Pastor Marshall Ochs | June 9, 2024
In this message, Pastor Marshall teaches from Luke 22:39-71. This chapter covers the events following the Passover meal, leading to the midnight arrest and trial of Jesus. The tribulations of the evening begin in the garden where Jesus tells His disciples to pray against temptation. The Lord’s instructions invite the disciples to consider the spiritual war in their midst and how to endure through prayer. The trials of that evening mirror many trials for disciples today, but the exhortation from Luke is the same — pray!
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In this passage Luke tells us what happened immediately following the Passover celebration. There are important lessons from this passage that are imperative for us to hear, understand and put into practice.
Read Luke 22:39-46. As was customary, prayer followed the Passover meal. Jesus and the disciples walked to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus instructs them to pray so they will not fall into temptation. Why? He knows that the battle is on, and they are entering into spiritual warfare. They need to pray in order to be prepared and guarded against the enemy and his schemes. What does Jesus do when He is facing spiritual warfare? He prays!
Are you aware that we are standing on a spiritual battlefield daily? How do you prepare yourself for battle?
Are you in the Word daily and actively pursuing a relationship with God through prayer? If not, why?
Jesus prays for this cup to pass from Him. However, we see Him follow that with, “Yet not my will, but Yours be done.” Jesus is then visited by an angel to comfort Him.
When we face trials, tribulations or suffering, we want God to remove it. We don’t enjoy the suffering, but God will see us through it and provide what we need.
The question is, do we trust Him? Are we preparing for the battles we face with the weapon of prayer? We should not face our day without starting it in prayer! (Please refer to Marshall’s notes today for important scripture references on spiritual warfare.)
Read Luke 22:47-53. As Jesus is speaking to the disciples on how important prayer is, a crowd approaches. Judas and this angry mob are being controlled by the enemy. They are under demonic influence. Scripture tells us that Satan entered Judas and manipulated the Pharisees into participating in his plans. Just like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, the enemy will try to use us to accomplish his will. The enemy will use whatever means necessary to manipulate and tempt us into doing and/or saying the wrong thing. He will use fear and dread to influence us to listen to the wrong voices. Like the disciples, we can miss the fact that we are not fighting a physical battle, but rather a spiritual one against the powers of darkness.
As you reflect on the challenges you’re facing, are you allowing the enemy to tempt you to live in fear, anger, sorrow, grief, etc.? The only way to avoid this and fight is to PRAY! We must fight our battles on our knees!!
Read Luke 22:54-71. We see Jesus arrested and beaten. Peter denies being a follower of Jesus. In His hour of need, his closest friends abandoned Him.
Have you been abandoned by someone who was close to you? The Lord sees and understands your pain. The only One who is faithful and true is Christ! He is with you always. Give your sorrow to Him and allow Him to heal your heart.
Have you been tempted to deny Christ for fear of persecution or rejection? Have you been tempted to follow the crowd and not stand for what you know is holy? Repent and ask the Lord to help you stand strong in the face of persecution – to be alert to the enemy’s ploy to use you to accomplish his plans. PRAY!
We will face trials and temptations, but like Jesus, we must face them in prayer. As Marshall encouraged us today – Prayer is essential, and we should take it seriously! May we be doers of the Word and not hearers only!