02/24/2008

Gary hits three home runs

After a short hiatus, our main speaker Gary Stembal returned and boy was he in fine preachin` fettle!! We were blessed to receive three messages for the price of one.

If ya can`t lift an ant-ya can`t lift an elephant

Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was face to face with his own demise and it was a serious matter. Peter, John and James were with him and he needed their support. He asked them to just stay awake for the hour that Christ needed to talk to His Father. That`s it-just stay awake. The three disciples fell asleep! Three times!!
How often do we fail in the most simple of Christian tasks? To read a verse daily, to pray sincerely, to help a neighbor? Yet, after not doing these easy things we expect to face down the most dire of circumstances with Christian fortitude. What fortitude? We have not armed ourselves with Christ`s protections and yet the spears of satan won`t penetrate? Let us not kid ourselves-small steps before we try and run a marathon!

Jesus reads His own map

In this message from Matthew, Jesus is giving us guidance to solve our serious problems. He does this by actually doing it himself-for His own serious problem.
First he addressed the sorrows, temptations and difficulties of his situation head on. He was facing his own death . This was real and think about it- you have the power to stop it!! Now there is a temptation!! He was a man and this was emotional and not easy.
Next He pleaded his case to God verse 39 "let this cup pass away from me".
Then He turned it over to God also in verse 39 and in 42 "thy will be done"
This is a map showing us how to prevail over sorrows and temptations and luke warmness
1.Face it
2.supplicate
3.accept God`s answer

Jesus hurt

Jesus was a man. He had the same emotions as you and I. When He was face to face with his own death He felt remorse just as we would. This Man was seeing a terrible end and still in his 30`s-a young Man in the prime of life; a lifetime to live .Yet he was asked to give it up. And for who?- a bunch of sinners, most of whom would never even acknowledge his existance?!! For a bunch of incompetents who wouldn`t have the right to crawl at his feet much less receive eternal glory? For mankind? For you and I?
He faced this death, felt the pain and agony and depression, looked satan in the eye and said "Get up, let us be going! see, My betrayer is at hand!"

And for us-He died.

Amen