Garden of Gethsemane | A Little Walk with God

Today’s Podcast

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I love to get advice from other people about what God wants for my life, don’t you? Yeah, right. We do seem to try to meddle sometimes, don’t we. That’s exactly what Jesus called Peter on in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Scripture

John 18:11
Jesus (to Peter): Put down your sword, and return it to the sheath. Am I to turn away from the cup the Father has given Me to drink?

Devotional

I know what is best for my adult children, right? I need to give them advice on their career choices, the spouse they choose, the things they do with their money, the places they go…even when they don’t ask.
1. Same with elderly parents
2. Same with neighbors
3. Same with everyone around me
4. I don’t need to take advice from anyone else, but I sure need to give others my advice
5. I even try to give God my advice sometimes
6. In our flawed state, we think we are smarter than God
That’s what Peter does with Jesus
1. Attacks Malcus, high priest’s servant
2. Tries to help Jesus escape from the Pharisees and the death penalty they wish to impose
3. Thinks he knows better than Jesus what His path should be
4. Thinks the Messiah must not die, but reign as a military and political leader to free Israel
5. Steps in front of Jesus to protect Him
How often do we step in front of God’s plan instead of doing what Jesus did and trust the Father with His perfect knowledge?
1. Can’t mean what He says
2. Can’t mean for us to face the trial He puts in front of us
3. Can’t mean for us to suffer
4. The path must be different
5. So we try to change the path, we step in front of His plan and try to change it
Often we pick up implements to challenge the enemy
1. Sword, spear, implements of war to fight
2. He wants us to submit instead
3. Trust that God knows what He’s doing
4. Recognize that He is God and His plan will be ultimately completed the way He intends
5. We can choose to be a part of those plans or not
6. The smart choice is to let Him take the lead and then do what He says

If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Have you ever played with magnets? The picture of Jesus facing the guards in the garden remind me of those.
Scripture
1. John 18:4-8

Jesus: Whom are you looking for?

Judas’s Entourage: Jesus the Nazarene.

Jesus: I am the One.

Judas, the betrayer, stood with the military force. As Jesus spoke “I am the One,” the forces fell back on the ground. Jesus asked them a second time:

Jesus: Whom are you searching for?

Judas’s Entourage: Jesus the Nazarene.

Jesus: I have already said that I am the One. If you are looking for Me, then let these men go free.

Devotional
1. I’m sure you remember playing with magnets when you were a kid.
  1. In science we learned about the north and south poles of those magnetic fields and how the opposite ends attracted but like ends repelled each other.
  2. The stronger the magnet, the harder it was to try to push like ends together
  3. There are scientific principles that govern those magnetic fields and explain why they attract and repel each other.
  4. Explains why light bends near the earth
  5. Explains the aurora borealis
  6. Explains parts of electrical currents
  7. Explains a lot of what looks like mysteries around our world
  8. Might even explain the migration of animals at different seasons of the year or why they can sense dangers faster than we do or can find their way home from great distances
2. Picture that experiment you did with magnets as a kid as you tried to push the north pole of the magnet against its polar like north pair
  1. With some effort you might get them to touch
  2. As soon as you release pressure they push apart
  3. If strong enough, can’t push them together
3. Now picture the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane
  1. Guards come to take Jesus
  2. Armed with spears, swords, shields, armor
  3. Jesus dressed in His tunic and sash and bare hands
  4. As they try to approach they are repelled as easily as those magnets trying to approach each other
4. Jesus could not be taken by any force men could put against Him
  1. Satan tried His best throughout His life
  2. Herod killed all the boys in Bethlehem – Jesus escaped
  3. Pharisees plotted to kill Him throughout His whole ministry
    1. Tried to stone Him – slipped away
    2. Tried to throw Him from a cliff – slipped through the crowd
5. Jesus gave Himself up willingly to the guards that came into the garden
  1. Allowed Himself to be taken
  2. Allowed Himself to be beaten
  3. Allowed Himself to be crucified
  4. No one could touch Him unless He let them
  5. He loved us enough to let them
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

A Little Walk with God

A daily devotional through the Bible spoken as God might speak with a Modern Adam and Eve

Tag Archives: Garden of Gethsemane

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