GETHSEMANE!

Matt 26:38 Then He *said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

Only a few minutes before the prayer in the garden, Our Lord had offered His High- Priestly prayer: but what a striking difference that is between the two! How explain the serenity of the one and the agonizing of the other? The first was intercessory; this was personal- the prelude the Calvary.

He had partaken the Lord supper and sung a hymn with His disciples before entering the garden.

The place of His prayer was most appropriately named GETHSEMANE, the oil press, for did not our saviour under the pressure of a great agony yield precious oil that has been the balm of many a wounded soul? Leaving His disciples, Jesus penetrated a little further into the garden” and began to be sorrowful and very heavy”

THE POIGNANCY OF HIS SUFFERING:

The writer of the gospel presents six clauses, each of which presents a different facet of our Savior’s suffering, and each is worthy of reverent examination, although we do not presume to understand or explain their full import.

• Matt 26:38 Then He *said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

He began to be “exceedingly sorrowful” or “pressed upon”. He had ever been a ‘man of sorrows’, but now He enters upon sorrow of such degree that everything that He had endured in the past paled into insignificance, as mere ripples to the swelling billows which now engulfed Him.

• Mark 14:33 And He *took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.

“………. He began to be struck with terror and amazement and deeply troubled and depressed” (AMP)

He began to be “very heavy”, “deeply troubled”. Lightfoot suggests that this word points to a confused, restless, half –distracted state, while another commentator suggests the root idea is that of being “away from home”, and so “beside oneself” And was it not the fact that in a very real sense He was away from home, which made His suffering the more poignant.

• He began to be struck with terror and amazement, “stunned with amazement” or “utterly surprised”

H.B Swete said, “The Lord’s first feeling was one of terrified surprise. Long as He had foreseen the Passion, when it came closely in view, its terrors exceeded His

anticipations. His human soul received a new experience and the last lesson of obedience began with a sensation of inconceivable awe” As He saw the ingredients of the terrible cup, which was being mixed for Him, He was startled and stunned.

• Mark 14:34 And He *said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch."

It points to an unfathomable depth of anguish and sorrow. He who after the wilderness temptation had left our Lord for a season (Luke 4:3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.") had now returned and tempted Him with “all painful things, as before with all pleasurable, hoping to terrify, if it might be, from His allegiance to the truth, Him who manifestly he could not allure”- R.C.Trench.

“Point of death” or “Unto death”- The sorrow and agony were so tremendous that He was likely to collapse under the weight.

• Luke 22:44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

He was “in agony” or “conflict” as the word is rendered in Col 2:1 “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,”

The Hebrew epistle tells us that He prayed with “Heb 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

Heb 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” As the power of darkness closed in on Him, in a final endeavor to prevent His going to the cross. He was engaged in conflict the like of which he had never before experienced.

• His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. (Luke 22:44)]

Remember it was a cold night, but as He prayed in agony the course of nature was reversed and the blood, instead of rushing to the aid of the overcharged and breaking heart, was forced through the pores, to fall in great drops on the ground. My soul, stands in awe, and magnify His matchless love.

THE INGREDIENTS OF THE CUP

What were the ingredients of the cup of which He was to drink?

1. The renewed attack of Satan: Luke 22:53 "While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours." Foiled in every previous attempt to deflect the Lord from the way of the cross, the power of darkness launched a terrific onslaught, in one final attempt to overthrow Him. No mock battle this, but a struggle to the death between Light and darkness.

2. The loss of the light of His Father’s countenance. Why hast thou forsaken me? It was bad enough that He should be in an alien country, deserted by His followers, betrayed by His friend, denied by one of His inmates- but to be forsaken by God! This was an utterly new and bewildered experience, the anticipation of which produced this blood letting agony.

3. The assumption of the guilt of the world. “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” Nothing less than penal suffering for our sin can explain His agony. Bishop Ryle writes , “I believe that this view is the only reasonable soloution of our Lord’s agony………….. The experience in the garden is a knot which nothing can unite but the old doctrine of our sin being imputed to Christ, and Christ being made sin and a curse for us.” He drank “a cup of wrath without mercy in order that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath.”

