Podcasts about Gethsemane

Are you having a Lenty Lent? It may feel like your failing or things are going wrong, but maybe you are right where the Lord wants you. Its just a bit of pain from the composting process of our souls.  Lent is not a gloomy interruption of life. It is the Church handing us winter on purpose.   In the garden, winter strips everything down. The bright flowers are gone. The branches look skeletal. You walk outside and think, Nothing is happening here.   But beneath the surface, roots are deepening. The soil is being replenished. Worms are turning what fell and died into nourishment. What looks like stillness is actually preparation.   Lent does the same.   It takes away the noise. It asks us to fast. To sit in silence. To feel our hunger instead of numbing it. To look honestly at what needs pruning in our lives. And at first it feels like a loss. Like grey skies feel to me today. Like not being able to see more than a few feet in front of you.   But Lent is not about deprivation for its own sake. It is about increasing capacity. Uniting ourselves to Christ in his passion. Praying in the garden of Gethsemane. Facing Calvery.    When you prune a plant, you cut away what once looked fruitful. You remove even good branches so that better fruit can grow. That is uncomfortable. It feels like diminishment. But the gardener is thinking ahead to spring.   And the compost pile is not a symbol of failure. It is where the old life breaks down so it can become nourishment for new life. In the spiritual life, our disappointments, our faliures, our surrendered dreams, even our grief, none of it is wasted. Given to God, it becomes rich soil.   Lent is when we allow that decomposition to happen.    We stop clinging. We let attachments die. We allow deeper parts of the heart to awaken. The grey days reveal what the bright days sometimes hide. They show us how much we depend on consolation instead of God Himself.   And then Easter comes.   Not as a surprise, but as fulfillment. The buds that appear are not random. They are the result of hidden work. The joy feels fuller because we remember the winter. The Alleluia sounds louder because we walked through the silence.   Spring does not erase Lent. It proves it was necessary.   I'm trying to die to myself and give God my fiat. This Lent I'm also saying "I am the handmade of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word". I'm surrendering myself to the hands of the Gardener.   And I pray for patience while the compost of my soul continues decomposing, I remind myself  that growth cannot be rushed. His ways are not my ways. But I trust and surrender.    The Gardener knows when to prune. He knows when to wait. He knows when to bring the sun.   And even when you can only see three feet in front of you, the roots are going deeper than you realize.

Ben Schilaty, a former BYU Honor Code administrator, is a social work professor and author who discusses his life as a gay Latter-day Saint. He details his professional background, and his current work with the Gather Conference. Schilaty shares his personal faith journey, explaining how he reconciles his sexual orientation with his commitment to the Church through prayer and personal revelation. He advocates for radical empathy and honoring the individual agency of LGBTQ members, whether they choose to stay in or leave the faith. Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes the importance of sincere listening and building supportive communities where diverse experiences are validated. https://youtu.be/EzjYxEAfsYs Don’t miss our other LDS Faith Journeys: https://gospeltangents.com/tag/lds-faith-journeys/ Ben Schilaty: Navigating Faith and Identity Ben Schilaty is a professor of social work at Utah Valley University and author of A Walk in My Shoes. He shared a deeply personal look at his life as a gay Latter-day Saint. Schilaty, who humorously describes himself as “fame-ish” due to the parasocial relationships readers and listeners have formed with him, offers a unique perspective on the intersection of faith, identity, and belonging. Journey of Three Stages Ben describes his internal journey in three distinct phases. In his 20s, he felt “broken” and believed he needed to be “fixed” to fit the mold of a traditional Latter-day Saint marriage. In his early 30s, the pendulum swung, and he felt that if he couldn’t change, perhaps the Church had to change. Today, he focuses on “living in what is,” a practice of accepting reality as it is to find health and happiness. A pivotal moment in this journey occurred when Ben nearly left the Church after a painful heartbreak. Despite his parents' full support and their promise to honor his agency regardless of his choice, a prayerful encounter with Matthew 26 changed his path. Reflecting on Christ's prayer in Gethsemane, Ben felt a “clear and very annoying prompting” that his “cup” was to live his life within the teachings of the Church—a choice that transformed his religious practice from a burden into something life-giving. BYU Honor Code Providing a rare look into his four years as an Honor Code administrator at BYU, Ben dispels common myths about the office. While many assume the office is preoccupied with “morality” or LGBTQ+ issues, Ben notes that same-sex romantic behavior reports were uncommon, occurring only about ten times a year. Instead, the vast majority of his work involved academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and timecard theft. Building Bridges: The Gather Conference Ben is a co-founder of the Gather conference, a Christ-centered support system for LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints and their allies. He describes it as a “middle space” compared to other organizations like Affirmation or Northstar. Gather serves a diverse group—about 80-90% of whom are active in the Church—including those in same-sex marriages, those choosing celibacy, and parents or leaders seeking to understand their loved ones better. Radical Acceptance and the Power of Story A major theme of the discussion was radical acceptance and honoring the agency of others. Ben emphasizes that: Listening is a Christlike act: Allies should listen to and validate the pain of those who feel they must leave the Church for their mental health. Forgiveness brings peace: Ben shared a powerful story of inviting a former Stake President over for dinner to find personal peace after a disagreement regarding his temple recommend. Prescription for Revelation: He warns against using his story as a “blueprint” for others, noting that God speaks to us as individuals and we each have our own “prescription” for personal revelation. Ben’s final invitation to the audience is simple: instead of just reading his book or listening to his podcast, invite the LGBTQ+ people in your own life to tell you their stories. What do you think of Ben's experience as an active, gay Latter-day Saint? 0:00 Introduction/Background 1:58 Faith and Identity 3:11 Turning Point and Parental Support 6:36 Supporting LGBTQ Members Who Leave 14:01 BYU Honor Code Office16:11 Religious Policy and Universal Standards 20:00 Celestial Kingdom Questions and Future Doctrine 34:28 Elder Clark Gilbert’s Call 39:10 Radical Acceptance and Social Work Philosophy 41:07 Gather Conference and Support Organizations 46:36 Accusations of Complicity 49:48 Social Work Training and Church History 54:22 Listening to Individual Stories Check out LDS Faith Journeys website.

On the night he was betrayed and abandoned, Jesus entered the deepest loneliness imaginable—trusting the Father, fulfilling Scripture, and standing alone so that we would never ultimately have to be.

This Sunday, as we continue in Mark 14:27–42, we explore Jesus and His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. After the Last Supper, where Jesus established the New Covenant meal and predicted His betrayal, they travel to the Mount of Olives. There, Jesus openly states that all His disciples will fall away when He, the Good Shepherd, is struck—fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy—but He quickly promises that after His resurrection, He will go ahead of them to Galilee. Their weakness and failure cannot prevent the coming Kingdom. Still, Peter and the other disciples deny Jesus' words. First Peter, then all the disciples, insist they will never abandon Him, though Jesus knows their weakness better than they do. In the garden, Jesus is deeply distressed, facing the cup of divine wrath for sin that no one else could bear. Meanwhile, the disciples repeatedly fall asleep, unable to watch and pray for even an hour. Jesus returns to them three times, gently revealing their weakness and urging them to watch and pray to avoid temptation. Jesus teaches a vital gospel truth often forgotten: our complete dependence on Christ for salvation is also essential for living the Christian life. We are not strong enough to obey, resist temptation, or grow in holiness on our own. Jesus alone obeyed perfectly through dependent submission to the Father, drinking the cup we deserved, so we can daily rely on Him with cries of “Not my will, but Yours be done.” The growing Christian life is not the one with the greatest resolve or determination; it is the one that is most dependent. His command to watch and pray acknowledges that, although our spirit may be willing, our flesh is weak. I. Jesus Knows Our Weakness Better Than We (27-31) II. Jesus Suffered In Dependent Obedience in Our Place (32-36) III. Jesus Commands Dependence In Our Weakness (37-41)

Part II: Gethsemane The post Part II: Gethsemane appeared first on Table Life Church of the Nazarene.

God sometimes substitutes our specific requests with a far greater, unexpected gift. Scripture shows God saying "no" to both the Apostle Paul and Jesus in Gethsemane. In part three of this interview, Pastor Lutzer reveals God's sufficient grace in unanswered prayers. Could our redemption actually depend on a prayer that went unheeded by the Father? To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/172/29?v=20251111

God sometimes substitutes our specific requests with a far greater, unexpected gift. Scripture shows God saying "no" to both the Apostle Paul and Jesus in Gethsemane. In part three of this interview, Pastor Lutzer reveals God's sufficient grace in unanswered prayers. Could our redemption actually depend on a prayer that went unheeded by the Father? This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.  Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives.  Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.    SUPPORT:  Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/  Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/    SUBSCRIBE:   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia  Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/ 

In a quiet garden under crushing pressure, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. In Mark 14:32–42, Jesus enters Gethsemane—the place of the oil press—where the Second Adam submits fully to the Father's will and accepts the cup of judgment meant for us. This week, Pastor Korey walks through the agony, obedience, and love of Christ, showing that our redemption rests not on human strength, but on the faithful obedience of the Son.

Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux was preacher for this service. Mark 14:32-52: 32 They went to a place named Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 Then he took Peter, James, and John along with him and began to be troubled and distressed. 34 He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.” 35 Going forward a little, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He also said, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 When he returned to the disciples, he found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Were you not strong enough to keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing. 40 When he returned, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. They did not know what they should answer him. 41 He returned the third time and said to them, “Are you going to continue sleeping and resting? It is enough. The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us go. Look, my betrayer is near.” 43 Just then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. A crowd was with him, armed with swords and clubs. They were from the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the elders. 44 Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45 He went right to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 They laid hands on him and arrested him. 47 But one of those who stood nearby drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 48 Jesus responded by saying to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as you would a criminal? 49 Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But this happened so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.” 50 Then the disciples all left him and fled. 51 A certain young man was following him, wearing just a linen cloth over his naked body. They seized him, 52 but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

Order of Service: - Prelude - Hymn 283 - Glory Be To Jesus, Who in Bitter Pains - The Versicles (pp. 120-121) - The Gloria Patri (p. 121) - Mark 14:32-52: 32 They went to a place named Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 Then he took Peter, James, and John along with him and began to be troubled and distressed. 34 He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.” 35 Going forward a little, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He also said, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 When he returned to the disciples, he found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Were you not strong enough to keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing. 40 When he returned, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. They did not know what they should answer him. 41 He returned the third time and said to them, “Are you going to continue sleeping and resting? It is enough. The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us go. Look, my betrayer is near.” 43 Just then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. A crowd was with him, armed with swords and clubs. They were from the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the elders. 44 Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45 He went right to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 They laid hands on him and arrested him. 47 But one of those who stood nearby drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 48 Jesus responded by saying to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as you would a criminal? 49 Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But this happened so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.” 50 Then the disciples all left him and fled. 51 A certain young man was following him, wearing just a linen cloth over his naked body. They seized him, 52 but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked. - Hymn 334 - O Sacred Head, Now Wounded: vv. 1, 7, 9 - The Kyrie (p. 124) - The Lord's Prayer (p. 125) - Hymn 584 - Grant Peace, We Pray, in Mercy, Lord - The Collect (pp. 125-127) - The Benedicamus (p. 127) - The Benediction (p. 127) - Hymn 284 - Go To Dark Gethsemane: vv. 1 - 3 - Postlude Service Participants: Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux (Preacher), Ryan Samek (Organist)

It’s natural to wonder what God’s will is for your life—especially when you’re facing uncertainty, hardship, or a season that feels confusing. We often ask, “What is my purpose?” or “Why am I here?” But one truth remains steady: God’s will is always connected to His glory and our transformation. Romans 12:2 reminds us that we discover God’s will not by following the world’s patterns, but by renewing our minds through Him. That means God’s will isn’t always something we “figure out” like a puzzle—it’s something we grow into as we surrender our hearts, our plans, and our desires to Him. This prayer points us back to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even Jesus, overwhelmed by what lay ahead, prayed for another way—yet He ultimately surrendered with the words that changed history: “Not my will, but Yours be done.” That same posture is what God invites us into. Sometimes God’s will includes paths we didn’t expect: waiting, sacrifice, singleness, illness, loss, or deep stretching. But God never wastes suffering. Even what looks like delay or disappointment can become a platform for His glory and a testimony that strengthens others. Today’s reminder is simple but powerful: God’s will is good—even when it’s hard to understand. And the safest place you can be is in the center of His plans, trusting that He sees the full story from beginning to end. Main Takeaways God’s will is always good, even when it’s difficult or unclear. Renewing your mind through Christ helps you recognize God’s direction. Jesus modeled surrender when He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” God may use hard seasons to glorify Himself and strengthen others through you. Living in God’s will means putting Christ at the center of every decision. Today’s Bible Verse And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. – Romans 12:2 Your Daily Prayer Prayer excerpt for listeners: “Make me more like Christ so that I would long to remain in Your will.” Listen to the full prayer here. To view the prayer in written format, visit the links below. Want More? Relevant Links & Resources LifeAudio.com – Christian podcasts, devotionals, and faith-based encouragement Crosswalk.com – Daily prayers, devotionals, and Bible resources This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.orgTrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments, Trinity has the knowledge and resources to make a difference. https://trinitycredit.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This sermon explores John 18:1-11, focusing on Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Unlike the Synoptic Gospels that emphasize Christ's humanity and anguish, John's account highlights Jesus' divine authority and sovereign control over the events leading to the cross. The sermon reveals how Jesus willingly stepped forward to protect His disciples and fulfill His mission, demonstrating that all believers are eternally secure in Christ because they are protected by His power and provided for through His sacrificial love. The central theme emphasizes that Jesus didn't merely endure the cross—He willingly chose it, drinking the cup of God's wrath so believers wouldn't have to face eternal judgment. Key Points: John's Gospel records events to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that by believing we may have life Jesus is portrayed as the second Adam who succeeds in the garden where the first Adam failed When Jesus declared "I am" (ego eimi), He used God's covenant name, causing the soldiers to fall to the ground—demonstrating His divine power Jesus protected His disciples by stepping forward and commanding the soldiers to let them go, fulfilling His promise that He would lose none of those the Father gave Him Peter's attempt to defend Jesus with a sword was actually disobedience to Christ's command and misunderstood the nature of God's kingdom Jesus willingly drank "the cup" of God's wrath on the cross, taking the judgment that all sinners deserve Three applications: (1) Jesus doesn't leave us when life grows hard—He leads us through; (2) Jesus doesn't leave us when we wander and fall—He forgives and restores; (3) Jesus doesn't leave us in our sin—He atones and makes us new Scripture Reference: Primary: John 18:1-11 Supporting passages: John 13:1-4 (upper room discourse), John 17:12 (high priestly prayer), John 20:31 (purpose statement), Exodus 3 (I AM), Philippians 2:9-11 (every knee will bow), Psalm 23 (the Lord leads), Psalm 75:8 (cup of God's wrath), Isaiah 51:22 (cup taken from our hand), 2 Corinthians 5:21 (the great exchange)

In this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ is joined by Dr. Paul Moser to discuss his book, God on Trial: Testing for the Divine. They explore why traditional philosophical arguments often fail to reveal the true nature of God and why the search for the divine requires a shift from intellectual spectacle to moral participation. Dr. Moser challenges the "spectator" approach to theology, arguing that God is not interested in satisfying human curiosity with miraculous signs or undeniable logic. He contends that God's primary goal is not merely to be believed in, but to be trusted and partnered with, specifically through the "Gethsemane struggle" of aligning human will with divine love. He advocates for a shift from demanding evidence from God to becoming evidence for God through righteous character. The conversation also covers the crucial difference between "gift-giver" theology and true relational intimacy, the role of the "fruit of the Spirit" as the tangible personality traits of God, and why effective prayer is less about asking for favors and more about becoming a "fellow worker" in God's redemptive plan.Make sure to check out Moser's book: God on Trial: Testing for the Divine

