Praying to Be Like Jesus

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Transcript:

Good evening. It’s good to see you all here tonight. We’re going to be in Mark chapter 14 tonight with possibly another little detour to Romans chapter 8 like we did this morning.

But tonight we’re going to finish up this series that I’ve been doing on reasons for prayer with what I shared with you this morning was what I thought was the most important reason for prayer, which is to be like Jesus. You know, all of the other stuff, I’m not saying to you that it’s not important. We talked about praying to obey God because He commands it.

We talked about praying to make our requests known. We talked about praying to confess our sins. All of that is important.

But when we get right down to it, everything that we do is about, or should do, is about becoming more and more like Christ. You see, that’s God’s will for us. Tonight, if you’re a believer, that is God’s will for you. I may not be able to tell you, okay, this is God’s will for you when it comes to finances.

This is what God wants you to do tomorrow. This is what God wants you to do over the next year. I may not be able to tell you specifically what God’s will is for you, but there are certain things that the Bible says this is God’s will for you as a believer.

One of those things is the Bible says this is the will of God for you, even your sanctification. And sanctification, as I’ve told you before, is where God at the point of our conversion sets us apart and says they are mine. And we are sanctified, we’re set apart unto God at the point of our conversion.

But sanctification is also a process where God has declared us to be his and God has declared us to be holy and set apart to him and then makes us that way. Does that make sense? He says you are and then he teaches us how to act like it.

This sanctification is an ongoing process where God has said, it is my will for believers from the time that you come to Christ until the time I take you home, I want you to grow to be more and more like Christ. He spells it out for us in Romans chapter 8. That’s what we’ll start looking at tonight. We are familiar, a lot of us are familiar with the passage of Scripture where it talks about all things working together for good to them that love God who are called according to His purpose.

A lot of times we’re not as familiar with the verses that come right after that. In verse 29 it says, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

And I’ve mentioned to you about this passage before. There are some who will tell us that that passage is talking about God chose and predestinated some to salvation. I don’t think they’re horrible, awful people.

We may have friends and loved ones who teach that way. I just don’t happen to agree with it. I don’t hate them, don’t despise them.

I just don’t agree with it. As I read this, my understanding of it is he’s not necessarily talking about he predestinated so-and-so and some are going to be saved and I’m decreeing that others are not going to be saved. I don’t believe he’s talking about in predestination the who.

He’s talking about predestination to the what. What is salvation going to look like? This was God’s plan all along.

God’s plan from before the foundation of the world, God created us realizing that we were going to fall into sin. Now that’s hard for me to understand, you know, why God would know how much trouble we’re going to be and yet choose to create us anyway. And yet fortunately God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts because I don’t understand why he would do that.

But God created us knowing that we were going to fall into sin and knowing that he was going to have to redeem us and that the only way to do that was for Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. You see, our sin in the garden did not take God by surprise. Let me say that to you again.

Our sin did not take God by surprise. He was not caught off guard and said, well, now I’ve got to come up with plan B. The Bible talks about the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.

God’s plan A was that he would send his son to die for us and then that it wouldn’t stop there. but that we would continue to grow. That was God’s plan from before the foundation of the world also.

That those whom he foreknew would trust in Christ would also grow in him. That was the plan of salvation all along, was that we would be saved by Christ’s sacrifice and we would continue to grow in him. I believe that’s what the Bible talks about when it talks about predestination, was God’s plan all along.

And again, you can disagree with me if you want on that, that’s fine. But I don’t believe it’s talking about who would be saved. I think it’s talking about how salvation would work and what the result of it would be.

But God’s plan for us all along was that we would grow. It says here to be conformed to the image of his son. Everything we do, ladies and gentlemen, should move us one step closer to being more like Jesus.

I’m not saying that we become Jesus in the end. No, I’m not saying that at all. But everything we do should, it doesn’t always, but it should grow us to be one step closer to being more like Jesus.

Every day we should be more like Jesus than we were yesterday and less like him than we’re going to be tomorrow. And hopefully, hopefully as we look over the course of our lives, hopefully as we look over the course of our lives, we can say, you know what, I’m still not perfect and I know that and I hate that. Honestly, I hate that about me.

I know what a sinner I am and I hate that about myself. But I look back and say, you know what, I see who I was 10 years ago and I think I’ve improved some then, or better said, I think God has improved me some since then. See, it’s God’s desire that we be more like Jesus.

And prayer is one of the things that we do to be like Jesus. If we’ll turn back to Mark chapter 14, we see an instance where the disciples got to see Jesus praying, and he was not only praying for himself, which is the main thing he’s doing here, but he’s also setting an example for them because he tells them that they’re supposed to be doing the same thing. And honestly, I think that’s good advice for us.