DESIRE OF YOUR HEART!

Psalm 37:1-7
To be like Jesus is the desire of my heart!
Do not fret! (NIV)
Do not worry! (NLT)
The word ‘fret’ is found 3 times i.e. vv 1, 7, 8
To fret means .............. That I am angry; I am disturbed. The root word for fretting and envying is the same meaning “being heated”
“Do not fret”- ‘I should not have been too agitated’. ‘Refrain from anger ‘can be understood in this context; ‘don’t get worked up over’.
Fretting is the culture of irritation that is prevalent in our modern age

Your desire affects every area of your life- your job, your family, your career etc.
Desire reveals your character- motive, actions. What do you think?
“Our inner thoughts are a lamp for the Lord, and they search our hearts. (Prov 20: 27
“What comes from inside is important”- Mark 7:20
It is nothing wrong to desire.
What is God’s desire for you? How to get it?
- God’s desire for you is to be saved
- He also wants us to know the truth (seek, read and pray)
- God’s desire the best for you- release from suffering, pain worry etc.
- God’s desire for you and me is to trust Him, to rely on Him. It is motivated by His love for us?
Are we willing to trust in His desires? As we desire, is it consistent, the best for my life?
E.g. To gets rich
Why do you want to get rich? - I Tim 6:9
It is the issue of what place it has in your life.
“Desire to get rich”-
ü It is to promote yourself! - You will have emptiness and disappointment
ü To help others, to be a blessing- contentment and satisfaction

What is the No 1, 2, 3 desire of your life?
As I had said before “Your desire impacts every area of your life.”
Ps 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
Ps 37:2 For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb.
Ps 37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Ps 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
Ps 37:6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.
Ps 37:7 ¶ Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
What is the desire of your heart- healing! Free from pain, children, wife, husband, needs etc
The Psalmist states five beautiful verbs:-

• DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD
  Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
  To delight means to be thankful, to be happy, exquisite delight, to make merry over.
  I delight in my wife or my son/daughter- I love her, she is no1 in my life
  The Psalmist here says, “DELIGHT in the LORD”. As one writer puts is “to delight in the Lord means “to delight in the character, will, and ways of God as means of increasing excellence, usefulness, and enjoyment”
  When the Psalmist said “He will give”- it sounds like a blank cheque reminiscent of what Jesus said “John 14:13, 14
  Do you love talking, listening and giving to the Father?
  Delight in God is to have pleasures in 0obeying Him. Our relationship with Him is paramount. When you delight in the Lord-, it overflows and the end result is the desire of your heart.
  
• COMMIT YOUR WAYS TO THE LORD
  Ps 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD,
  “Commit everything you do to the Lord”
  Commit- ‘roll on’
  The only path of peace – “commit your ways to the LORD”
  It is always better when He does it on His schedule. God will treat you beyond your expectation i.e. sickness, money, life partner, ministry, job.
  
  
• TRUST IN HIM
  Ps 37:5 Trust also in Him, and He will do it
  If you don’t trust Him, you cannot be committed.
  As Oswald Sanders said “ Trust in God does not mean that God will explain His solution to us, it means that we are perfectly confident in God and when we do see the solution we find it to be in accordance with all that Jesus Christ revealed of His character”
  Trust requires two components
  1. Character
  2. Competency
  
  When God says “Don’t go that way, Don’t do that”- TRUST HIM
  You cannot make God wrong because you think that wrong is right.
  - Don’t manipulate
  - The wheel of God’s judgment moves very slowly.
  
  
• REST IN THE LORD
  Ps 37:7 ¶ Rest in the LORD
  Rest mean: to cease from action; to be free from worry; to be settled; to be secure; to have something to lean on- rely on God for support , trusting Him to supply all your needs.
  “when you stop, God works
  When you let go, God begins”
  I am fully dependent on Him- show me the consequence of what happens if I don’t delight in Him.
  “My heart O Lord does not rest until it rest in you”
  -Augustine
  “There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God”
  -Mc. Afee
  If it is the desire God want you to have- Rest in Him.
  “Rest is not inactivity, it is directed activity”
  If you are fretting about something in life- It means that God and I are not in disagreement.
  