Website: Freegospelassembly.comYoutube: Free Gospel Church Assembly of GodMain Texts: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (especially verse 8, three times Paul pleaded means continually, over a period of time)Isaiah 38:4-6 (Hezekiah's experience of pleading prayer while God answers differently.)The main point illustrated in both thorny incidences is that God permits varied situation and that He promises to always answer our prayers, but He reserves the right to answer differently and in His time.God, our heavenly Father, will always respond to His children's cries: Matthew 7:7-12, “Continue to ask, seek, knock, and that He will answer us” is guaranteed but in His time and manner.Paul's “thorn in the flesh”: Satan is permitted to attack Paul, to prevent human conceit and pride. Consider Paul's extraordinary spiritual experiences and revelations (2Corinthians 12:1-7) and the danger of opening him up spiritual pride similar to those labeled by him as “super apostles” (2Corinthians 12:11-12), that were attacking him in Corinth. And while Paul didn't like it and prayed continuously (3 times) for God to lift it, God answered powerfully but differently, note verses 8 & 9.We don't know the nature of Paul's thorn, whether it was physical, spiritual, etc., it was serious enough for Paul to turn to continual pleading, and for Paul, relief came in several parts.Through a powerful prophetic word or oracle from God, whether directly or through another prophet, it is not known, but it was a powerful verse 8.It wasn't just a word or message but also a transfer of Holy Spirit power verse 9… Christ's power rests upon him to mitigate his thorny situation.This experience was so powerful that it ended in acceptance and worship verses 9 & 10.God's answer alleviated Paul in his weakened condition not only psychologically but practically, experientially; so that in the midst of his weakened state he became strong in the Lord.Hezekiah's pleading in Isaiah 38:1-6 was definitely a physical issue; it was an oracle of death delivered by Isaiah. And his pleading was intense and within a shorter amount of time.It started after an emphatic message from God through Isaiah verses 1-2.He turns to the Lord, in spite of Isaiah's word, and pleads for deliverance and healing verses 2-3.God responds in His manner and time: for Hezekiah it seems to be soon after his pleading: did God changed His mind (verses 4-6)? Also appended to God's answer to Hezekiah's answer was His merciful intervention for Jerusalem from their Assyrian oppressors (verse 6).It also ends in worship: see Hezekiah's Psalm of deliverance in Isaiah 38:9-20.In conclusion, Jesus pleaded with His father at Gethsemane and His father answered that while He would have to go to the cross, to atone for the sins of humanity, He will experience healing and victory through His Resurrection, Ascension, and Coronation as “Lord”: For all three, in their weakness, they experienced as an answer to their pleading, the strength of the Lord. They pleaded, He answered in His time and manner.AMEN

What is prayer? And maybe more importantly for preachers—what are we inviting people into when we stand in the pulpit and speak about it? As “Preach” continues its Lent 2026 series, we turn to the three classical pillars that shape the season: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In this first conversation, focused on prayer, Ricardo da Silva, S.J. is joined by Amy Ekeh, Director of Mission Advancement for the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, retreat leader, author and adjunct instructor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University. Amy is the author of several books, including:  Stretch Out Your Hand: Reflections on the Healing Ministry of Jesus Come to Me, All of You: Stations of the Cross in the Voice of Christ  Lent: Season of Transformation Timecodes: 0:00 We can't be afraid to ask for God's help 1:25 Who is Amy Ekeh? 2:50 Prayer is relational 7:57 Prayer is nurtured in community 14:30 Good preaching requires you to know your congregation 16:53 Ask for healing! The people in the Gospels did. 21:38 Jesus' Gethsemane prayer 26:16 Carving out space for silence --- Support this podcast by becoming a subscriber. Visit ⁠americamagazine.org/subscribe⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Status, Power, Influence, Like Refuse Paul Threw It All Out MESSAGE SUMMARY: What are we truly aiming for in life? This powerful message challenges us to examine our ultimate goals and purpose. Drawing from Philippians 3:7-15, we're invited to reflect on the Apostle Paul's radical transformation - from chasing earthly accolades to pursuing an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul's journey reminds us that success without Christ isn't true success at all. The message encourages us to shift our focus from temporary achievements to lasting transformation, emphasizing that our identity should be rooted in our relationship with Jesus, not in our accomplishments or status. As we contemplate our own lives, we're urged to consider: are we striving for Christ-centered righteousness or merely following religious rules? This introspection can lead us to a deeper, more purposeful faith journey.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, everything in me resists following you into the garden of Gethsemane to fall on my face to the ground before you. Grant me the courage to follow you all the way to the cross, whatever that might mean for my life. And then, by your grace, lead me to resurrection life and power. In Jesus' name, amen.   Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 100). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Hatred. Rather, I will abide in the Lord's Love. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Philippians 3:7-15 (main passage); Philippians 3:4-6; Acts 9 (Paul's conversion); Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8-9. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Essentials Part 4 – One God, Not Three”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Praying in the Garden “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” Mark 14:32 Gethsemane is an olive garden, but its name means olive press. That matters. Because on this night, Jesus is being pressed—pressed by sorrow, dread, betrayal, and the weight of what's coming. Mark tells us He is “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” This is not stoic Jesus. This is anguished Jesus. And what does He do when the pressure becomes unbearable? He prays. Jesus does not numb Himself, distract Himself, or power through. He withdraws. He falls to the ground. He calls God Abba—Father. Prayer, for Jesus, is not a performance or a duty. It is refuge. When everything feels like too much, He runs toward His Father, not away. Gethsemane shows us that prayer is not something strong people do; it's where desperate people hide. It's the place we go when words fail, when explanations run dry, when all we can offer is our presence and our pain. And Jesus doesn't pray safely. He prays honestly. “Take this cup from me.” He asks for what He wants. He names His desire without fear, without editing, without pretending. This is stunning. If that prayer were answered, salvation would never come. Yet Jesus still prays it. Why? Because He trusts His Father completely. He knows God will never give Him something that isn't ultimately good—even if it's something He deeply wants in the moment. That means prayer is not just refuge; it's freedom. Freedom to ask. Freedom to risk honesty. Freedom from the fear that God might mishandle our requests. Jesus shows us we don't have to tiptoe around God with cautious, half-formed prayers. We can say what we actually want, while still surrendering to the Father we trust. “Not my will, but yours” is not fear—it's confidence in God's goodness. Then Jesus returns to His friends and finds them asleep. Three times. And He says something revealing: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Prayer, Jesus insists, changes things. Not by giving us control, but by shifting where our strength comes from. The disciples skip prayer and later reach for a sword. The result? Chaos, fear, failure. Human strength cannot produce kingdom change. Prayer can. Because prayer moves us from self-reliance to God-dependence. It is the place where weak people receive power they do not possess on their own. Gethsemane invites us into a different vision of prayer. Not a burden, but a refuge. Not a risk, but a freedom. Not a formality, but a means of real change. So go to your place. Say what you're actually feeling. Ask for what you actually want. And trust the Father who meets you there.

In John 17 Jesus's final act before He is betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane is to publicly pray. This is a deeply heartfelt prayer that Jesus offers the Father on behalf of you and me! He prays that we would be unified, kept from evil, and filled with His love and life! A truly remarkable prayer that we all can benefit greatly from!

In Luke 22:39-53, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane and is betrayed by Judas. Pastor Christopher Feigles

In this message from Genesis 44, Pastor Lucas Miles walks through Joseph's final test of his brothers to reveal a powerful picture of substitution, judgment, and redemption.When Joseph places the silver cup in Benjamin's sack, it exposes more than guilt — it reveals whether the brothers have truly changed. Judah steps forward and offers himself in Benjamin's place, foreshadowing the greater Substitute who would come.The silver cup becomes a symbol of something deeper: the cup of God's wrath. Just as Benjamin was found guilty, humanity stands guilty before a holy God — not because we are “mostly good,” but because sin runs deeper than behavior. We deserve judgment.Pastor Lucas then draws the connection to Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed over a different cup — the cup of wrath meant for us. Unlike Benjamin, we were not innocent. Yet Christ willingly drank the judgment we deserved.What was once a cup of condemnation has become a cup of blessing.Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus transformed wrath into mercy and punishment into redemption. Communion now stands as a declaration: the cup we deserved was poured out on Him.This message is a call to respond — not with casual gratitude, but with full surrender. When we understand the weight of what Christ absorbed, devotion is no longer optional; it is the natural overflow of grace.Key Themes:The Test That Reveals the HeartSubstitution and SacrificeThe Reality of Sin and JudgmentJesus in GethsemaneWrath Turned to BlessingCommunion as DeclarationGrace That Demands a ResponseSurrender Over Self-PreservationLiving Grateful, Not CasualTimestamps: 0:20 — Introduction & series context 7:20 — Genesis 44: the silver cup discovered 13:20 — Joseph tests his brothers' hearts 21:20 — Judah steps forward as substitute 26:20 — The cup as a symbol of God's wrath 32:20 — Jesus in Gethsemane: drinking the cup 39:20 — Wrath transformed into the cup of blessing 44:20 — Altar call, communion, and response