Anything that comes from Jesus is good advice for us. But I have often preached and have often asked myself, if Jesus didn’t feel like he could go one day without praying to the Father, what makes us think we have a chance of getting through this world without praying to him? What makes us think we’re strong enough?

But we’re going to start in Mark chapter 14, verse 32. And it says, and they came to a place which was called Gethsemane, And he saith to his disciples, sit ye here while I pray. And if you’re a student of the New Testament, you’ll probably recognize that with them being in Gethsemane, this is the night before Jesus’ crucifixion.

This is just shortly before his arrest. And Jesus knew what was going on. He’d already told his disciples that he was going to be carried away, that he was going to be arrested, that he was going to be taken and killed. And so he knows what’s going on, and yet Jesus doesn’t panic.

Jesus doesn’t say, okay, what do I need to do? How do I fix this? He prays.

He tells them, sit here while I pray. You know what? That’s a good example for us.

My first impulse when there’s trouble is to run around frantically, even mentally to run around frantically. Say, how do I fix this? What do I do?

You know what? I need to train myself to just sometimes sit and pray. He says, sit ye here while I pray.

And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tarry ye here and watch.

So he left the bulk of the disciples there in verse 32 and said, sit and pray. Sit ye here while I pray. He goes a little further into the garden and takes Peter and James and John.

And the Bible said he was sore amazed and very heavy. And he told them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. He knew exactly what he was about to do.

And he was God enough to do it. And yet he was human enough to feel the same thing that we would feel in facing our death. Now, less hysterical than we probably would be if we knew we were about to be crucified.

But he’s not a robot here. We forget sometimes that he’s fully God and fully man. And so he’s sorrowful, exceeding sorrowful into death.

And he went forward a little. He left them there. He told them, Terry here, wait here and watch.

And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, verse 36, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And so he prays here in a very intimate way, as we talked about this morning, that Abba is the Aramaic or Hebrew word for daddy. So it’s not something that just anybody would have normally called God.

And yet we’re told that by the spirit of adoption, we call him Abba, Father. Jesus calls out to him with this most intimate of words and says, I still believe, I still understand that all things are possible. Whatever you want to do is possible.

There’s nothing that’s impossible with God. As I’ve said for many years, there’s nothing consistent with God’s nature that’s impossible to Him. There are some things God can’t do.

He can’t sin. He can’t lie. He can’t deceive us.

But anything consistent with God’s nature, He can do. And so Jesus says, all things are possible to Thee. Take this cup away from Me.

Father, I don’t, in the flesh, I don’t want to do this. Now, we shouldn’t take from that that Jesus was unwilling, because the next thing he says is, nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And Jesus says, there’s part of me that doesn’t want to do this.

Not in the sense that he was being rebellious, not in the sense that he was fighting against God’s plan, but in the sense that God, Father, if there’s any other way to accomplish your purposes, don’t make me go through the suffering that I’m about to go through. And yet he says, but if that’s the only way, If this is the way you want to accomplish this, then I’m willing to go through with it. And he cometh, verse 37, and findeth them sleeping.

And saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? You’re asleep?

Peter, you’re asleep. You couldn’t even watch one hour. And I don’t think he’s talking necessarily about just sitting there watching Jesus pray.

My understanding is that he’s talking about joining him in prayer. Because he says in verse 38, Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. This time that Jesus was about to go through was going to be roughest on Jesus, to be quite honest. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be difficult on those who loved him.

It didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be difficult on his disciples. Knowing what we know about how this story pans out, Peter was going to deny him three times within the next 12 hours or so. Most of the disciples were going to run and hide for their lives.

And so he’s telling him in verse 38, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. he can’t say Jesus didn’t warn him because he tells him the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak now this this speaks to what was going on inside of Peter and would be going on the other disciples as well that spiritually I mean Peter was ready he says Lord I’ll never deny you when they come to arrest Jesus he pulls out a sword and he’s ready to cut them all up spiritually Peter’s thinking I’m ready to go and yet there’s that pesky human nature that says, I can’t do it. And Peter denies the Lord and Peter flees for his life.

Well, in a way, Jesus understood what they were going to be dealing with because he was going through a similar circumstance. Because, as I mentioned, Jesus is fully God and fully man. And that’s why he’s willing to say, I don’t want to do this, and yet I’m willing to.

He says, the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again, he went away and prayed and spake the same words. He goes to the Lord and prays again and says, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee.

Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. We don’t know if he said the exact words verbatim, but he prayed the same thing.

It says he spake the same words. Now, does that mean an exact quote of the first time? I don’t know.

