Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What keeps you up at night?

I went to the almighty source, Google, and found out the following:

Your environment

Your eating habits

Your exercise routine

Your mental state

What keeps you up at night

One person wrote:

If you have an occasional sleepless night, you’re living in the real world.

If you never have one, perhaps it’s because your life is too safe.

It’s comforting to know that even Jesus had sleepless nights.

We read about one here, one in which He is overwhelmed with all kinds of strong feelings.

This morning we are going to look at two different kinds of passion in the following passages.

One could say they are in all of us and for some of us it is a battle to which passion come forth.

let’s begin by reading a few of the verses of the passage.

Let’s Pray

Christ’s Passion to connect with His Father

It is somewhat hard to fully comprehend the relationship between Christ and His father as they are both God.

We read in Scripture

I and the father are one.

But we must understand that Christ has a passion to connect with His father while He was here on this earth as a God-Man.

Fully God and Fully Man’

As was His custom

Luke’s description of the coming event adds this phrase that seems to be only in his account.

I can image as Luke was investigating the claims and records of the people about the life of Christ, he noticed something and wanted to let us know through the illumination of God that a custom in the life of Christ was to spend time in conversation with His Father.

How is our passion to spend time with God?

Has it become a custom, ritual or fitting it into our busy lives.

let me say that again and let that sink in.

Has our time with God

become a custom, ritual or fitting it into our busy lives

As was His custom

Christ knew that this time with God was needed.

Luke noticed this earlier in his gospel that Jesus began a custom that would go with him to the cross.

As was his Custom

Jesus had a passion to bring His concerns before His Father and at the same time was modelling a custom for His followers.

coming to the place,

Jesus first draws his attention to his disciples.

The garden scene of Jesus’ most intimate conversation between Him and His father is first thought was guidance for his disciples.

Pray for your lives.

Pray that you would not be lead into temptation.

Pray that your personal passions would not get in the way of what will be asked of you as you follow me.

Pray.

Pray.

do you struggle with Prayer?

do you at times wonder if you are praying for the right things?

You believe in an almighty God that is all knowing and works all things together, so why pray?

Jesus asked his disciples at the moment to pray.

Pray for their lives.

We too need to pray for our lives.

Luke’s focus turned from the disciples to the life of our saviour.

He knelt down to pray.

I have a question for you.

Is a prayer posture important for our lives?

If you have ever visted a mainstream church with it’s ornate sanctuary and wooden pews?

One of my assignments in Bible College was to send us out on a mission to explore various forms of faith practices.

I had a great opportunity to explore a high Anglican church and was interested by the row of padded kneeling pads attached to the pews.

As a part of their worship, during a prayer, these pads would fold down and everyone who was able would kneel during the prayer.

Did you notice, Luke made mention of Jesus posture.

One commentary states,

Jesus is to pray and the disciples are to pray, but there is a clear distinction to be made.

In Acts, kneeling is identified as the prayer posture only on occasions where the context suggests that there might be a particular intensity to the prayer.

If this is really true that posture and prayer’s intensity are combined.

Luke’s mention of Jesus kneeling is very important.

This intimate time when we see Jesus, our Lord in an intimate converstation with our Heavenly father.

He knew it was going to be hard.

He knew it would be a personal battle and would need all the strength that would be needed.

The text reminds us and shows us how important it was to come to God in Prayer.

In this moment in time of prayer, we see that Jesus as a God-man can identify with us.

The days coming were drawing heavily upon him and he brought them to God.

What weighs heavy on your heart.

Is there something today that has been burdening you when you come to prayer?

We see in this moment, that our Lord and soon to be saviour’s heart was heavy with the burden he was about to bear.

It seemed too hard at that moment and brought a simple request before God Almighty.

Luke 22:42 (ESV)

42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Jesus knew very well what the cup was.

Remember in Matt, as the disciples are discussing who owns the right to sit by Jesus’ side in Heaven, he points them to the cup.

The cup of shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus cries out in a strong voice,

If you are willing, remove this task from my life.

Jesus understands the pain and trials of our lives that we are going through.

He sat in the garden, a stones through away from the men who had just claimed they would go to the moon for him.

The men that have now fallen asleep by the weight of the times.

Jesus knows our greatest need and understands that pain that we at times are going through.

He knows as he cries out, If you are willing remove this task from my life.

Is there something in your life that seems far too hard to handle today?

Have you been bringing this burden day after day into the presence of our God and crying out, please take this from my life.

In your crying out are you feeling that God hasn’t heard you or that He as a sovereign God has no understanding of what you are going through,

This passage brings you comfort.

If Christ can call out to God in his moment of despair,

He understands what we are going through

He understands the pain we feel.

God doesn’t mind if you bring this to his throne.

It’s all right to ask God to remove whatever is challenging you today.

In fact we should,

We should not be embarrassed, it should be natural.

God will hear us when we pray.

Christ said, if at all possible, take this cup..

Take notice of what comes next