Joni Mannell - The Breaking Of Bread - Class 1 - In Remembrance of Me

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Invite our brother Johnny Manel from the Walsall Ecclesia in England, under the theme of At the Breaking of Bread. This is his first of his studies entitled. In remembrance of me and we have read, just read Luke chapter 22 verse 15 to 19 for the Johnny please.

2. 0:30

   Well, brothers and sisters, in fear that your lunch and the afternoon notorious hour for drifting off to sleep takes over you, I’m going to begin by asking you to use your imagination for a moment. I know that’s a tall order right at the beginning of our sessions, but I have confidence that you have the capacity to do it.

3. 0:48

   I want to use your imagination, and I want you to imagine, first of all, that you are an Israelite. You’re a member of an Israelite family. You’re living in the land of Goshen in Egypt, and it’s Passover night. But more than that, you’re not just any member of the family. You are the first born in your family and it’s Passover night. And I just want you, if you can, just for a moment or two, to stand in the sandals of the first born member of your family.

4. 1:17

   I don’t know how many of you are first borns. Maybe for some of you, you’ll have to really use your imagination. For some of you who will come more naturally. I’m not the first born in my house, so I’m in that category 2. I don’t want you to think what it would have been like on Passover night to have been the first born in your family.

5. 1:33

   Just just think for a moment of all the experiences you’ve been through and all the things that you’ve seen. You’ve seen the river Nile flowing with blood. You’ve seen frogs like the earth has never seen. Frogs jumping out of cupboards out from under the bed, out from the the mugs on the table. Frogs just that you would never have seen had it not been for the finger of God.

6. 1:56

   You’ve seen lice crawling everywhere. You’ve seen flies more than even you would see in Terranova National Park. Flies that you would never have normally seen but were it for the finger of God. You’ve seen hailstones that could strip trees and take life. You’ve seen cattle dying with with plagues and diseases. You’ve seen swarms of locusts coming across the country and just taking what was left. You’ve seen the men and women of Egypt suffering with boils from head to toe.

7. 2:27

   You’ve you’ve experienced and witnessed the darkness that the Bible says could be touched and felt for its thickness. And now you’ve seen Moses come out from the court of Pharaoh for the last time. And Moses has come and had a meeting with the elders of your tribes and with the elders of your families and explained that he’s not going to go in and see Pharaoh anymore. This is it.

8. 2:53

   This is the last one. I don’t know whether you would have believed Moses or not. I imagine if you were the first born in your home, it wouldn’t really make a difference. You were going to listen pretty carefully now as Moses explained what this last plague was going to be on Egypt. And in fact, God had said to Moses when he met him at the burning Bush, however many years it was prior that if Pharaoh refused to let Israel go, who God regarded as his first born son, then Pharaoh was going to pay with the life of his first born son. And now that day had come and Moses was given the instructions to the elders of your tribes and the elders of your families, because your first born son was going to be taken as well. And if you were the first born son in your family, it was your life that was now going to pay the price of freedom for the families of Israel to be redeemed from from Israel unless in faith you followed the instructions of Moses and you took the lamb and you took its blood and painted it around the doorposts and the lentil of your home. And I imagine you would watch pretty carefully as you watched your father.

9. 4:05

   If you were the first born in your family, taking that lamb, taking its blood and painting it around the doorposts of your house, sharing the meal together, I wonder how well you would have slept on Passover night if you’d been the first born in in your family. I I can tell you, I’m one of those people who can sleep anywhere, anytime.

10. 4:26

    You give me a pillow and I can drop off pretty much instantly. But I can tell you if I’d have been the first born in my house on Passover night, I’m not sure it would have been that straightforward. And perhaps you will be wondering why of all the things God could have done to redeem his people from slavery and from bondage in Egypt?

11. 4:45

    That the blood of this lamb would be the method. Why, of all the things God could have employed, was He asking your Father to take this method, this option for, for the sign, for the, for the memory, for the token of redemption? Why of all the things God could have done, this was the one.

12. 4:59

    Nevertheless, you watched him going through the motions, going through the ritual, doing the process that Moses had described. And I guess it would only be when morning began to break the morning after Passover night. That you began to realise the awesome nature of what had been achieved for you by God when you just went to check that, you know, you pinched yourself, you were still there, you were still alive. And as you ran next door to check the families, because they, I guess they would have lived in, in extended families, wouldn’t they?

13. 5:29

    And they went to check that no other houses had lost a first born either. And it would only when you heard the cries from every home in Egypt, even from the court of Pharaoh himself, that you realise the price God had paid for your freedom. There wasn’t a home in Egypt where not one had lost their life.

14. 5:49

    I don’t know how you would feel about that, Brent. And sisters, for those of you who know your neighbors on the streets round where you live, I mean, nobody wants to pay the price of freedom with your own child, right? But how, if it was one of your neighbors, how would you feel if it was under their children, who was going to pay the price for your freedom? Would would that feel better?

15. 6:08

    How would you feel about that? And and there wasn’t a there wasn’t one house in Egypt that wasn’t crying over the loss of a member of their family in order to pay the price for your freedom. And, and you began gathering your things together and, and Moses began arranging the people in their ranks of fives and 10’s and 50s and hundreds with what belongings they could gather together in order to begin their journey down towards the Red Sea.

16. 6:34

    And I just wonder if you can imagine, Brent, this is the atmosphere that would have been amongst the the men and women of Israel as they as they look back on those homes in Goshen for for whom almost all of their lives, they’d never known anything else. They’d never known anything but slave lives there in those those basic down to earth dwellings.

17. 6:53

    That’s where they’d lived. That’s all they’d known. That’s where they’d grown up. That’s where they’d heard the stories of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob just running down their generations. And now in some way or another, it was now coming to pass in their time in their lives, in the lives of their families. And as they look back at for the last time at that that slave home, knowing they were never going to see it ever again, maybe they would begin to wonder why of all the things God could have done to pay the price for their freedom, this had been the method.

18. 7:21

    And maybe some of those stories would begin to come back to them that they’d heard in Sunday school and they’d grown up with. Maybe they would remember the time when Abraham had been asked to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice. And do you remember the conversation Abraham and Isaac had had? It would have been in all of their Sunday school stories. As they arrived at the top of the mountain and do you remember Isaac posed his his father a question. Father, I see we have the wood and the fire for the offering, but where is the lamb?