  
• WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM
  Ps 37:7 …………………wait patiently for Him;
  Wait without murmuring, grumbling, complaining
  The more intently I desire, I find it more difficult to wait. I want to have and have it now- so what happens? WE FRET!!!!!
  The basic principle is Learning to wait, wait for God’s timing.
  You say, Lord, I want to trust you in wisdom, love, knowledge, etc.
  
  God knows what you and I desire. God also knows that some of our desire once achieved- we will regret.
  

WORSHIP &GIVING

GIVING & WORSHIP

The word Get is found roughly 600 times in the Bible but the word GIVE is found 15,600 times. Christianity is a religion of giving.
“No worship without giving. If we give we worship God.”
Worship is anything we do whose purpose is to praise and glorify God. We worship God with our mouths when we pray, tell others of His love, or sing to Him. We worship God with our bodies by eating right, bowing in prayer, or even dancing. We worship God with our money .

Isaiah 9:6 “unto us a Son is given
John 3:16 “……………… gave us His begotten son.”

God is the greatest of all givers. All that we have is given by God. To mankind he gave the breath of life (Gen 2:7) Employment (Gen 2:15, 16) Proper clothing (3:21) promise of redemption (3:15, 16) and a Covenant (9:12, 13)
Miss Elaine Crane last letter to her friend, fellow missionary “Jesus is the gift no one can give and in Him we have been given everything we need”

What shall I give you master?
You have redeemed my soul
My gift is small but it is my all
- ‘surrendered to your control’
- Grimes
******** Did you know that over 40% of what Jesus taught, in some way was connected to wealth and poverty, or the use or misuse of wealth, over 40% of his teachings! That should tell us something. It tells us that God and Jesus know that this is a very difficult thing for us; and that we need a lot of guidance

In the Bible people gave:
A Mary worshipped Jesus by giving the most costly ointment.
A Joseph of Aramathea gave his tomb.
A The small boy gave lunch to Jesus.
A Widow gave money.
God measures us not by what we give but what we keep.
Jesus made the boy lunch as large as heaven.

In the Old Testament Giving was a part of worship.In the New Testament Giving is the first fruit of repentance “Luke 3:11- And he would answer and say to them, "The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." John the Baptist talked money about repentance.
Martin Luther once said:
"People go through three conversions in the Christian faith: their head, their heart, and their pocketbook -- unfortunately, not all at the same time!"

ü Giving is indication of your commitment to God.
ü Giving is so often a root of Revival.



As we read the Bible, we find five types of giving:-
û Sacrifice to God.
û Tithes.
û First fruit.
û Free- will offering.
û Alms.

The best way to exercise worship is by giving and to give we need to sacrifice.

1. SACRIFICE TO GOD: Recognise of who God is? We bring sacrifice of praise unto the house of the Lord

2. TITHE: 10% of family income to support the priest and poor people. Legalistic tithe is not mentioned but shows about tithe.
Beside the tithe they had been told that from 9/10 of income- the 1st & 2nd year they should give to Levites and Priest and the 3rd year they have to given it to the poor.
1 Tim 5:17 ¶ The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

3. FIRST FRUIT: (32 times in the Bible) The first fruit offering honors God and gives you the power and anointing to get wealth according to the word of God. The Bible references first fruits or first things or devoted things no less than 32 times.

"First fruits" is not the same as tithe. Tithe is the first tenth. First fruits is the whole... the root... the foundation.
"For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches." — Romans 11:16
When you offer God your first fruits and bring Him the fullness of the first, you establish the foundation that the "whole thing" — your entire life — will be holy and blessed.

