What do you do when you cannot fix it or explain it?
1. You can ignore it
2. You can make it worse
3. You can help
- Positive & negative case study The Lord’s Gethsemane Prayer Matthew 26
- Gethsemane – near Mount of Olives near olive garden means “oil press”
- Jesus final hours before the cross
- Up all night in anxiety praying
1. What do they need from me?
Matthew 26:36 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.”
- Some days are sacred days
- Serving is not doing what I think they need, but what they think they need
2. Am I welcome to be physically present?
Matthew 26:37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
- Did they open the door, or did I kick it down?
- Like a first responder, you need to get to the scene
3. What are they feeling?
Matthew 26:37 he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
- People can go through the same thing and feel different things
4. Am I listening?
Matthew 26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
- Listening is loving
5. Am I staying focused?
Matthew 26:40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
- Like a sport, you gotta play the whole game
6. How can I watch and pray?
Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray
- Like a military scout you need to be on the lookout and radio your commander
7. How can I walk with them into their suffering?
Matthew 26:45 “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
- Jesus is walking at His betrayer & the painful will of God
- The people who love you walk in when everyone else is walking out
Group Questions
- Who needs you to be present and prayerful for them right now? How?
- How can we pray for you?