19. 7:49

    And you might remember Abraham’s reply. My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the offering. And it was now as if on a mass scale, the offering that I, Abraham and Isaac, had gone through together was now being fulfilled in the lives of the men and women of Israel. God had provided a lamb, and it had been the blood of that lamb that had paid the price for your freedom.

20. 8:15

    You personally, specifically the first born, the one who should have given his life for the family. It was your personal life that had been spared, not just the life of your family, but yours very personally and very specifically had not had to be given so that the rest of your family could be spared and could now walk free and make their way down to the water of the Red Sea.

21. 8:34

    Or what a night that would have been as they all began to arrive on the on the shores of the Red Sea. And it just looked for a moment, actually, like everything was going to be lost. They were hemmed in on either side with mountains. There was the Red Sea in front of them. And they heard, all of a sudden, in the background, the chariot wheels of Pharaoh making one last attempt to recover his losses as he made his way.

22. 8:55

    Down to the Red Sea and they could see the cloud of dust coming, and now they would witness another great window that would never again in fact be repeated ever in history as they saw Moses lift up the rod of God. And the water of the Red Sea began to part it. It’s almost beyond imagining, isn’t it?

23. 9:14

    I’m asking you to do it this afternoon. I’m asking you to stand in the sandals of those people and ask if you can actually be there. But it’s almost beyond it, isn’t it? To even begin to assimilate yourself into the circumstances of all of those experiences. Having seen the river running with blood and the frogs and the lice and the hail and the locusts.

24. 9:31

    To have experienced the the death of the first born and now to be standing on the shores of the Red Sea and watch the water stand up on either side with a big enough channel for a million people to walk across dry foot. And Can you imagine Bran sisters, the songs they will be singing?

25. 9:46

    Can you imagine the feelings that would be running through their hearts and minds? Can you imagine the adrenaline that would be pumping through their blood and all the feelings and the thoughts that would be going through their minds? Being a a part of a group of people who would never again in history experience anything like this on this kind of scale.

26. 10:02

    And as they stood on the other side of the Red Sea, knowing that they were destined for a new life and a new land and everything to do with Egypt, with everything that it stood for, everything that it represented was now behind them. It was in the past. God had washed it away forever.

27. 10:16

    You would never forget that Bren sisters, would you? There is never in a million years you would ever be able to forget those experiences. But they did, didn’t they?

28. 10:32

    And we do, don’t we, Bren Sisters? That’s that’s the great irony and the great problem with human nature. That’s why the Lord Jesus knew what he was doing when he said, I want you to come week by week and I want you to sit down and bolt yourself into the chair and never forget the blood of the land that paid the price for your salvation. Never forget the feelings that you had when you first realised the awesome nature of that which God was doing for you. That you might never forget the the experiences, the feelings that you had.

29. 11:07

    The awareness that you had of of what your old life was like and what it was worth before you came to an understanding of what God was willing to do for you. Of how He set you on the road to a new life and to a new land. How He stood you on the other side of the Red Sea with no way back and sent you off on a journey through the wilderness that would end in the promised land. I know the wilderness journey wasn’t plain sailing, but what an awesome thing God had done in standing you on the safe side and sending you off on your journey in such an extraordinary way.

30. 11:42

    And I hope, brothers, sisters, we share these sessions together, we can begin to sit down and bolt ourselves into our chairs and remember and engage in our minds and in our hearts with the extraordinary things that the Lord Jesus asked us to remember. And in this session particularly, what I want us to think about.

31. 12:01

    Where’s my thing, Gary? Here it is. So our session is called in Remembrance. And when, when the Lord Jesus then came to sharing this meal with with the disciples, what was it specifically is what I want to explore in this session with you this afternoon. What was it specifically, perhaps that he wanted you to remember, bearing in mind the the introduction we’ve just shared together? What was it that the Lord Jesus Christ wanted us week by week to actually focus on, to remember?

32. 12:28

    And also, why was it that he said that he was desperate to share this meal with his disciples before he suffered? And what I want us to do. Together is really see if we can get into the mind and under the skin of the Lord Jesus Christ and see and feel his own demeanour and his own attitude when he came to that meeting. I, I I.

33. 12:48

    Guess if you’re anything like me and, and I’m pretty sure because we have, we’re, we’re all human, right? One of the things I love about travelling around the world and meeting different grand sisters from different cultures, what you discover is that human nature actually is universal. We might speak different languages, we might come from different cultures, but our universal commonalities are human nature and that affects us all the same.

34. 13:10

    It might have different manifestations, but it affects us. It affects us all the same and we have different ways I suppose, and different times in our life, different circumstances mean we come to remember the Lord Jesus Christ on a Sunday or whenever it is we, we might do it with different feelings, different attitudes, different approaches. And I want to see if we can this afternoon understand what the approach of the Lord Jesus Christ was. What was his, what was his demeanour, what was his persona as he sat around that table with those 12 men and broke the bread and shared the wine.

35. 13:44

    Let’s have a look at this, one of the verses that we read together by way of introduction in in Luke 22 with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And one of the first questions I want to ask you is this. Why was the Lord Jesus so determined to do this before He suffered?

36. 14:03

    Why not afterwards? Wouldn’t it have made so much more sense afterwards? If you could have sat down after the resurrection with the disciples and said, now, now I’m going to share this bread with you and I’m going to tell you it represents my body. Now I’m going to share this cup with you and tell you that it represents my.

37. 14:20

    Blood. Now you will have some understanding perhaps of, of what I mean. Why didn’t the Lord Jesus do that? When I approached this study, I thought that surely that would have made more sense, right? Wouldn’t it have had so much more meaning and so much more impact to to sit down in those?

38. 14:35

    40 days before his ascension, and say, now let me explain to you the breaking of bread. But the Lord Jesus didn’t. In fact, He was absolutely determined to do it before he suffered, before these men actually had any great understanding, thankfully, of what the Lord Jesus was about to go through in the next day or two following.

39. 14:56

    And in fact, just to emphasise that two of the other gospel writers pick up on those words of Luke. This is what the apostle Paul said in his account of the breaking of bread in One Corinthians, the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed to bread. And can you see the emphasis? That the Apostle Paul is making.

40. 15:11

    He seems to be saying to me, so determined was the Lord Jesus to share this meal before he suffered, that the moment he chose to do it was the very night in which he was betrayed, probably knowing he was going to betrayed. I don’t know how you would have done this, whether there?