In this message from Genesis 44, Pastor Lucas Miles walks through Joseph's final test of his brothers to reveal a powerful picture of substitution, judgment, and redemption.When Joseph places the silver cup in Benjamin's sack, it exposes more than guilt — it reveals whether the brothers have truly changed. Judah steps forward and offers himself in Benjamin's place, foreshadowing the greater Substitute who would come.The silver cup becomes a symbol of something deeper: the cup of God's wrath. Just as Benjamin was found guilty, humanity stands guilty before a holy God — not because we are “mostly good,” but because sin runs deeper than behavior. We deserve judgment.Pastor Lucas then draws the connection to Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed over a different cup — the cup of wrath meant for us. Unlike Benjamin, we were not innocent. Yet Christ willingly drank the judgment we deserved.What was once a cup of condemnation has become a cup of blessing.Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus transformed wrath into mercy and punishment into redemption. Communion now stands as a declaration: the cup we deserved was poured out on Him.This message is a call to respond — not with casual gratitude, but with full surrender. When we understand the weight of what Christ absorbed, devotion is no longer optional; it is the natural overflow of grace.Key Themes:The Test That Reveals the HeartSubstitution and SacrificeThe Reality of Sin and JudgmentJesus in GethsemaneWrath Turned to BlessingCommunion as DeclarationGrace That Demands a ResponseSurrender Over Self-PreservationLiving Grateful, Not CasualTimestamps: 0:20 — Introduction & series context 7:20 — Genesis 44: the silver cup discovered 13:20 — Joseph tests his brothers' hearts 21:20 — Judah steps forward as substitute 26:20 — The cup as a symbol of God's wrath 32:20 — Jesus in Gethsemane: drinking the cup 39:20 — Wrath transformed into the cup of blessing 44:20 — Altar call, communion, and response

"Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." - Matthew 6:10Sometimes our desired will doesn't align with the Father's will. Life doesn't go the way we planned - careers stall, relationships struggle, dreams feel delayed. In those Gethsemane moments, we can learn from Jesus who prayed honestly about His desires but ultimately surrendered to the Father's will.The Father answers our prayers in three ways: yes, no, or not yet. Each answer flows from His infinite wisdom and love. Just as the Father's "no" to Jesus became a "yes" for our salvation, His responses to our prayers are always working for our good.

Gethsemane: Swords or Surrender? // Lent 2026: The Way of the Cross // Luke 22:37-55 // 02.22.26 // Doug Glynn

A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent Ephesians 2:1-10 by The Rev'd Dr. Matthew Colvin             Week after week, I see Pastor Bill preaching the Bible to you on Sundays, and I want to commend him to you. I'm not sure you are aware how rare it is to have a pastor who does his own translation work in the Hebrew and Greek, and who attempts, with diligence and great effort, to read the text of the Bible anew, divide it up properly, and serve it to you. What matters to Pastor Bill in his preaching to you is what the Bible actually says — the actual point of the gospels' stories, or the actual meaning of the prophecies of the prophets, or the actual meaning of Paul's arguments in his letters — not what famous theologians have used the Bible to say, or what scholastic medieval philosophy says it can and cannot mean, or the way modern self-help gurus can use Bible verses out of context to tell a very different story. If you attend to the words delivered from this pulpit, you are being trained to understand the Bible on its own terms, rather than watching as a slick speaker uses the Bible to express his own ideas. The story needs to be your story; you are to think of yourself as a child of Abraham, as a sharer in Israel's Messiah, as someone in covenant with Israel's God. Since it is the first Sunday in Lent, we are confronted with the very first episode of Jesus' public ministry after his baptism by John the Baptist. This story has much to teach us about Jesus' work as the Messiah, the nature of his sufferings, and ultimately, the way we ought to think about God Himself. I want to start by thinking about what it means when the Messiah goes into the desert. In Acts 21, when Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, the Roman centurion is surprised that he knows Greek: “Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?" -Acts 21:38 (I joke to my Greek students that knowing Greek is handy if you are ever suspected of being a terrorist.) In Acts 5, Gamaliel mentioned Judas of Galilee and Theudas, false messiahs who also started their rebellions against Rome by going out into the wilderness. Why do so many messiahs begin this way? Because they are attempting recapitulate of Israel's story. And the true Messiah also relives the story of Israel, embodying it in the events that happen to him: he has already gone down to Egypt to escape a tyrannical attempt to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem, much as Pharaoh tried to kill all the male Hebrew babies; he has already been baptized in the Jordan, as Paul says Israel was “baptized in the cloud and in the sea” of the Exodus; and now he goes into the Wilderness to be tempted for 40 days, as Israel was tempted for 40 years. Covenant history rhymes, as the saying goes. So that is why Jesus is in the desert. There remains explain why he is being tested, and how he resists that temptation, and what these things tell us about the Messiah and about God. We must recognize that Jesus resisted Satan's temptation as true man, as a matter of his messianic office. Jesus' self-understanding as the Messiah was in terms of the latter chapters of Isaiah, i.e. the suffering servant. This understanding of his calling is why he girded himself with a towel and washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper; it is why he set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem; it is why he undertakes to drink the cup of suffering, and sheds sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground during his agonized prayer in Gethsemane. Being this kind of Messiah involved contradicting the expectations that other men had about what the Messiah would be like. When Jesus is on trial, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, for instance, asks him — in a question whose statement-like word order indicates incredulity — “You are the king of the Jews?” (that is the word order, sarcastic or incredulous), and then puts over his head a sign reading “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews,” in three languages, so that everyone could get the joke. Pilate mocks Jewish pretensions to even have a king. That is why he refused to change the sign to say only “He claimed to be the king of the Jews.”  It is also why he also brings out Barabbas and asks the Jews, “Whom do you want me to give to you? Barabbas, or the king of the Jews?” Pilate is operating with the standard pagan understanding of kingship: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28) Pontius Pilate and the Romans were expecting someone taller, perhaps. Of course, Jesus could have met those expectations, as he told the soldiers who arrested him in Gethsemane: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) It isn't that he couldn't just blow the Romans away with fire from heaven. But that is not his agenda. That is not what the Messiah has come to do. He has come “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus also has to correct the expectation of the Jews about what the Messiah is to be like — even the expectation of his own disciples! It is this self-understanding that makes Jesus tell his disciples in Mt 16:22-23 that “he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Peter's suggestion that Jesus could be the Mesiah without suffering and dying is so inimical to Jesus' self-understanding and his mission that he calls Peter “Satan.” And rightly so, because what Peter is suggesting is pretty much of the same spirit as what Satan himself suggests in our gospel lesson this morning. So that is the background: Jesus as the true Israelite, the Messiah, is in the desert, not to lead a rebellion or a gang of terrorists, but to be tested as Israel was tested. Against all this background, we are ready to hear the words, both of Satan tempting, and of Jesus answering, and hear them with richer and fuller meaning — meaning not from Greek philosophy or self-help gurus or even systematic theologians, but rather, from the story of Israel. With his first temptation, Satan seeks to exploit Jesus' hunger: “The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written,  "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:3-4) Any of you who have ever been hangry know exactly why Satan is doing this. Jesus, no less than we, lived his earthly incarnate life in a body, and that body was subject to weakness. Jesus is not like Superman, so that bullets or nails would bounce off his skin. He was capable of suffering, and he did suffer. Satan is suggesting that Jesus should exploit his Messianic status — for that is what is meant by “If you are the Son of God” — and use it to avoid this suffering. Take your authority over all creation and use it to transform stones into bread. This is not a ridiculous suggestion. It is similar to Jesus' first miracle in John's gospel, where he turned water into wine for the wedding at Cana. But the aim of the action here would be quite different. Satan's meaning is basically the same as Peter's suggestion: “Suffer from hunger? Why put up with that? This shall never happen to you!” Jesus' answer is a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3. (In fact, all three of Jesus' answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy. (Dt. 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13). That is, they are taken from Moses' instructions to Israel about how to live with the Lord. Jesus is the one who follows Deuteronomy's description of the faithful Israelite perfectly.) As so often, however, Jesus' quotations of the Old Testament are metaleptic —a fancy Greek word that means “takes along with it.” The idea here is that if I say, “We stand on guard for thee,” it would be a mistake for someone to try to understand that utterance merely by using a dictionary to look up “stand” and “guard” and so forth. The meaning of that phrase is rather to be found in the larger context of the Canadian national anthem as a whole, because that is how everyone who hears it will immediately start thinking in their minds: all the other verses will come flooding into your minds; you will perhaps recall occasions when you sang it: in school, or at sporting events; or watching a Olympic medal ceremony. Just so, when Jesus quotes the Old Testament, every Israelite hearer will not just think of the words he quotes; he will think also of the surrounding context, the story in which those words first occurred. So when we look at Deuteronomy 8:3, we should also think about the immediately preceding verse: "The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” (Deuteronomy 8:1-2) And then it goes on to say, in the very next verse, “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) This is what Jesus has in mind: he has been in the wilderness for forty days, being humbled, being tested. He answers Satan from the very passage of Deuteronomy that has to do with his situation: it is about testing in the wilderness. He has been thinking about this verse for a while now. The tempter's second try is with a more showy possibility: Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,  "'He will command his angels concerning you,'  and  "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" -Matthew 4:6 This would be an impressive display! Who could fail to follow a Messiah who had made such a proof of divine power? Jesus had answered the first temptation by quoting Scripture. But the devil can quote Scripture for his purposes, so Satan appeals to lines from Psalm 91:11-12. And again, he knows what he is doing: at a time when Jesus feels alone, when he is in the desert, Satan tempts him with lines from that most comforting song: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” It is full of promises of God's protection and deliverance: in battle, from wild animals, from dangerous diseases. And yet it is singularly inappropriate for Jesus' messianic vocation: He has come to suffer and die. To avail himself of divine protection against these sufferings would be to deny his messiahship. So Jesus replies with words from Deuteronomy again. "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" -Matthew 4:7 This is from Deuteronomy 6, that chapter which contains the Shema, the single verse of the Torah that could be called the creed of Israel: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” It is the core chapter of the Torah about Israel's relationship with God. He has rescued her from Egypt and taken her to Himself to be His bride; at Mount Sinai, he has married her. But Israel was not faithful. She tested the Lord like a wife acting up to trying to make her husband angry. When there was no water to drink, Exodus 17 says, “Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" (Exodus 17:2) The verb used here, and also by Jesus in Matthew 4:7, is πειράζω. Note well: Who was doing the testing in the wilderness for 40 years? Exodus and Deuteronomy say it clearly: Israel was testing YHWH. And thus, we may perceive some clever irony in Jesus' answer to Satan here. For Satan is called “the tempter,” and in Greek, that is nothing other than a participle form of this same verb πειράζω, literally, “the testing one.” So on the one hand, Jesus' quotation of Deuteronomy 6:16 could mean, “You are asking me to test God by throwing myself down from the Temple. I am not going to do it, because Moses warned Israel not to test God.” But it could also mean, “You are testing God, Satan.” Satan doesn't take the hint. He keeps on testing Jesus. There will be more attempts later, but the last temptation that Satan tries on Jesus in the wilderness is narrated like this: Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." -Matthew 4:8-9 Why does Satan take him to a very high mountain? In the Bible, mountaintop scenes are real estate transactions. If I sell you this pen, it's simple enough: you put money in my hand, and I put the pen in yours, and you carry it away with you. But houses and land don't fit in your pocket. So we have other procedures. In our day, we get banks and notaries involved and sign a lot of documents. But in the ancient world, you took possession by inspecting the property after the transfer.  This is done in the case of Abram in Genesis 13:17: “Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” The same thing happens when Moses is about to die; in one sense, Moses doesn't get the promised land, because he dies before he can enter into it; but in another sense, God actually gives him the land, because he takes him up on a mountain and shows it to him, and this is the formal transfer of the land: “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession..” (Deuteronomy 32:49) Satan is attempting to use the same convention in Matthew 4:8. He is trying to get Jesus to make a deal, offering the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship. But Jesus has no need to make such a bargain, for God had already promised to give the Messiah everything Satan is offering, and Jesus, whose self-understanding as the Messiah is shaped by Isaiah's description of the suffering servant, knows it very well from Isaiah 49: The Lord says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6) He knows it also from Psalm 2: I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. Ask of God. Not of Satan. The nations belong to the Lord, not to Satan. Jesus has no intention of making a bargain to purchase what Satan wrongly claims to own. In Matthew 12, after the Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan, Jesus replies that, How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matthew 12:29) And he does plunder it. We see the result in Revelation 20: “And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer...” -Revelation 20:3 And as for the real estate deal Satan was trying to make, well, we see the end of that at the very end of Matthew's gospel. For the Great Commission too takes place on a mountain, and this setting seems significant, especially in light of Jesus' declaration that “all authority in heaven and earth” has been given to Him. This is a pointed contrast with Satan's lying statement, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.” (Luke 4:6 NKJV) Quite the contrary, Jesus, having refused Satan's bargain, and having bound him and plundered his goods, now bestows the kingdom on His disciples and takes possession of the nations by sending his disciples to teach and baptize them. I want to end by correcting three misapprehensions that some people might have about this story, which may prevent them from grasping what it teaches us about God. One mistake some have is that Jesus didn't really suffer in the wilderness; that His divine nature was smirking and unbothered by Satan's temptations aimed at his human nature; that all these things just rolled off of Jesus like water off a duck's back. We know this was not the case. Recall Gethsemane again, where Jesus begged the Father to “take this cup from me,” and his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood — drops of blood, not water off a duck's back. A second mistake would be to think that, yes, Jesus suffered, but that's only because He is human. But that is not what the Bible says. It says that Jesus revealed the Father by his sufferings; that if you want to know what the Father is like, you should look at Jesus, for He who has seen Him has seen the Father. Greek philosophers say that God is an unmoved mover, and that God cannot suffer because he is perfect; but the Bible tells us that Jesus was “made perfect by sufferings.” (Heb. 5:9) Greek philosophers tell us that God cannot be afflicted; the Bible says that “in all their afflictions, He was afflicted.” (Isaiah 63:9) Greeks and Romans thought that suffering was miserable and degrading, and that if you are suffering, you must not have any glory or power; the Bible says that Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore — not in spite of his sufferings, but because of them! — God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” (Philippians 2:8) There is no clearer picture of Israel's God than the cross of Jesus Christ. That is where we finally see God fully revealed. Finally, a third mistake would be to think that, yes, Jesus' sufferings were powerful and important, but ours are not. The truth is exactly the opposite. As George MacDonald put it, “The Son of God suffered, not that we might not suffer, but that our sufferings might be like His.” And they are. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory...” (2 Corinthians 4:17) We are in the Messiah. His story, Israel's story, is our story. In Him, we are faithful Israelites, true to Deuteronomy 6. In Him, we are the suffering servant of Isaiah's prophecies. In Him, the kingdoms of the world belong to us. In Him, we too are victorious over Satan. Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, for our sake you fasted forty days and forty nights: give us grace so to discipline ourselves that our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may always obey your will in righteousness and true holiness, to the honour and glory of your name; for you live and reign with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus confronts fear, loneliness, and the crushing weight of what lies ahead. Here we see that faith is not the absence of dread, but the courage to trust God when the future feels unbearable.Scripture: Matthew 26:36-41**For the best uninterrupted livestream experience, participate in this week's sermon at nblc.net/sermons