But he prayed to Jesus or he prayed to the Father and said the same things. And when he returned, he found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy. Neither wist they what to answer him.

So he goes off and prays some more and he comes back. He finds them asleep. Says their eyes were heavy.

You know it’s hard to fault them at this point. Their eyes were heavy. They weren’t just being lazy.

I mean these men were exhausted. And he wakes them again and they don’t know what to answer him. And he comes the third time, verse 41.

And saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Rise up, let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand. And so Jesus says, when he comes back and finds him asleep the third time, he says, basically plenty of time to sleep now.

The prayer time is over, and it’s time for me to go and do what I have to do. But in this, he sets an example for us, because as I said earlier, If Jesus, this was not the only record we have of Jesus praying in the New Testament. He was praying all the time.

And if God the Son, if God in human flesh said, you know what, it is a vital need for me every day to be in that contact with the Father, why is it that we think we are strong enough or spiritual enough or capable enough, whatever the adjective may be, to handle life without being in that contact with the Father? If God the Son needed it, then how much more do we need it? And here he comes to one of the most difficult points of his 30 plus years on earth.

And instead of running around fretting about it, worrying about it, yes, he obviously was worried about it because we know from other gospel accounts that he swept drops of blood. And that is a real physiological condition, I believe, called hematidrosis, where extreme stress, I mentioned this to you when we talked about the resurrection, Extreme stress causes, what is the word, the capillaries. I knew it started with a C.

The capillaries and the sweat glands to burst, and the blood can come out tinged with sweat. I have been under some pretty bad stress. Ms.

Wanda was asking me a minute ago about my major in college. Makes me think to the last semester of college for me when I was writing my thesis and doing some other things. I was under so much stress, my fingernails started to grow funny.

I don’t know if y’all have ever heard of that happening, but you get ridges in your fingernails that grow one way, and it’s because of a vitamin deficiency. If they grow horizontally, if there are indentions in them horizontally, it means you’re under extreme stress. And some of my fingernails started to grow funny.

Now, I’ve been under some pretty significant stress, but I’ve never been under anything serious enough to cause me to sweat blood. And yet, that’s what he did. He’s in this extreme stress and this extreme worry, but he doesn’t get frantic about it.

He doesn’t panic. He goes to the Father and he prays to the Father. What an incredible example to set for us.

Prayer and spending time and giving things up to the Father was not his last resort. After he’s exhausted every other avenue he has in trying to deal with this, No, he leaves out of the communion time with his disciples and goes out to pray. It’s not his last resort, it’s his first choice.

And he sets such an incredible example for us of what we’re supposed to do. And as people, as believers who are supposed to be conformed to his image, who are supposed to grow to be more like him, this is a great example for us to follow. Because in the times when he was tempted, in the times when he was weakest, in the times when he was at his lowest point, he went to the Father in prayer and it strengthened him.

If we’re to be like him, we need to follow his example in this. So I’ve written down here six ways that prayer helps us to be more like Jesus. And we’ll go through them very quickly.

And hopefully we will learn to follow his example. Because if we desire to be like Jesus, and that should be our desire, even though there are days we’re going to feel like we have totally blown it, it should be our desire to be like Jesus. If we desire to be like him, we can’t do it without a strong prayer line.

First of all, prayer draws us closer to the Father. And we see this in verse 36 at the very beginning where he starts out, Abba, Father. As I’ve said already and said this morning, so I won’t belabor the point, there was, as far as I know, there is not a more intimate word that he could have called God the Father than to call him Abba.

And you know what? When we pray, it draws us closer to the Father. We can’t, as I talked about some this morning, with God being our Father, we cannot have a closeness with Him if we don’t know Him.

If you have children that you only talk to once or twice a year, there’s not the closeness there that there should be. Especially, say, if you have a child that you talk to once or twice a year, maybe their choice, and you have another child that you talk to every day, who are you going to be closer to? Just, I mean, not saying you desire it to be that way, but that’s just the way it’s going to work.

If you’re married and you only talk to the person once a week, once a month, that’s not much of a marriage. Folks, the closeness to the Father is not what it’s supposed to be if we don’t spend time regularly in prayer. Jesus was not somebody, Jesus was not, just looking at him from a human perspective, is not somebody who’s unfamiliar with God the Father when he goes to him and cries out, And it was because we see the pattern of prayer throughout his earthly ministry.

Prayer will draw us closer to God. Second of all, prayer strengthens our faith in the Father. He says to God, all things are possible unto thee.

All things are possible unto thee. You know why we sometimes doubt that God can do things? Because we’re not seeing him as closely as we ought to.