41. 15:25

    Would have been a whole host of other things on your mind if you’d have been the Lord Jesus Christ in that situation. And yet the apostle Paul says so determined was the Lord Jesus to share this before he suffered. The moment he chose to do it was the very night in which he was betrayed.

42. 15:41

    That’s that’s powerful stuff, isn’t it? And notice what John says as he introduces. John, of course, spends the most time in the upper room in his Gospel. And here in verse one of John 13 when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.

43. 15:58

    And of all the things that you could have understood John for adding there, Jesus knowing that his hour was come. Well, he decided to be on his own and spend an evening very carefully on his own thinking about himself. You could have understood John saying that, couldn’t you? That’s not what the Lord Jesus did.

44. 16:16

    Having loved his own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And of course John goes on to say he rised. He rose from supper and took a towel and began to wash the disciples feet. Isn’t that spine tingling of all the things the Lord could have been doing the night he was betrayed, the what?

45. 16:33

    What he desired to do with desire. I have desire to share this meal with you before I suffer. And one of the things we really need to somehow put straight, it seems to me, in our minds, is why that determination of the Lord to do so before He suffered. Coming me to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 14.

46. 17:10

    Mark chapter 14 and verse 12. Here’s the lovely way in which the Lord approached this meal with His disciples. You begin to get some really lovely insights into what the Lord was thinking and how He was feeling on the first day of Unleavened Bread. Verse 12 Mark 14 when when they would normally kill the Passover, His disciples said to him, where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? I want to notice how carefully Mark recorded that. Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover for you to eat it?

47. 17:46

    They said. And the reason they said that I think Ren sisters, was because as we just remembered, the Passover was a family meal. It was shared pretty much exclusively in families. And if the family was small, then it would branch out to extended families and and maybe to neighbors. That was the rules back there in Exodus 12. In Exodus 13, it was a family occasion. And what I want you to notice here in Mark 14 is that the disciples make no presumption that they’re going to be part of that family.

48. 18:12

    Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? They don’t say, where do you want us to go and prepare for all of us to eat the Passover. They say, Lord, we know you’re really busy. You’re not going to get chance at this rate to be having a Passover meal. Where do you want us to go and prepare so that you can have somewhere to share Passover and they make no presumption to be part of the family.

49. 18:36

    Welcome down to verse 15. What what was the Lord’s response? He gave Peter and John, as you know, the instructions and he says you, the man who you follow will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared there make ready for us. Isn’t that lovely? Jesus says, don’t worry, I I know you’re not expecting to be sharing this meal with me because I’m supposed to be sharing it with my family, but you’re my family and we’re going to be sharing this meal together and I’ve made special provision for us to do that. And that’s a that’s a spine tingling thing actually, isn’t it friend?

50. 19:13

    Sisters, when we come on a Sunday morning and we walk into the room and we sit down together, blood ties no longer make a difference, do they? It’s our relationship in the Lord Jesus Christ that counts. And he has prepared for us to share a meal together as his family. And that was the attitude, Brent sisters, with which the Lord approached this meal. Having loved his own, which we’re in the world. He loved them to the end.

51. 19:40

    And the Lord was going to have a meal with the people he loved most in the entire world. And Brent sisters, when we come to meet week by week, one of the things we need to remember is that we are the people whom the Lord loves the most in the entire world. Sometimes we may not be the people who love each other the most in the entire world, but what we need to remember is that we are the people who the Lord loves the most in the entire world.

52. 20:09

    So why we’ve we’ve just started then to explore this, this attitude, this demeanour of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why then was it so important for the Lord that He shared it with them before He suffered? Why not afterwards? I’ve desired with desire, I’ve desired to share this Passover with you before I suffer. Do it in remembrance of me.

53. 20:29

    Well, if you’ve been a disciple sitting there around that table and you’d heard the Lord say that, do this in remembrance of me. At that point in time, without any knowledge of what was going to take place in the days and weeks and months following, what would you be remembering if you cast your mind back? Sometimes, you know, nostalgia’s a great thing in human nature. Particularly I understand as you get older, you know, you start thinking back to the good old days. Well, if you’d been a disciple in the room with the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus had said to you, do this in remembrance of me, what would you have been able to remember? What kind of things would have been running through your mind of the last three, 3 1/2 years, maybe longer? If you’ve grown up in the vicinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, what would you remember about him? What are the kind of things that would be? Etched forever on your memory at that point in time without knowing all the things that we’re going to follow. And I guess it would be things like this, wouldn’t it? They would remember the man who when they thought they were about to lose their lives in a storm on the boat. A man who could stand up and command the sea in the waves. A man who could touch leprosy no problem. A man who could open the eyes of the blind and make the dumb sing and the lame walk.

54. 21:42

    A man whose eyes and heart could penetrate the exterior. We were thinking about Matthew in our exhortation this morning. A man who could see beyond the tax collector to the man beneath. A man who could see beyond the Pharisees to the men beneath. A man who could feel anger and joy. A man who could laugh and cry to what some people seem the most obtuse things.

55. 22:10

    That’s the kind of man they would remember, isn’t it? A man who somehow had penetrated the very deepest recesses of their hearts and their minds and their souls in a way that they’d never experienced before. That was the man they would remember. Isn’t it and? It seems to me, brother and sisters, that’s a really core reason why Jesus wanted to share this meal with them before he suffered. He was about to say to them, this bread represents my body. He, he doesn’t say this bread will come to represent my body. He says it does.

56. 22:41

    It is my body. And when you think of all the things that you know about me, all the things that impressed you about me, all the memories and the occasions and the circumstances that have left their imprint on your mind, bring all those to bear when you share this table with one another before I suffer. And it seems to me, Brenton, that’s a really key reason why the Lord wanted to do that beforehand. He wanted to cement all their experiences and all their understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ in everything that he’d given of his life, of his circumstances, of his personality, of his character in those days leading up to his death.

57. 23:17

    That’s what he wanted to focus their mind on. Not the things that would be etched on their memory afterwards, but those things. All the things they’d. Seen and felt and heard and touched and listened to in the 3 1/2 years that they’d been with him. Let’s have a look at some of the statements of the Lord Jesus Christ as he, as he shared this meal with with his disciples.