GethsemaneSeries:  The Passion Week, Lesson 6Mark 14:32-422-22-26Watch video here 

Welcome to Day 2802 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2802 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 115:1-8 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2802 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2802 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The Title for Today's Wisdom-Trek is: Our God is Supreme Today, we are continuing our journey through the "Egyptian Hallel," the magnificent collection of praise songs sung by the Jewish people during the Passover festival. We are stepping into the first half of Psalm One Hundred Fifteen, covering verses one through eight, in the New Living Translation. To set the stage, let us remember where we stood in our previous trek. In Psalm One Hundred Fourteen, we witnessed the sheer, terrifying power of the Theophany. We saw the earth tremble, the Red Sea flee, and the Jordan River turn back at the very presence of the God of Jacob. It was a psalm of action, movement, and cosmic disruption. Yahweh stepped into history, and the chaotic forces of nature panicked. But as we turn the page to Psalm One Hundred Fifteen, the tone shifts from the dramatic trembling of the earth to a profound, theological reflection. According to Jewish tradition, while Psalms One Hundred Thirteen and One Hundred Fourteen were sung before the Passover meal, Psalm One Hundred Fifteen was the first hymn sung after the meal was finished. Imagine the scene. Jesus and His disciples have just finished the Last Supper. The bread has been broken; the cup of the new covenant has been poured. And before they walk out into the dark night toward the Garden of Gethsemane, they lift their voices to sing these exact words. They sing about the glory of God, the foolishness of the world's idols, and the absolute sovereignty of the King of Heaven. This psalm is a brilliant polemic—a theological argument—against the gods of the surrounding nations. It contrasts the living, unrestrained God of Israel with the dead, handcrafted statues of the pagan world. It challenges us to ask: Where does the glory belong, and what are we truly placing our trust in? Let us dive into the text. Psalm One Hundred Fifteen: verse one. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. The psalm opens with one of the most profound statements of humility in the entire Bible. The psalmist repeats the phrase for emphasis: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us." This is the ultimate deflection of human pride. When Israel looked back at the Exodus—when they remembered the sea parting and the enemies drowning—it was incredibly tempting to pat themselves on the back. It is human nature to assume that if God blesses us, saves us, or uses us, it must be because we are somehow special, worthy, or superior. But the psalmist violently rejects that idea. He says, "Lord, do not give us the credit. We did not part the sea. We did not defeat the Egyptian empire. The glory belongs entirely, exclusively, and completely to Your Name." And why does the glory go to His Name? Because of two foundational attributes: His "unfailing love" and His

When Jesus' time had finally come, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. It is there, during the season of Lent, that we begin following Jesus on his road to the cross, through the first two stations in the traditional Stations of the Cross. Join us as we discuss the long history of this tradition and the Scriptures that teach us about the events in the Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus' prayer, betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and arrest. Together, we'll reflect on Jesus' humanity, what it cost him to embark on this journey on our behalf, and what it teaches us about our faith as we follow Jesus.