And the reason we don’t see him, ladies and gentlemen, the reason we don’t see him as closely has nothing to do with him moving away from us. I think I’ve mentioned to you before the story of the man and woman started dating young and she would sit next to him in the seat of the truck. And as you’ll see people do sometimes, now they have these captain seats where nobody can sit by anybody.

But you’ll see people sometimes and the lady will be sitting in the middle of the truck seat going down the road. Well, as time went on, she moved over the passenger seat and, honey, I just don’t feel like we’re as close as we used to be. And he says, I’m not the one who moved.

You know what? That old kind of kind of corny marquee that I saw in a church, church marquee one time is exactly right. If we feel distant from God, he’s not the one who moved.

He’s been where he’s always been. He’s been where he’s always going to be. And sometimes we wander away from him.

But we come back and we spend time with him in fellowship, in prayer, and get to know him better. Not only through prayer, but through the study of his word that should accompany that. We get to know God better and we see him better for who He is.

And suddenly the problems don’t seem quite so insurmountable when we are reminded on a regular basis of who God is. If our problems look huge, it’s probably because our God looks small. Folks, our God is not small.

He may just be distant. So we need to come back and we need to spend time in prayer with Him. We need to spend time in fellowship with Him because the more we know about Him, the more we spend time with Him, the more we will see the strength that He has and the more confidence we will have that all things are possible to Him.

And so prayer strengthens our faith in the Father. Third of all, prayer brings us in line with the Father’s will. It does.

Prayer brings us in line with the Father’s will. That’s one of the most important things about prayer, I think. We pray and pray and pray and say, God, will you do this for me?

And a lot of times what God is wanting us to get out of our prayer life is, God, will you work on me through this situation that you’re not going to change? God is more interested in changing the situation than changing the situation. Because Jesus says, take this cup away from me.

Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And I can’t tell you the number of times, and you may have experienced this as well in your life. I can’t tell you the number of times I have looked at a situation and thought, well, that’s just not right.

And it wasn’t. And prayed, God, would you change it? God, would you change this situation?

God, would you change that person? God, would you just do something? And all too often, well, not too often because it’s God’s will, but from my standpoint, all too often what happens is God doesn’t change the other person, even though they’re clearly totally wrong.

God doesn’t change the situation or the circumstances. What God does as I pray about it is God begins to soften and shape and mold my heart. And suddenly I’m looking at the same situation but from a different perspective.

And where I started out praying, God, why don’t you just get them? Sick them. What happens is God reworks my heart to where I look at that person differently, maybe more from his perspective.

And there’s love and there’s grace there that wasn’t there before. I’m not perfect at that. I still have times that I pray, God, why don’t you just get them?

I don’t know if you remember the old show, Maude, where she would say, God will get you for that. Sometimes I wish God would just get them for that. And then as I pray that, I’m reminded, I don’t want God to give me what I deserve.

I say that all the time, don’t I? We don’t want justice from God. We want grace.

And so it’s hard sometimes to pray it for other people. But sometimes we pray, God, why don’t you fix this situation? Not just other people.

God, why don’t you fix this situation? Take this cup away from me. And what God says is, no, I want you to go through this situation to accomplish my will.

And sometimes that will, sometimes what God wants us to accomplish is just to make us more pliable and more flexible. So that we come around to his way of thinking. And we come around to wanting what his will is.

And so more often than not, prayer brings us in line with the Father’s will. And that sounds like such a terrible thing until you get to the other side and realize once you’re in line with God’s will, okay, this was better anyway. Sometimes you start out praying and think, I don’t want to get in line with God’s will.

I want this fixed. And then when you get in line with God’s will, you realize this is better anyway. This is better for everybody concerned anyway.

So prayer draws us closer to the Father. Prayer strengthens our faith in the Father. Third of all, prayer brings us in line with the Father’s will.

And fourth of all, prayer keeps us diligent to do the Father’s will. He told them in verse 38, watch ye and pray. Watch and pray because he warned them that there were going to be temptations and other things that arose.

And so he said you need to watch and pray because it’s going to strengthen you. It’s going to keep you on guard. When he tells them to watch, there’s an alertness.

God’s telling us, don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep when you’re supposed to be about the Father’s business. And we have a tendency to get comfortable and fall asleep, don’t we?

When we’re supposed to be diligent about the things that God has called us to do. And if we’re constant in prayer, if we’re regular in prayer, God is going to impress on us through those times of prayer what it is we’re supposed to be doing. He’s going to remind us where we don’t get comfortable and don’t get complacent and don’t fall asleep.