58. 23:36

    You see Brent sisters, when I when I was younger and I used to come to the breaking of bread meeting sometimes on a Sunday, sometimes I would leave not quite knowing how I was supposed to feel. Was I supposed to feel sad? You know, was it, was it, whilst it’s a solemn occasion, was I supposed to leave feeling like it had been a sad place to be that that what I was remembering was a great moment of bitterness and and unhappiness? Well, what was the demeanour then of the Lord Jesus Christ? Just have a look at some of these statements. The reason I’m sharing this with you now, and these are all from John’s Gospel in those moments in the upper room that John goes into great detail to record.

59. 24:15

    I’m telling you this before it’s come. So that when it is come to pass, you might believe. Can you sense the essence of what the Lord Jesus is saying? He’s saying, I know that in a couple of days time you’re going to be seeing things they’re going to make you want to just abandoned your faith. And when it does come to pass as the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to have a context to put this into. That’s why I’m telling you these things and sharing with it with you right now, because when, when the day comes when you see some of the most miserable things in your. Life.

60. 24:43

    I want them to have a context, and what was that context that the Lord was going to give them? Listen to this. Let not your heart be trebled. You believe in God, believe also in me. I don’t know about you, brother and sisters. When my heart is in turmoil and when my life is is falling apart around my ears, I find it very difficult to say to other people.

61. 25:05

    Do you know what? Just relax, everything’s going to be OK. And the reason I’ve struggled to say that is because I can’t say it to myself. And here was the Lord Jesus Christ with a composure and a demeanour in those moments in the upper room that meant he could say to these men, listen, don’t let your heart be troubled. And I wonder if you can imagine the way in which the Lord Jesus said those words.

62. 25:30

    Do you think he was distracted? Do you think his mind was somewhere else? Do you think he was like forgetting things and getting himself mixed up and muddled because he was so his mind was so uptight and worried about what lay ahead of him? You tend to discover that the only times when you can say to other people, don’t let your heart be troubled is when you’re in that place yourself.

63. 25:53

    Don’t let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. How about this one? This blows my mind. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. There it is again. Neither let it be afraid. How about that? Can you imagine, Brent? Sisters, the Lord Jesus having the composure and the strength of mine and character to say that? Listen, I I’m going to leave with you my peace. I don’t know if if any of you have ever met a man with the kind of peace inside, with himself, with his circumstances, with the world around him, such as the Lord Jesus Christ, such as a man who could say, listen, I want to give you a piece of my peace of all nights in his life, to be able to say that you would have forgiven him for not being able to say it this night, wouldn’t you?

64. 26:50

    Peace I live with you, my peace I give unto you. Don’t be afraid, Don’t let your heart be troubled. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy. Now here’s a new concept, right? That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be fooled. Have you ever met anybody who spoke about joy and everything about their body language told you they didn’t really know anything about it? Is that do you imagine that was the Lord Jesus Christ here as he said these words here in the upper room, sharing the emblems of his own body and his own blood. These things that I’m the reason I’m telling you, he says is that my joy might remain in you.

65. 27:30

    Can you imagine, Bren sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ feeling and experiencing? Joy on Passover night for him, when he was going to be the lamb whose blood was going to be taken. As the price and the payment for redemption. And yet here is the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I want you to have my joy.

66. 27:46

    I’m not just telling you that I’m experiencing it and feeling it. I want you to have some of mine. That’s why we’re sharing this meal together. That’s what this is about. And somehow, bruh and sisters, as solemn rightly as as our as our breaking of bread needs to be somehow for each and every one of us, we need to understand the context and perspective of it.

67. 28:06

    That means when we leave and we start Monday morning. We’ve got some of the joy that the Lord Jesus Christ wanted us to take into our lives and to experience. Where did that come from? What was driving that?

68. 28:21

    These things Have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. That was going to be very poignant for those men, wasn’t it, When in the garden only a matter of hours later, they were all going to forsake him and run away. But the reason I’m sharing this with you, and I don’t think Jesus was just talking about that that following evening on on in the garden of Gethsemane.

69. 28:42

    He’s saying in your life, the reason we’re sharing this meal together, the reason I’m trying to. Convey these things to you is that so that you won’t be offended in me, that you will understand what I’m doing, that you’ll gain an appreciation of what these symbols mean and how important that they are, and that you won’t be offended because of me. These things I’ve I’ve told you that you might remember that I told you them.

70. 29:05

    When your life hits rock bottom, which was going to happen, in fact in just a couple of days time, when you’re sitting there at the bottom of the barrel, you might remember that I told you these things and that I said unto you at the beginning, I couldn’t tell you then because I was with you.

71. 29:19

    But now I’m leaving you. That’s why I have to share this with you before I suffer because now I’m going to rely on you. Everything that we’ve been through together, all your memories of me, of what I’m about, of what I’ve done, of what I can do, of what I stand for, of who I’ve been, of what I’ve said, of what I’ve taught you when I’m no longer with you.

72. 29:37

    The reason we have to do this before I suffer is that when you’re standing there and you feel like you’re on your. Own you will remember that I was with you and I told you all these things. Isn’t that a wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ? And brethren says sometimes when it feels like you’re standing on your own and it’s Wednesday and and things have just fallen apart just since Sunday morning.

73. 29:57

    Well, somehow we need to be able to sit back in our seats and put the seat belt back on and remember those symbols and what they meant to us and what they stood for and the challenge they gave us and the motivation that they were there for last one. And again, another seismic one. Really, these things.

74. 30:15

    Have I spoken unto you again? That in me you might have peace in the world. I know for sure you’ll have tribulation. But be of good cheer. Isn’t that lovely? Be of good cheer. I’ve overcome the world. When you’re standing in the classroom, when you’re sitting in the car, when you’re, when you’re on the work floor, wherever it might be, when you’re at home, you know, and you’ve just disciplined your child for the 10th time running. Be of good cheer.

75. 30:42

    All the things that the world throws at you and stands for, I’ve overcome them. And you sit right back down and you bolt back, you bolt yourself back into the things we remembered. And be of good cheer. Isn’t that lovely? The demeanour of the Lord Jesus Christ I don’t sense but insists in those passages.

76. 30:58

    Though if if the Lord Jesus could could have met with us this morning that it would have been a sad occasion as we shared the emblems of his body and of his blood, the Lord would have wanted. Us to take away the essence of His, of his feelings and of his state of mind.