February 20, 2026Today's Reading: Mark 1:29-45Daily Lectionary: Genesis 2:4-25; Mark 1:29-45“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Healings and more healings. This is what Jesus is doing. But amidst the healings is prayer. Jesus prays. We see this quite often with Jesus, that He goes off alone to pray. Sometimes it's to present specific requests to God and we get to hear them (like the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, or Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane), but sometimes we don't get to hear the conversation He has alone with the Father. We do see that once He finishes praying, He's ready for what comes next. It's almost as if spending time alone with His Father in prayer refreshes, renews, and energizes Him. In Mark 1, after Jesus prays, He sets off for what's next: more healings. Life can be exhausting sometimes. I don't know if you would describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert. All of us can get tired, exhausted, and worn down from something, whether it's the stresses we face, the pressures of school, family, work, or something else, like just living life. Some introverts are refreshed by being alone, spending time with themselves. I am not one of those people. I get refreshed and energized by being with people. Spending time in prayer can refresh us because we get to be with the One who created us, we get to cast all of our cares, concerns, worries, issues, and burdens on the One who is able to not only handle all of our stuff, but the One who can actually do something about our stuff. This doesn't mean that all of our prayers will be answered. Jesus knew what God's will was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He prayed for His will to be done. He also asked that the cup would be removed from Him, even though He knew it wouldn't be. Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, who brought peace between us and God through His death and resurrection, gives us peace no matter what God's answer to our prayers is. In Him we can have peace knowing that He is always with us when He says no, and when He says yes.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Amen, that is, so shall it be. Make strong our faith in You, that we May doubt not but with trust believe That what we ask we shall receive. Thus in Your name and at Your Word We say, “Amen, O hear us, Lord! (LSB 766:9)Rev. Glenn Worcester, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Winnipeg, ManitobaAudio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.Better understand difficult and overlooked Old Testament passages in this new book by Authors R. Reed Lessing and Andrew E. Steinmann. Their conversational yet academic writing style makes learning about the Old Testament accessible to those at all points in their Bible reading journey. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter invite you to think more in-depth about what you just read and record your answers. To stretch your understanding, a list of resources for further reading is also included at the back of the book.

In this episode, we begin with a discussion prompted by a question about The Chosen; if the show depicts Joseph comforting Jesus in Gethsemane, is that a theological shift in broader Christianity toward the LDS idea that angels can be resurrected beings who once lived on earth?  From there, the conversation pivots into Part 2 with a deeper dive into the apocryphal Book of Enoch: why it mattered to early Christians, how Jude appears to quote it, and how Enoch's dramatic narrative tries to explain the origin of evil through fallen angels, forbidden knowledge, and giants the size of Mount Garfield.  We had a couple of spots open up on our Standard of Truth Tour to Missouri/Illinois. We meet in Kansas City on Sunday, June 21st, and fly home from St. Louis on Saturday, June 27th. https://standardoftruth.com/tours/tour-missouri-nauvoo-carthage-springfield-st-louis-june-21-27-2026/ Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠   If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com

This episode is part 48 in a study of the gospel of Luke. Jesus goes to pray in the garden of Gethsemane and is betrayed there by Judas and arrested. He is tried before the Jewish leaders. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

We all eventually face the crushing weight of a prayer left unanswered. Jesus wrestled with the Father's will in the Garden of Gethsemane. In this message from Mark 14, Pastor Lutzer discusses four critical questions about the “cup” of wrath and Christ's ultimate surrender. Let's find enduring peace when heaven seems silent. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/172/29?v=20251111

We all eventually face the crushing weight of a prayer left unanswered. Jesus wrestled with the Father's will in the Garden of Gethsemane. In this message from Mark 14, Pastor Lutzer discusses four critical questions about the "cup" of wrath and Christ's ultimate surrender. Let's find enduring peace when heaven seems silent. Description Offer:   This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.  Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives.  Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.    SUPPORT:  Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/  Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/    SUBSCRIBE:   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia  Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/ 

Our N.T. reading of Mark's gospel is the heart stirring 72 verses of his 14th chapter.  It records the ‘last supper' that Jesus shared with his disciples and its' age-lasting simplicity has had heart stirring meaning for his genuine disciples in every generation since that time.  After the supper there follows the heart searching time in the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prays, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” [v.36]  The individuality of the Father and Son is so evident here, Jesus sets us an example that wherever Scriptural principles are involved we should follow our Saviour's example and say to our heavenly Father, ” not what I will, but what you will.”  These words make it plain that the ‘theology of the Trinity' which the Catholic's invented centuries later, has no place in the mind of the true believer.Judas now comes “and with him a crowd with swords and clubs'.[v.43]  Jesus does not resist, he says, “let the scriptures be fulfilled.”  And so they were, the Old Testament has several prophecies about this; these Scriptures  also make it plain, as we read yesterday, that there will be a final time of trouble for our world. The words Jesus spoke then have a particular application for us now, “Be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” [13 v.23]  Back in today's chapter we note what Jesus told the High Priest, and we see its awesome meaning for us as we live with increasing anticipation of this event.  He was warning the High Priest telling him, ” you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” [v.62]   The High Priest will be there, among the goats! What horror will fill his heart!   But what a wondrous prospect of joy their fulfilment hold for us. Our thoughts go to the words of Paul when he described this coming event to the Thessalonians in his 1st letter to them, ” the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” [4 v.16,17]   And where will the Lord be?  Reigning from Jerusalem! The world will experience “a new earth in which righteousness dwells” as Peter puts it in his final epistle [3 v.13]  May the “scriptures be fulfilled” very soon – and may we have the strength of faith to endure the coming tribulation with a sure anticipation of the wonders to follow. 

Lent is the period in the Church's calendar to where the faithful are encouraged to rekindle their relationship with Jesus through practices such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Come Easter, we can rise with Christ a new creation. This blogcast explores “Lenten Transfiguration" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written by Kate Fowler and read by Jonathan Harrison.“Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.” -Luke 9:32Twice in the Gospels we hear of the trio of disciples sleeping at pivotal moments in Christ's life and ministry: at the Transfiguration – in this Sunday's Gospel – and in the Garden of Gethsemane during Christ's Agony. Both times, Christ is in deep prayer. And both times, Peter, James, and John are “overcome by sleep.”I get it. The group of men have just hiked up a mountain. It would have been normal to rest after such a grueling endeavor. Similarly, in the Garden, Jesus took the three disciples to pray after the Feast of the Passover—a long, filling meal complete with wine. I think of all the times I've napped after a holiday meal and sympathize with Peter, James, and John.  In these scenes, they are so human. They become tired and rest their eyes. And yet, because of their physical tiredness, they miss out on God's glory.In this week's Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent, Jesus is transfigured and his three beloved disciples are offered a glimpse of the glory to come—not only the glory of the Resurrected Christ, but the glory that awaits all men and women who allow themselves to be transformed by his grace.This Lent, I find myself asking, “Am I asleep with his disciples? What's causing me to shut my eyes to God's glory?” These questions are what have guided my Lenten journey as I discern how to grow in holiness this season.  Each year, the Church in her wisdom asks us to reflect on what is making us spiritually sluggish and helps us prepare for Easter through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. By ramping up in these three Lenten tenets, we can grow in our ability to see God's will and the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.Had the Apostles been awake throughout the entirety of Christ's Transfiguration, they would have basked longer in this glory—fear and confusion would not have gripped them. Lent calls us to wake up, to be alert, not only for the Easter celebration, but for God's invitation to greater holiness throughout our lives.Pope Francis highlights Lent as the continuation of the “journey of conversion.” This journey is a lifelong one. And yet, seasons such as Lent, which focus on an even greater attention to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, often spur us deeper and further on this journey towards Christ.As Pope Francis encouraged in his 2019 Lenten message:Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain! Let us ask God to help us set out on a path of true conversion. Let us leave behind our selfishness and self-absorption, and turn to Jesus' Pasch. Let us stand beside our brothers and sisters in need, sharing our spiritual and material goods with them. In this way, by concretely welcoming Christ's victory over sin and death into our lives, we will also radiate its transforming power to all of creation.The goal of Lent is not only Easter, but Christ Himself. This Lent, may our participation in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help us shake off the drowsiness that shuts our eyes to God's glory. For more resources to accompany you throughout your Lenten journey, please click here.Questions for Reflection:  Am you asleep with Christ's disciples? What's causing you to shut your eyes to God's glory?” Author:Kate Fowler is a former staff member for the Catholic Apostolate Center. Her work included: editing posts and resources for the Center, and co-hosting the OnMission podcast. Resources:Listen to On Mission: Ash WednesdayLenten PracticesRead the Ad Infinitum blogLent and Easter Resources Follow us:The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

