So so that is that's right in a sense.
But what's more right
is not just that he's my personal savior,
but I am his personal disciple.
Do you feel the difference?
And father, as your personal disciple,
empower me with the power of your spirit
to live a holy life.
Empower the power of your spirit
to live a righteous life.
Empower the power of your Holy Spirit
to help me deny myself and power
with the power of Your Holy Spirit
to put to death sin in my life.
Empower me with the power of your spirit
to be a bold witness.
Empower the power of your spirit
to understand your word.
In myself, I fail.
You are in me now.
Come upon me
empowering by the power of your spirit
to live a life of love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Because in my own power I can't.
It changes everything.
And that same Holy Spirit is available
to us
worship and powers or prepares our hearts.
Prayer strengthens
our life and the Holy Spirit
empowers us to be obedient.
The band come up here.
We're going to finish this morning
as they started
in worship through song,
and I'm going to invite you into prayer
as they practiced
so that the Holy Spirit will come upon.
I want you to pray with me.
Please, my dear friends,
would you take the moment of this
moment and agree with God
that sin,
unconfessed and unrepentant, has separated
you from God?
That Jesus gave his life
to be the sin penalty?
He absorbed the full cup of the wrath
of God in himself, so we wouldn't have to.
Would you agree with that?
Would you in this moment say,
God, I admit my sin
and I accept Jesus as the payment for it,
and I pledge my allegiance
to you and you alone.
Thank you for for giving me.
Now, Tom, say,
would you empower me with the power?
Would you clothe me
with the power of your spirit?
You are in me now.
Come upon me, clothe me in the power
of your spirit to live a holy life,
to live an obedient life,
to live a life of righteousness.
Would you clothe me in the power of your
spirit to walk away and announce sin?
Would you clothe me
in the power of your spirit
to understand
your word deeply and intricately?
Would you
clothe me with the power of your spirit
to live a godly life and a holy life?
Would you clothe me
in the power of your spirit?
Father, your word tells us
that if you wouldn't
spare your own son for us,
why would you spare from us your spirit,
that you know
how to give good and perfect gift?
So why would you not give us the spirit
for those who ask?
And there are some in this place
who are asking you,
God, would you've clothed me
in the power of your spirit?
I cannot do this.
If you don't move, I'm done.
If you don't come upon me,
I am a coward and I'm worthless
in my pursuit of you.
Oh, God,
would you clothe me
in the power of your spirit?
That the power of your spirit would be
would
characterize my life?
Would drive my faith?
In your name I pray. Amen.
Listen,
if the power of the Holy Spirit
doesn't characterize your life
and is not the experience of your faith,
implore
God by the name of His Son
that he would clothe
you with the power of His Holy Spirit.
And so we're going to finish today.
Don't worry about the time, please.
We're going to worship through song.
There will be people who will pray
a house of prayer
and implore God,
by the name of the son, to clothe
you with the power of your spirit,
to live a holy life.
Stand up. Let's sing.