77. 31:14

    Because what we’re going to discover, Bensis is what this what this feast, this memorial, this, this meal that he was sharing with his disciples represented for him was not sadness. This was the going to be the greatest victory of his life. This was going to be the greatest moment of triumph for him and his father that the world has ever seen. And he wanted us to sense that.

78. 31:35

    He wanted us to be a part of it and he wanted us to take a piece of it away with him. This is my body. This is my blood. And do you know, Bren sisters, sometimes, maybe naturally, because we’re human, we tend to focus, I guess sometimes on some of the hard things that the Lord Jesus went through. And yet, do you know, the weight of emphasis in the Bible on the Lord’s crucifixion and of his suffering is almost non existent.

79. 32:02

    I don’t know how much you’ve ever thought about that. Do you know all it says in the record of Scripture is and they crucified him. That’s all it says. God didn’t measure the nails. He didn’t tell us about how brutal the Romans were and what lengths they went to to make their victims of crucifixion suffer.

80. 32:22

    You don’t get any of that from the record of Scripture. History may be, but not Scripture. All the Bible says is and they crucified him. And the Bible uses words like victory, glorification, triumph, redemption. Here’s the here’s the ultimate one for the joy set before him. He endured the cross. That’s what it says. The thing that drove the Lord Jesus Christ to be able to manage the challenges of crucifixion was the joy that was set before him.

81. 32:56

    And it seems to me, Brent says, it’s some essence of that joy that the Lord Jesus wants to share with us week by week as we come to share his memory. Come with me to Psalm 118. This, this was for me one of the one of the finest examples of the the mindset of the Lord as he approached these circumstances. Psalm 118.

82. 33:23

    There’s no doubt that this Psalm was in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ at at this time as he as he made his way into Jerusalem for the last week of his life. And the reason there’s no doubt about it is because if you remember, as they lined the streets of Jerusalem and laid palm branches in the way and cried out and sang on the streets of Jerusalem, all those hundreds of thousands of people as they came out to meet him, they were singing the words of this song. Here it is, Psalm 118, verse 25.

83. 33:52

    This is what they were singing, save now. That’s the Hebrew word hosanna. Save now we beseech the O Lord, blessed be he, verse 26, who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the House of the Lord. Save now hosanna, verse 26. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And as you, you might remember, as Jesus made his way into Jerusalem for the last week, that’s the song they were singing, save now, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

84. 34:20

    I don’t know how you’re doing. It’s pretty warm. I’m going to ask you to use your imagination again. Can you imagine if you were one of the disciples? Walking alongside that donkey as Jesus made his way into the streets of Jerusalem, trying to look into the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, what an awesome experience. Hundreds of people lining the streets of Jerusalem of all cities, and they’re taking off their clothes and they’re throwing them on the animal and they’re pulling down palm branches and laying them in the way. And hundreds of people are singing the song of Psalm 118. Hosanna.

85. 34:52

    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. I wonder if you can imagine being a disciple of the Lord Jesus by the sisters. Just wondering what on earth was going through the Lord’s mind as he rode into Jerusalem on that donkey in those circumstances. And I want to suggest to you, and this is just my imagination and nothing else, that as they tried to look into the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ and as they looked into his eyes, the Lord Jesus was miles away.

86. 35:19

    I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that happen to somebody. You’re kind of having a conversation and you look into their eyes and you realise that although they’re there in body, they’ve gone. You know, it happens to me a lot, particularly when I’m speaking and I can see into everybody else’s eyes right here, right now.

87. 35:34

    You kind of know when people are drifting away. They might be staring you right in the face, but you can see in their eyes they’re miles away in their mind. It happens a lot with children, you know, short attention span. You’re chatting away and all of a sudden you realise it’s pretty pointless. The story of Incy Wincy Spider before you even get to him being washed out the spout as he’s kind of gone and he’s now watching the whirly thing in the in the ceiling. And it seems to me in a way, but since it was like that as they looked into the eyes of the Lord Jesus on this road into Jerusalem.

88. 36:02

    Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and the disciples just almost beginning to feel, you know, a strange experience as they as they walk into Jerusalem with with what could be their king. And they look into his eyes, and he’s miles away. Where was the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ bred sisters? Well, just look earlier in this Psalm and I think we might just get a feeling.

89. 36:27

    Verse 14 Just have a look at this and see if you can enter into the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ as He was riding in Jerusalem, hearing them sing the song of Psalm 118. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous.

90. 36:48

    The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth. Valiantly, that’s what was in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was the right hand of the Lord. And and as they’re all singing Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Jesus, thinking well.

91. 37:07

    The Lord is my strength and song, and his right hand is about to do valiantly. And look where the mind of the Lord is. Verse 17. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. Isn’t that a stunning insight into the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ? I shall not die, but live.

92. 37:29

    As the Lord rides into Jerusalem for the last week of his life, this is what was in his mind as he heard them singing Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. I shall not die, but live. Notice the next verse, verse 18. The Lord has chastened me sore, but he’s not given me over unto death. Not given me over unto death.

93. 37:49

    Is that what the Lord was thinking? Yes, of course it was what He was thinking. He has chastened me so. But He’s not given me over unto death. He’s given me over unto life and to your life and my life and everybody else’s life. That’s what the Lord God is doing with him right here, right now. Open to me the gates, he says verse 19 of righteousness. I will enter them and give praise to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, which are the righteous shall enter.

94. 38:13

    Don’t open to me the gates of Jerusalem. He says, open to me the gates of righteousness into which the righteous shall enter. That’s you and me. That’s where the Lord was going in his mind. Isn’t that lovely? Just come down then down as they were singing. Verse 25, Hosanna, verse 26, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

95. 38:34

    Verse 27, This is what the Lord was thinking. Good. The Lord is God, and He has showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with chords, even to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise thee. You are my God, and I will exalt thee. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

96. 39:00

    And that’s the mindset of a man. Bren sisters, we need to learn about that’s that. That’s the mindset of a man who when it feels like your life is on a one way track to nowhere. This is the power of what your mind can do when it’s focused on the things of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

97. 39:16

    The Lord might have chastened me sore, but he’s not given me over unto death. The Lord is good. Bind the sacrifice with corn, with hooked cords, even to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you. You are my God, and I will exalt you. O give thanks unto the Lord.