“First fruit is not an offering but a pattern but it cannot be activated without and offering”
Therefore, the first fruit is an
$ An act of worship ( Go before nostrils of God)
$ A declaration of blessing ( Blessing – (Hb )- prosperity
$ First fruit is devoted, holy and first belongs to God
Ex 13:1,2 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me."
Q Brought the first harvest
Q Anything belongs to God, He will always lay claim to it.
Q Pattern flows position and position follows possession.

Rom 11:16 If the first piece {of dough} is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

Ezek 44:30 "The first of all the first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house.”
What you do with the first determines the rest. To biblically position yourself for your first fruits blessing in 2007, give your very best to the Lord's work today as your first fruits offering.

4. FREE –WILL OFFERING :( The word offering occurs 754 times in the Bible.
“Offerings” " 265 times in the Bible”. Think about it?)
It was given to projects, building of temples. The free will offering are no tithes but as the Holy Spirit stirred their heart. It is a spiritual giving and not emotional (soul) giving
Acts 2:45:- “and they {began} selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”
Barnabas gave freely but Ananias & Sapphira gave part of it, in public they showed that they have given in full. They did not admit that they have kept a part of it.
Worship God in honesty where it is sacrifice through praise, or tithe, or free will offering or the offering of the 1st fruit.
Paul final speech to the Ephesians church was a giving text (Acts 20).
Acts 20:35 "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
“Giving bring happiness and cannot buy happiness
Giving bring growth and cannot but growth.”

5. ALMS: Giving that is to a needy individual or family.
Deuteronomy 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
Acts 10:1- 4 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian [band], [A] devout [man], and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Several points of interest:
ü when you fear (respect) God, and are concerned with pleasing him, you will give to those in need from time to time.
ü God always honors obedience with Spiritual blessing.
ü Our praying & our giving are a memorial to us before God.
Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all [men], especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Though we should give to those who have needs, be careful that you don't get taken advantage of by someone who is merely lazy. Often the best way is to give an offering through the church "designated" to a family or need. That way you get properly receipted from the church, but most importantly, sometimes the Pastor or staff may know more about the situation than you do. They may council you to give in another manner.
*** From time to time in the church, you will get a call from the secretary saying there is someone in the church who is in need of food or whatever. Please do your best to cooperate with the effort even if your short yourself. God will bless your faith & love!
Often people ask:

How much should I give in an offering?
Well, How much do you love God? How much do you want a blessing?
I can tell you this as a guideline...
II Corinthians 9:6- 8 “But this [I say], He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, [so let him give]; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work:”

REMEMBER: Offerings were just as much expected by God as tithes, however,
there was no amount set on it. It's from your heart!

Give of your best to the Master, Giver of the strength of the youth
Give of your best to the Master, Give Him first place in your heart.
Give of your best to the Master, Naught else is worthy His love
Throw your soul’s fresh ardor, In the battle for truth.
Give Him 1st place in your service, Gave up His glory above.

Jesus has set the example; Dauntless was He young and brave
Give and it shall be given, God His beloved Son gave.
Laid down his life without murmur, you form sins ruin to save.

Give Him your loyal devotion, Give Him the best that you have.
Gratefully seeking to serve Him, Give Him the best that you have.
Give Him your hearts adoration, Give Him the best that you have.
Give of your best to the Master, Give of the strength of your youth
Clad in salvation full armor, Join in the battle of truth.
- H.B. Grose (1851-1939)

SHILLONG LEADERS COHORT/WORKSHOP-1 (FEB 21-24,2007) PINE BROOK CENTER,UMBANG

LEADERSHIP HIMALAYA
-Encouraging and equipping disciples of Jesus throughout the Himalayan Region to be Leaders after God's own Heart

LEADERSHIP WITH EXCELLENCE:

• Leaders who excel have a clear vision.
• Leaders who excel develop a capable team of people around them to join in achieving the vision
• Leaders who excel takes risks in order to achieve thier vision
• When faced with challenges and setbacks to acheiving thier vision, leaders who excel respond with mission and strategy