Welcome to Day 2798 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2798 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 113:1-9 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2798 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day two thousand seven hundred ninety-eight of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The Title of today's Wisdom-Trek is: The Hallel Begins – The High God Who Stoops Low Today, we cross a significant threshold in our journey through the Psalter. We are stepping into Psalm One Hundred Thirteen, covering the entire hymn, verses one through nine, in the New Living Translation. To understand the shift we are making today, we need to look back at the trail we have just hiked. For the last two days, we have been trekking through Psalm One Hundred Eleven and Psalm One Hundred Twelve. Those two psalms were a matched pair—twin "acrostic" poems that functioned like a classroom. They taught us the "A to Z" of God's character and the "A to Z" of the godly person's character. They were wisdom psalms, designed to be studied, pondered, and memorized in the quiet of the study hall. But today, the bell rings, and the class is dismissed. We are moving from the study hall to the Festival. Psalm One Hundred Thirteen marks the beginning of a special collection known as the "Egyptian Hallel" (Psalms One Hundred Thirteen through One Hundred Eighteen). These six psalms were, and still are, the liturgical soundtrack of the Passover Seder. They celebrate God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In Jewish tradition, Psalms One Hundred Thirteen and One Hundred Fourteen are sung before the Passover meal, and Psalms One Hundred Fifteen through One Hundred Eighteen are sung after the meal. This means that on the night Jesus was betrayed, just before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He likely sang these very words with His disciples. So, as we read this psalm, we are not just reading poetry; we are stepping into the Upper Room. We are hearing the song that fortified the Messiah for the cross. The theme of this psalm is a magnificent paradox. It presents Yahweh as the God who is Infinitely High—seated above the nations and the heavens—yet who insists on stooping Infinitely Low to lift the poor from the dust and the barren woman from her grief. It is the theology of the Great Descent. So, let us lift our voices with the choir of history and begin the Hallel. The first segment is: The Call to the Servants: A Praise Without Borders. Psalm One Hundred Thirteen: verses one through three. Praise the Lord! Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord!  Blessed be the name of the Lord now and forever.  Everywhere—from east to west— praise the name of the Lord. The psalm opens with the signature shout of the Hallel: "Hallelujah!" ("Praise the Lord!"). But notice...

Many struggle with deconstruction when the heavens remain silent. Through the olive groves of Gethsemane, we find Jesus facing a similar agony. In this message, Pastor Lutzer reveals how Christ submitted to the Father, accepting the cup. Discover how our redemption depended on that unanswered prayer in the garden. This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://offerrtw.com or call us at 1-800-215-5001.  Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives.  Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.    SUPPORT:  Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/  Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/    SUBSCRIBE:   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia  Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfmFresh from a visit to the Holy Land, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC reflects on standing atop the Mount of Olives, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, walking the Via Dolorosa, and entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—the very places where Christ taught, suffered, and redeemed us.Looking out over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, he recalls how Jesus wept over the city. Why? Because people would not receive His teaching.The Sermon on the Mount is not a suggestion. It is a way of life. Jesus, the New Moses, does not merely interpret the law—He fulfills and perfects it. When He says to “cut off” what leads you to sin, He speaks in holy urgency. Sin has consequences. Grace is free—but it must be received and cooperated with.Father Chris tackles misunderstood teachings head-on: • Why Catholics read Scripture as literally true—but not literalist. • What Jesus' words reveal about purgatory and accountability. • Why annulment is not a “Catholic divorce,” but a declaration about sacramental validity. • Why the Sacraments are our sure path to grace and salvation.He also pleads for prayers—prayers for persecuted Christians in the Holy Land, and for his dear friend Giuseppe recovering from a stroke. When the Church teaches clearly, it is not to restrict us, but to save us.Christ wept over Jerusalem. May we not ignore His voice today. ★ Support this podcast ★

Yielding | Choosing God's Will Over Our Own In this Sunday morning message, we are reminded that the Christian life is a continual choice between our will and God's will — and true victory is found in learning to yield fully to Him. The sermon opens with the theme God has placed on the church for this season: yielding. From the moment we are born again, we begin a lifelong process of surrendering our desires, plans, and pride in exchange for God's perfect will. Just as Jesus won the greatest spiritual battle in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done,” believers today experience victory when they make that same choice daily. The message explains why yielding is often difficult. Our fallen nature, pride, presumption, lack of prayer, and unrenewed minds all work against surrender. When believers allow worldly influences to dominate their thoughts instead of God's Word, compromise slowly replaces obedience. Scripture makes it clear that loving the world — its desires, distractions, and self-centered pursuits — weakens our love for God. Drawing from Romans 12 and Romans 6, the sermon emphasizes personal responsibility in the walk of faith. While salvation is God's finished work, believers must present themselves to Him — intentionally placing themselves in His presence where transformation happens. Yielding begins with showing up, even when it is difficult, inconvenient, or uncomfortable. God does the changing, but we must make ourselves available. Holiness is explained not as perfection, but as devotion — a life set apart for God's use. Sanctification is an ongoing process through the renewing of the mind by God's Word. The more believers remain in Scripture, the stronger they become to overcome temptation, fear, and spiritual compromise. The sermon also highlights the importance of consistency. Yielding is not occasional obedience but faithful endurance — choosing God when it feels easy and when it feels hard. Just as spiritual strength grows through discipline, believers mature by continually surrendering to God's will rather than their own comfort. The message concludes with a powerful reminder: everything we have comes from God's hand, and yielding to Him is our reasonable response. When God's people live surrendered lives, He is able to work through them in extraordinary ways. Key Takeaway Victory in the Christian life is not found in strength or perfection, but in daily surrender. When we consistently yield our will to God's will, He transforms us, strengthens us, and leads us into His perfect plan.

Are You a Part of What God Is Doing in Our Country Today? Do You Seek God's Presence in Your Life? MESSAGE SUMMARY: Can you tell what God is up to in the World, in our time, in our church, and in America? Are you a part of what God is doing in the world today, or are you just reacting to what God is doing, thereby, creating conflict and division? Psalms 105 reminds you of God's power in the world if you do seek His presence in your life: “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.". On the other hand, Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, warns you of the implications for not including the presence of Jesus in your worldly considerations: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”. While the Lord is leading, and directing, it seems that we are wrapped up in our agenda and our way of doing things; therefore, we miss God's presence; and we miss the Holy Spirit in our lives.      TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, everything in me resists following you into the garden of Gethsemane to fall on my face to the ground before you. Grant me the courage to follow you all the way to the cross, whatever that might mean for my life. And then, by your grace, lead me to resurrection life and power. In Jesus' name, amen.   Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 100). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Loneliness. Rather, I will abide in the Lord's Presence. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 5:6; Matthew 5:10; Psalms 112:1-6; Psalms 119b:13-24. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Essentials Part 4 – One God, Not Three”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

This podcast episode, based on a Bible study of Mark chapters 9–12, explores the central theme that life is a journey to the cross. The discussion centers on how Jesus's intentional march toward Jerusalem was not for comfort or popularity, but for rejection and suffering—a path he calls his followers to join.The study highlights seven practical truths about the cross that transform the perspective of a disciple: The Cross Reframes Glory: The Transfiguration on the mountaintop was brief because "glory without the cross is counterfeit". Real discipleship requires walking back down the mountain into the valleys of human need and pain. The Cross Destroys Self-Reliance: When the disciples failed to heal a boy because they didn't pray, Jesus reminded them that the cross proves they are not enough on their own; instead, it calls for a deeper trust in Christ alone. The Cross Defines True Greatness: While the disciples argued over status, Jesus taught that greatness is found in service and sacrifice. The speaker notes that at the foot of the cross, there are "no VIPs, just recipients of grace". The Cross Exposes the Seriousness of Sin: Jesus used shocking language about cutting off limbs to show that sin is a "predator," not a pet. The cross reveals that sin is so serious it required the death of the Son of God. The Cross Frees Us from Idols: Using the story of the rich young ruler, the speaker explains that the cross exposes our "functional saviors"—things like money, control, or reputation—that we must be willing to let go of to find real life. The Cross Leads to Service and Sacrifice: Mark 10:45 is identified as the book's thesis: Jesus came "not to be served but to serve". Following him means rejecting a self-centered life in favor of a road of service. The Cross Means Wholehearted Surrender: Through the example of the widow's two mites, the study emphasizes that discipleship is about total trust, not just giving leftovers. The episode concludes with a metaphor of Gethsemane as an "olive press," where Jesus was "pressed" three times under the weight of sin to produce the "oil" of redemption. The participants also discuss the human tendency toward doubt, noting that the disciples themselves struggled to understand Jesus's mission until their minds were opened after the resurrection.