98. 39:32

    For he is good, for his mercy endures forever. That’s that’s a perspective on death, brethren, sisters, that I suspect well is a challenge to us to rise to in our minds, isn’t it? Open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go in bind the sacrifice with cords even to the horns of the altar. And that was the demeanour Bren sisters, the Lord was trying to impress on his disciples in that. Upper Room, in a couple of days time you’re going to see me on that cross and you’re going to think everything is everything has collapsed, everything has fallen apart, everything’s gone wrong and that’s not it, says the Lord Jesus Christ. You are my God and I will exalt you. You are my God, and I will give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

99. 40:14

    For his mercy endures forever. And despite all the challenges of crucifixion and the trials of death and suffering, I want you to have my joy and my peace. I want you to to not be afraid, but be of good cheer, said the Lord Jesus Christ. And may, brother and sisters, week by week, as we come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, take some of that mindset away with us. And in fact, here are a couple of statements of the Lord Jesus Christ as to how he was going to describe what he was about to achieve.

100. 40:45

     And you won’t hear anything about the size of the Roman nails or the challenges of crucifixion. You just listen to the language of the Lord Jesus Christ. The hour has come and you’re expecting sadness and misery, aren’t you? The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. That’s what was in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ when I said how else can you cope with crucifixion unless that is your focus.

101. 41:13

     How else will you be able to challenge the ups and downs of your life unless this is your focus? It’s in those moments, for instance, that we are glorified in the eyes and in the in the mind of God. The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And this for me, this question. Now that the Lord Jesus poses, it’s not often you get an insight into what the Lord was actually thinking. And John just opens a window just for a moment on the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ and tells you what he was thinking. And this is what he was thinking. Now, is my soul troubled?

102. 41:42

     And what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? Is that what you want me to be asking for? Is that what I should be asking for? That’s what I would have been asking for, right? Given the choice in that very moment. That would have been my question, Father, is it possible to be saved from this hour? Is that what I should be saying?

103. 42:00

     Says the Lord Jesus Christ. No way. That’s not what I’m going to ask for. I came for this hour, for this, ’cause I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. That’s what I want to do. That’s what this meal is about. It’s about glorifying God and His purpose. It’s about me being glorified by achieving the greatest victory for mankind that could ever be possibly imagined. And it’s that glory and it’s that victory, and it’s that joy, brethren and sisters, says the Lord Jesus, that I want you to be thinking about as you share together this meal that you can be a part of.

104. 42:40

     That that I did this for you, and that it’s the best moment of my life for this ’cause I came to this very hour to give you this bread and to pour out this wine. Father, glorify your name. You might remember this one from the Lord’s Prayer in John 17. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. Father, the hour has come, and again, you’re almost expecting something difficult and something problematic, aren’t you?

105. 43:06

     In those words. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify thee. And now, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world began. That’s the quote, isn’t it? There from John 17. And that’s what was in the mind, Bren, sister of the Lord Jesus Christ.

106. 43:25

     And I challenge you, Bren sisters, week by week to come and bolt yourself into that chair and get into the mind and into the the perspective of the heart and the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory, redemption, victory, triumph. I have overcome. Take my peace, take my joy. Don’t be troubled, don’t be afraid, be of good cheer. I’ve done all these things for you. And as they leave the upper room and make their way, oh, sorry, one more thing.

107. 43:53

     Just before we go into the upper room, where was the Lord Jesus going? Right as he sits in that upper room and he shares this this meal with the disciples before they head out into the into the Mount of Olives, Jesus makes it abundantly clear where he was going. And you would expect him to be saying, now listen, this is what’s going to happen. I’m going to be arrested.

108. 44:14

     I’m going to be put on trial. I’m going to be flogged. I’m going to be beaten almost to death. Then they’re going to hang me on a stake. That’s where I’m going. That’s not where the Lord was going. Bren sisters that might have been on the journey, that might have been part of the process, but it certainly wasn’t the destination.

109. 44:35

     I scan, read through John 13, through John 17, and I count at least 10 times and they’re here on the screen 10 times in four chapters where the Lord makes it abundantly clear where he was going. Jesus knew that he would depart out of this world. Where to be with the Father. Jesus knowing that he was come from.

110. 44:57

     God. And was about to go and be with God in my father’s house. Here’s the famous one and many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And I’m going to prepare a place for you in my father’s house. Isn’t that lovely? I go to the Father, I go my way to him that sent me.

111. 45:14

     I’m going to be with the Father. I leave the world and go to the Father and these last two from John 17 as as the Lord speaks very. Personally, to his father, I’m no more in the world than I’m coming to be with you. Can you imagine, Brent, this is a better place to be.

112. 45:28

     Can you imagine a better destination for the journey of your life? And Brent says what the Lord wanted to impress on the disciples in the upper room is that that’s where he was going, so that when they saw him crucified, when they saw him suffering and in pain, they might remember that he told them where he was going.

113. 45:49

     I’m not going to Calvary. That’s not where I stop. That’s not my destination. That’s not the ultimate place. I’m going to be with the Father. Isn’t that lovely, Bren Sisters? And I wonder, Bren sisters, if the destination of our lives is the same place. I wonder if our determination to be there can week by week, as we come and remember the resolve of the Lord Jesus Christ, be brought into line with his.

114. 46:17

     I’m going to be with the Father. And here’s the lovely thing, John 14. I’m going to prepare a place for you. That’s where I want the ultimate destination of your life to be. I want you to come with me not to Calvary, not to Calvary. That’s a that’s a unique stopping place for me in order to get you there.

115. 46:38

     I don’t ask you to go there with me, but I’m going to prepare a place that you might be with the Father. I I don’t know about you that that just raises all the hackles on the back of my neck when I think about the demeanour of the Lord Jesus Christ, a man who could face the the most intense human suffering that you could ever describe.

116. 46:56

     And yet these were the things that were flowing through his mind. And Bren sisters, when life gets turned upside down, if you can learn from the perspective and the demeanour and the attitude and the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will turn your life right back the right way out and set you back on the journey to be with the Father.

117. 47:15

     And so as they left that upper room and they enter the garden and this is just where I want to end. I know I’m pushing you on our first afternoon, or although maybe it’s the best afternoon, you wouldn’t want this on the last afternoon, would you? I just want us to end in the Garden of Gethsemane and understand what was going on, particularly with Peter, James and John as the Lord Jesus took them to witness his prayers to the Father.