He’s going to keep us diligent because that’s part of lining up with the Father’s will. There have been times where I have been praying to God about something completely different, and yet I keep, the best word I can think of is unction. Now that’s not a word we use outside of church much, but it’s a good word for dealing with God because it’s not quite a feeling, and yet He hasn’t quite told me audibly.

The only word is that God gives us an unction that we’re supposed to do something. I could be praying about something completely different, and God keeps reminding me you’re supposed to do this. Okay, God, I’m praying about my finances.

Why are you talking to me about what I’m supposed to do next week because you’re supposed to do it? God keeps us diligent and aware and awake to what it is that he has us to do if we’ll stay in contact with him. Fifth of all, prayer protects us from the temptation to disobey the Father.

He told them in verse 38, pray lest you enter into temptation. Pray so that you’ll stay out of temptation. You know what?

We get tempted and we hear that voice and it says, oh, that sounds really good. And even though we know it’s wrong, we get a little confused by the temptation, I’m convinced. The temptation sounds good and convincing.

And yet if we’re in constant talking to God, His voice tells us what is right and what’s wrong. His voice reminds us of what we’re supposed to do. And you know what?

When you deal with temptation, One of the good things that prayer does for you, if you go to God in prayer about just everyday decisions, if you go to God in prayer about it, you know what’s great about that among other things? If you’re thinking about giving in to temptation, and you’re thinking, but it’s only just a little, or it’s just this, or it’s just that, try justifying that to God. Try saying, but God, I feel like this is the okay decision to make.

I guarantee you, He’s going to straighten you out. Because you’re going to realize, you’ve got that Holy Spirit, You’re going to realize, here I am, I’m talking to God, I’m lying to God, this is nothing. God is going to remind you in times of temptation.

We’ve got to make sure that communication with God is constant, because that temptation, when it tries to convince us, a lot of times it’s the only voice we’re hearing, unless we’re diligent about talking to God. Because He’s told us that He doesn’t give us any temptation beyond what we can handle, but He always provides a way of escape. And so many times, talking to Him is that way of escape.

I shared with you a few weeks ago, I don’t subscribe to the old adage that God never gives us more than we can handle. A lot of times we get more than we can handle, but he never gives us more than what he can handle. But the Bible does explicitly say when it comes to temptation, he does not suffer us to be tempted beyond what we can handle.

But he always makes a way of escape. Sometimes the circumstances of life may be too much, but God provides a way of escape from temptation. And a lot of times that way of escape is just by talking to him about the decision we are going to make before we make it.

And sixth of all, finally, prayer strengthens us for the Father’s work. Jesus told them the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. Jesus went into that time of prayer saying, I don’t want to do this.

Not that he didn’t want to redeem us, but I don’t want to suffer what I’m about to suffer on the cross. And who would? Honestly, who would look forward to that?

And yet he walked out of there with a renewed strength. Now, I’m not in doubt for a minute. I don’t think for a minute that Jesus was ever going to not go through with it.

But the fact is he went and prayed and came out of there with renewed strength. I mean, he’s telling them in verse 42, rise up, let us go. Let’s get this show on the road.

The soldiers didn’t have to burst in and drag him out by, you know, heel marks all the way. He says, get up and let’s go. He goes out and sort of sounds like he finds them, if you read on in the passage.

He says, I don’t want to do this. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do this, and yet he goes and spends time in prayer with the Father, and suddenly God the Father gives God the Son, God in human flesh, the strength that he needs to fulfill his will. If God the Son felt moments of weakness in his human flesh, what makes us think that we are exempt from that?

And if what strengthened him to do the will of his Father was the time in prayer with his Father, Why would we doubt that it will work for us as well? Because I’m going to tell you, God calls us to do things that are hard. And sometimes it’s the big things.

Like God will say, I want you to go to Zaire. There’s not a Zaire anymore, it’s Congo. Whatever that country is in Africa.

God says, I want you to go clear across the world and I want you to spend the rest of your life telling other people about Jesus. Are you kidding me? I don’t want to do that.

That sounds really hard. And yet God will strengthen you for that work. God also calls us to do things that are hard in the little things.

Get up every day and do the best you can to do everything you do to the glory of God. Whether it’s in a job, whether it’s taking care of your family, whether, you know what, it is hard. It’s hard to be responsible sometimes.

It’s hard to be diligent about the things that God has called us to do, even in everyday life. You know what, that’s why so many people in our society don’t do things. That’s why so many don’t do a job or don’t take care of their families.

It can be hard at times. You think, I just don’t want to do this today. you know what whatever it is God has called us to do he will strengthen us for sometimes we need to spend time in prayer just finding the strength as it says in verse 42 to rise up and let us go whatever God’s calle

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