At the heart of the Sermon on the Mount lies a prayer that has shaped Christian faith for two millennia—the Lord's Prayer. This message invites us to rediscover this ancient prayer not as empty repetition, but as a transformative spiritual practice that calibrates our hearts daily toward God. We're challenged to move beyond our Protestant hesitancy about liturgy and ritual, recognizing that these practices aren't religious trappings but essential disciplines that align our minds, hearts, and souls with divine truth. The prayer's structure is profound: twelve lines divided into two movements—the first addressing God's holiness, kingdom, and will; the second focusing on our communal needs for provision, forgiveness, and deliverance. Notice how Jesus never uses 'me' or 'I'—it's always 'us' and 'our,' reminding us that faith is inherently communal. When we pray 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' we acknowledge that God's will isn't automatically enacted here—we're participants in bringing heaven to earth. This prayer isn't just instruction; it's Jesus sharing his own heart with us. When we recite these words thoughtfully, we participate in the very experience of Christ, echoing his submission in Gethsemane. The challenge before us is to make this prayer a daily ritual—not mindless recitation, but genuine heart engagement that shapes our character and transforms how we see the world.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 15th of February, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Gospel of Mark 15:37,”And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.” Then we go to John 19:30:”So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” Mission accomplished. The job is done. What an amazing Saviour we have! He didn't stop halfway. He didn't say to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, ”Lord, I can't do this.” No, he finished the job. You and I must finish what we have started. You know an unfinished job is very ugly, like a half-built building. Rather don't start than stop halfway through. I looked up how long it took for King Solomon to build the first temple. It took approximately seven years and he finished it. What about the second temple? That took almost twenty to twenty-one years to build. We really need to work hard and finish what we have started.Michelangelo, that wonderful artist, when he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it took him four years, folks. He had to build his own scaffold. Can you imagine climbing up there? It is very, very high, and then he did it upside down, but he finished that work of art for the glory of God.That young student who's thinking of dropping out of university, don't do it, finish your degree. That marriage that you are working through, ”Angus, we just can't get it right.” Ask God to help you. Philippians 1:6 says:”being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” When you start something, you must finish. It's no good saying you started, rather don't start. Finish the job!Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

Jesus told His disciples to buy swords… but rebuked Peter for using one. Was it a contradiction — or a revelation? In the Garden of Gethsemane, steel clashed with something far greater. Discover the hidden supernatural war behind the physical — and how the Kingdom of God conquers our trials without a sword. Support Rise on Fire Ministries by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/rise-on-fireRead transcript

In Jesus' agony we learn that human support will fail, only the Father is fully adequate, and true spiritual victory comes when we pray, lean on the body, and resolve that God's will is our supreme desire.

A Flood and a Fresh Start by Autumn Dickson This week we read about a couple of classic Bible stories, one of which is Noah and the ark. Let's read a couple of verses. Noah was led to build and ark, and then he went into the ark with his sons. God shut them up in the ark, and then this happened. Genesis 7:19-20, 23 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. The earth was completely covered with water, and everything was destroyed except for Noah, his family, and the animals who went with them. The Guide to the Scriptures teaches us that, “During Noah's time the earth was completely covered with water. This was the baptism of the earth and symbolized a cleansing.” There is so much symbolism here, but I want to talk about one of the most important aspects of this symbolism. When we are baptized or take the sacrament, our sins are washed away and we start over. The earth was filled with violence and corruption. Every imagination and thought of the people was evil continually. That is a lot of cleansing. I have a feeling that you have not yet reached this point in your life. I have a feeling that if you're reading Come Follow Me posts, your imaginations and thoughts aren't evil continually. Maybe you've got some flaws that you can't kick, but I'm guessing that if you're inviting good into your life, you can't possibly be thinking about evil continually. And if God can wash away all of that evil at the time of Noah, He can wash away your sins too. He can make the baptism as “big” as it needs to be. He can “flood the earth” so to speak if that's what it takes to wash away the sins that you do have. And that little tiny piece of you that is trying to do well and good will be preserved and provided with an opportunity to start over. Every Sunday when you take up that little piece of bread and that little cup of water, you are remembering how the Lord paid for your sins. There was a tremendous amount of suffering, both in the flood and in the Garden of Gethsemane. Honestly, it's crazy to think that there was more pain in that one night in the Garden of Gethsemane than there was during the flood. But it is done. The suffering already happened. The price was already paid. It was a gift. The gift offered is not automatic salvation. When Noah and his family were preserved, it wasn't automatic salvation. They weren't going to immediately experience joy just because all of that evil was all swept away. They still needed to build something after the water was gone. What would they build in the blank slate that the Lord gave them? The gift is that the Lord is going to provide you an opportunity to build your life again without being weighed down by past sins. And you get to use that gift all the time, every time you repent. We go to church on Sunday, we take the sacrament, we wash away all of the evil, and the Lord leaves the good. He doesn't wipe away all of our flaws. Noah and his family weren't perfect. He just wipes away all of the residue of sin, and from there, we begin to build again. What are we going to bring into our new world? What will we bring into our new selves? As you look at the landscape of your life, it has been washed clean again. What will you create? What will you turn your life into? Because it is about building. This is a story of grace, and it is a story of what we create with what we were given. Hopefully, we take the blank slate and choose to build up incredible things that bless us and bless those around us. We are given frameworks and blueprints that we can use to build our lives. It is not enough to want something beautiful built; the Lord gives us the beautiful opportunity to do the work alongside Him. And as time moves on, hopefully we don't need an entire flood every time we choose to take the sacrament. Hopefully the cleansings get smaller and smaller as we become more and more Christlike. You may still grieve. I don't think Noah and his family walked away from this experience lightly. I think they walked away with a lot of sorrow for what happened alongside the gratitude for being saved. Like Noah, washing away your sins won't erase the memory of it. Even though it may bring grief, it's a gift. It's a gift because it can prevent you from walking down the path towards an earthwide flood again. It will bring depth to your gratitude. We don't want to forget what happened, not really, despite the pain it may bring. I testify that the Lord can wash away what you have. I testify that there are so many parallels with the flood and our own lives that can teach us about what the Lord did and what He offers. I testify that He did not automatically give us salvation; He gave us a blank slate so that we could build something worth having, so that we could enjoy eternity like He does. I testify that He will keep washing as long as it takes, as long as we need to build what He has in mind for us. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 6–11; Moses 8 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

God Sees a Jesus Follower as Being “In Christ”; Therefore, God Sees a Jesus Follower as His Son or Daughter MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Followers of Jesus, you are "In Christ" -- God looks at you, as a Jesus Follower, and He sees Jesus in you. Throughout the Epistles we find: "In Christ" or "In Him". In Galatians 3:14, Paul tells you that your faith in Jesus makes you “In Christ” and a recipient of God's Covenant with Abraham: “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.". Also, Paul goes even further, in Galatians 3:25-28, to tell you that, through your faith in Jesus, you no longer need any kind of intermediary because you are “In Christ” and you have a personal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”. When God sees you, “In Christ" as a Jesus Follower, He sees Jesus, the Son. Therefore, God sees you as His son or daughter.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, everything in me resists following you into the garden of Gethsemane to fall on my face to the ground before you. Grant me the courage to follow you all the way to the cross, whatever that might mean for my life. And then, by your grace, lead me to resurrection life and power. In Jesus' name, amen.   Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 100). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Despair. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Joy. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Romans 3:21-26; Romans 6:5-11; Romans 6:22-23; Psalms 63:1-11. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Essentials Part 3 – Incomplete Finished Work”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

What Jesus does in Gethsemane determines what happens at Calvary. And what happens at Calvary determines what happens to us for eternity. So, this is not just a story about what Jesus went through, it is a story about what He went through for you.