118. 47:38

     And what I want you to remember as we just go into the garden with the Lord Jesus Christ was that this is the statement at the end of John 16 as the Lord is about to enter Gethsemane. This is His statement to His disciples. You will be scattered, every man to his own, and you will leave me alone. And yet I want you to remember this. When that happens, even when that happens, Peter, in in three days time, when you’re weeping and bitter because of your own failings, this is what I want you to remember. Peter, I wasn’t alone.

119. 48:07

     You didn’t leave me alone because the Father is with me. And these things I’ve spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. Be of good cheer. I’ve overcome the world. And I suppose one of the great problems now in seeing the Lord Jesus go into the Garden of Gethsemane and get down on his knees in prayer is it just looks like for a moment that everything is has the potential to to come apart at the seams. Just when you’ve heard these statements. Listen, I know what’s going to happen. You’re all going to scatter.

120. 48:34

     You’re going to leave me. And yet I want you to remember I’m not alone. The Father is with me and I have overcome the world already. Isn’t the? Isn’t the. The the, the, the tense of that statement. Lovely. I have overcome the world. Not I’m about to not I will. It’s done, the work is finished. I’ve done it.

121. 48:53

     It’s over. I have overcome the world. I want you to remember that as we go now into the garden. Let’s have a look in Matthew 26. So Matthew 26 and 36, you know the story well. They enter the garden of Gethsemane. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And said to his disciples, Sit here while I go and pray Yonder. And he took with him Peter, the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

122. 49:42

     And he said to them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me. So we see the Lord Jesus entering the garden. 8 disciples are left some distance away, Judas already having gone of course, and now Peter, James and John go with him a little further. And Jesus says, I want you to wait here and watch with me. And my last question for you this afternoon, brother and sisters, is why?

123. 50:07

     Why was it so important to the Lord Jesus Christ that Peter, James and John specifically were watching and witnessing here in the garden with the Lord Jesus Christ? What was it that Jesus wanted them to take away from this moment? And one of the problems for me anyway, Maybe you haven’t had this problem.

124. 50:29

     Maybe you have one of the problems for me of this prayer that the Lord Jesus gives on this occasion. There it is, verse 39. He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. The cup is unidentified in Scripture.

125. 50:46

     We’re not told what it’s symbolised for the Lord Jesus Christ. I know we we naturally and automatically take it to me in the suffering that the Lord was about to go through all I all I’m suggesting to you is that’s not identified. That’s not explicitly told us in the record. It’s understandable that we we interpret it that way and I’ve no problem with it being interpreted that way. I don’t want to take anything away from the suffering and the problem that the Lord Jesus as any man would face going through what he was about to go through.

126. 51:14

     All I’m saying to you is it’s not expressly told us in the record that that’s what the represented for the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to share with you just for the last 5 minutes is that I think there was more in it for the Lord Jesus Christ than just that.

127. 51:27

     Not taking away anything of the suffering of the Lord. But I want to suggest to you just as our final thought, that there was more to it for the Lord than just his physical suffering. And the reason I say that is this. 10 times we just saw a moment ago, 10 times he’s just said I’m going to be with the father.

128. 51:47

     That’s where I’m going. My mind is absolutely fixed on that. Make no mistake about it. We’ve just walked into the garden and he said this. I’m not alone. The Father is with me. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And it almost seems strange in a way, doesn’t it, that having just said that literally moments before, the Lord Jesus now gets down in prayer and says, I know I’ve finished the work that you gave me to do. I know I’m coming to be with you. But if it’s possible, can we?

129. 52:11

     Can we find a way? Out and whilst I don’t doubt there was a a natural human element of that, I want to suggest to you bun sisters, there was something more and the the clue it seems to me is in the men who Jesus chose to took with him Peter, James and John three times.

130. 52:30

     Of course you’ll remember Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him to experience very specific things. The first time was the resurrection of Jairus daughter. The second time was the Transfiguration. And here was the third time here in the garden to witness this prayer. And I want to suggest to you that the first two occasions were to prepare Peter, James, and John for this one, the resurrection of Jairus daughter.

131. 52:56

     My little lamb, arise. You know the power of resurrection and the glory that they saw there on the mount of Transfiguration that they might understand what was now happening here. And I want you to turn with me to Luke Chapter 9, because Luke adds something in the in the record of the transfiguration which is unique.

132. 53:16

     Just have a look at it here. Luke Chapter 9 and verse 30. This is Luke’s account of the transfiguration. Peter, James and John are there, and Luke adds a unique detail. Behold, they’re taught Luke 9, verse 32, men with the Lord Jesus Christ, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, and that last little. Bit there is unique to Luke’s gospel. Luke tells us what Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah about the the conversation, verse 31 was about Jesus’s decease that he was going to accomplish at Jerusalem. That’s interesting, isn’t it?

133. 54:04

     What would Moses and Elijah have said to Jesus about his decease? And that word deceased there in verse 31 is really interesting. It’s the it’s the Greek equivalent of the of the Hebrew word Exodus, his departure. All right, now what was it? What was the commonality between Moses and Elijah and their departure that they could have had a conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ about? Because whilst there may be lots of similarities about Moses and Elijah, there are some very specific similarities about their decease, about their departure. Do you remember them?

134. 54:39

     Moses, of course, was taken by God up onto the mount. Abraham, as you, you’ll remember, and God buried him there silently. Nobody saw it, nobody witnessed it. And you’ll similarly remember the death of Elijah. He was taken up by a whirlwind by God into heaven, and only Elisha was there witnessing his departure. Nobody saw him buried.

135. 54:59

     Nobody saw him die. It was a private thing. And now these two men are going to talk about some circumstances of their own departure. I suggest that we’re now going to be similar in some way to the Lord Jesus Christ. And very quickly I want to share with you what those might have been. Moses and Elijah are appearing here in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ and there’s a really lovely moment in both of these men’s lives that happened just before their departure. And, and here’s we don’t have time to look at it now because I’m way over and you’re being very patient with me in Numbers 27.

136. 55:31

     Look at it in your own time or we can talk about it afterwards. God comes to Moses and says, now listen Moses, the day has come. I want you to climb Mount Abraham and I’m going to, you’re going to die there and I’m going to bury you. That’s it. That’s all God said, and you could understand Moses going back to God or and saying something like, listen, hang on a minute, is there any way we can negotiate this? There’s still some things I’d like to do, all the things Moses could have said.

137. 55:56

     In the in the very next. Verse for after God having said to Moses, listen, you’re going to climb this mountain, you’re going to die there, your time has come. This was what Moses said to God and it’s it’s beautiful. Moses said to the Lord, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation that that the congregation of the Lord be not a sheep which have no shepherd.

138. 56:19

     I don’t know about you, Bren Sisters. For the 120 years that Moses had been through with these people, with the ups and downs and the challenges that they’d given him. And if ever you need an exhortation, it includes your life. You just listen to these words of Moses after all that he’d been through with these men and women in the wilderness.

139. 56:37

     This is Moses concern as he’s about to die. What’s going to happen to these sheep who have no shepherd? If you take me and I climb this mountain now, what will happen to them? Having lived his own, which were in the world, he loved them to the end. And this was the concern of the Lord Jesus Christ.

140. 56:58

     Brethren, sisters, just note the contrast, Matthew’s account of the Last Supper. Jesus said to them, You will all be offended because of the me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. And you can imagine, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, Brent, sisters.

141. 57:14

     And you tell me afterwards if I’m taking these too far. I can just imagine Moses saying there, whether it be vision or whatever, it might have been there on the mount of Transfiguration. Listen Jesus, I want to tell you about how I felt the day God told me my exodus had come and I prayed that God would set a man over the congregation.

142. 57:31

     And in fact, the very, very next verse, Numbers 27, verse 18, God says to Moses, I want you to take Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit and appoint him. And I can imagine Moses saying to Jesus, listen, I pray to God. And he, he resolved my concern. I was so worried what would happen to these sheep.

143. 57:46

     And he and he allowed me to appoint Joshua a man who would carry on after me. Well, wouldn’t that wouldn’t that be a lovely conversation for the Lord Jesus Christ. What about Elijah Just note these really carefully Bren sisters and and follow them up in your own time. Elijah said to Elijah Tara here, I pray thee and Elijah said to him, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. This is second Kings chapter 2 and Elijah is about to be taken from Elijah and three times Elijah says listen, wait here for me.

144. 58:14

     Please don’t come any closer but wait. And they were the exact words of the Lord Jesus Christ there in the Garden of Gethsemane. And do you know when it says three times Elijah said that to Elijah. You follow them up in second Kings two and three times Elijah comes back with this lovely statement as the.

145. 58:29

     Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will never leave you. Isn’t that lovely? Do you? Do those words have an echo in the New Testament? I will lay down my life for your sake, says Peter. When Jesus says listen, I need to. Go and I want you to wait for me. Peter says Lord, I will lay down my life for your sake.

146. 58:48

     And this was the contrast in Peter. Do you remember what the Lord said to him? The cock will not crow until you have denied me 3 * 3 times. Elisha had said I will never leave you 3 times. Peter had said it three times. He would ultimately deny him last one. Do you remember this occasion as Elijah is about to be taken? Elijah said to Elijah, ask what I will do for you before I’m taken.

147. 59:16

     And Elijah asked this lovely request, Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. Isn’t that lovely? Elijah says, listen, I know I’ve got to fill the shoes of a big man. I need a double portion, Elijah of your spirit if I’m going to carry on the work that you’ve started. Notice what the Lord Jesus Christ said, Bren sisters to the disciples in the upper room.

148. 59:36

     Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. So far you haven’t asked. If you ask, it will be given whatever you need to carry on the works as the Lord Jesus Christ in my name, it will be given to you. So the reason, it seems to me the Lord Jesus took Peter and James and John with him into the garden was because they were the ones that the Lord wanted to rely on to carry on the work after he’d finished. Tara, ye here and wait with me, watch with me, watch as I pray, because I need you 3 to be with me, to be the closest with me in my suffering, to understand what’s happening and and to be there in on the morning of resurrection. To be the ones who will rally the troops, to bring everybody together, to tell them to not be afraid, to be of good cheer, to have my peace in themselves.

149. 1:00:23

     And three times, Bren sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ came back from prayer three times. Why did he do that? The prayer was almost identical every time. Why did the Lord come back to them three times? It why, why didn’t he just stay there the whole time and just keep praying the same prayer? Why did he keep going back to the disciples, finding them asleep, going back and praying again, going back, finding them asleep, going back and praying again? And I want to suggest to you, Bren sisters, the reason was. That the Lord wanted to see his prayer answered in those men. Every time he went back, it was to see if his prayer might be answered.

150. 1:01:01

     That’s why he kept going back three times. Peter, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour? I thought you would lay down your life for my sake. And he went back three times to see if his prayer would be answered. And his prayer was this. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

151. 1:01:20

     And I want to suggest to you, Bran sisters, that what the Lord Jesus meant was let this cup that I’m about to drink that I’ve shared, which is the victory and the salvation and the joy and the the power of the resurrection of your only begotten Son. Let it be shared with these men.

152. 1:01:35

     May they understand it, may they feel it, may they know what it means. And one of the great challenges, Bran sisters, of the Lord’s life was his loneliness. It seems to me that there were very few men and women around him in the entire universe who understood on anything like the same level of himself the things that he was about to do.

153. 1:01:56

     Well, brothers, sisters, what was it then that the Lord Jesus wanted us to remember it? Do this in remembrance of me. Was it about pain and suffering? Was the Passover meal to be a reminder to the children of Israel of the sadness of death and sorrow? It wasn’t, was it? It was to be a reminder of their redemption.

154. 1:02:19

     Of the joy, of freedom, of the wonder of what God had done for them. And whilst death was a part of it, the purpose was redemption. The Lord God, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, brought his people out of slavery and has given us liberty and freedom. Jesus Christ, for instance, is not a dead man.

155. 1:02:36

     He’s a triumphant man. He’s victorious. He’s our conquering and risen Lord. He is with the Father right now for us, preparing for us a place. And you know, if, if anything’s worth remembering in life week by week, then may it be that.

156. 1:02:51

     And as I take the bread of heaven and share in the royal cup of the King week by week, I reflect on the mindset of a man who could rise above all of life’s circumstances in the pursuit of filling the purpose of God in his life. I acknowledge my own weaknesses, sure, but I celebrate His victory, and I thank Him deeply that He did so for me.

157. 1:03:14

     And I determine to find some of His strength inside myself to deviate my attitude in the everyday circumstances of my life.