The Road to the Resurrection: Pain and gain (North OC)

Daniel: Amen.

I appreciate that.

Thank you guys so much.

Good morning church.

How are you guys doing this morning?

Great.

That is awesome.

I wish I can say the same.

Um, I'll get into it a little bit later in the sermon, but

overall I'm doing well though.

There's, you know.

Health and everything.

We're doing fine.

My name is Daniel Samoy, along with my wife Savannah.

We help serve the high school ministry here in Orange County.

We've been doing this for a little over a year and a half now.

Savannah, we've been married, uh, a little over a year now as well.

And, uh, if it's your first time here with us, if you've returned,

you're, you're a long time member.

Thank you for being here once again.

Uh, you've caught us in the middle of a sermon series.

We're actually at the tail end of it.

Uh, this is the second to last one.

It's called The Road to the Resurrection.

And we've been going through the book of Luke.

We're looking at the final week of Jesus.

And we started all the way back in Luke 19, which I believe is the beginning

of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, where we talk about Jesus returning, right?

He's coming down from Mount of Olives to Jerusalem and,

and everyone's praising him.

The king has returned.

And that's what we are, uh, that's what today is.

But uh, today what we're gonna talk about actually is something

I think that we all go through.

Right.

It's something that we don't like, I dunno about you guys, but I know

I don't like, and that's pain.

Raise your hand if you like to feel some pain.

All right.

A few.

Alright.

Most of us one I should say.

But for the most part, we don't like to feel pain.

Right.

You know, as I mentioned, uh, a few minutes ago, I was like, man, I, I,

I'm not doing that well right now.

I'm in pain.

Uh, for those who don't know, we know it's tax season and Savannah

and I, for the first time ever, we're filing taxes together jointly.

And Savannah and I, we had this assumption.

We were like, oh man, so what's the money we're gonna do with, with the

returns and everything we're gonna put into savings, a little bit of

this and that, and next, you know.

We owe the government money.

We're like, whoa, wait.

What is this?

This is not real.

And we're like, there's something wrong with it.

And we like, we go to three different sites and it's like, wow,

I guess this is what we have to do.

The pain right there that I had on Friday, just thinking that,

wow, okay, we gotta do this.

Let's do this, right?

But we live in a world where pain is inevitable, right?

There's so many different types of pain that you can have.

You can have financial pain, kind of like what I'm going through with the taxes.

You can have emotional pain, you can have spiritual pain.

Even have physical pain.

And often when we have these types of pain, what do we like to do?

Try to avoid at all costs, right?

We don't want to experience these pain.

And whether it's the pain of disappointment, the hurt of a broken

heart, or a broken relationship, or even weight of personal

struggle, we all experience it.

Now, who here has heard of this term?

Those who are, uh, gym rats like, uh, Travis up there doing AV or Dale

over here who has heard of the term?

No pain, no gain.

Oh yeah, everyone has heard of that term.

You know, we hear it in the form of sports, right?

I know for me, you know, being a Dodgers fan, you know, for there was

these years where we just couldn't get over the hump and I experienced

so much pain and the team did.

But guess what happened?

We won the World Series and that was our game.

We used it in the sports context.

We used it for striving for success.

But in God's kingdom, the principle of no pain or no gain

is more than just building muscle.

It's more than just having personal success or challenges

that win does something temporary.

It's about growth.

It's about spiritual transformation.

It's about gaining something eternal.

And this is what Jesus knew as he was on his journey towards the

cross, on the road to resurrection.

He had to face immense pain spiritually, emotionally, physically, but through it

all, he brought us the greatest gain.

Not only through his victory over death, but the way he shows us how

to walk through the pain as well.

And today for my lesson, we're gonna be walking through the pain that Jesus had

that was leading up for him on the cross.

The title of my lesson today is called Pain and Gain, because on the road

to the resurrection isn't about just getting to the glory, it's about

understanding the pain that Jesus endured and how that pain is the very

thing that brings us the greatest gain.

Hope, healing, redemption, and a new life in him.

So if you could turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in Luke chapter 22, uh, verse 39.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

All right.

Here we are.

It's Jesus prays on the mounts of olives and it reads.

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives as his and his disciples

followed him on reaching the place.

He said to them, pray that you will not fall into temptation.

He withdrew about a stone throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed.

Father, if you are willing to take this cup from me, yet not

my will, but yours be done.

An Egypt from Heaven appeared to him and strengthened him and being in anguish.

He prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he rose from prayer, he went back to disciples.

He found them asleep.

Exhausted from sorrow.

Why are you sleeping?

He asked them, get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

You know, we see here that going back to ever since Jesus has entered the

region, he's been teaching in Jerusalem by day and then retreating back to

the Mount of Olive by night to rest.

And on this, uh, this sermon series is actually on the road to the resurrection.

We've seen how the mounts of olives is a place of significance.

Here in, uh, going back to Luke 19, we see Mount Olives being a place

of praise, prophecy, and pain.

You know, at Marcel when we first kicked off the lesson, he talked about, uh, Jesus

coming in, entering the kingdom as king.

He's writing into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on a donkey,

fulfilling the prophecy right there.

And then Eric, a few weeks after that, preached on Luke 21 about the prophecy.

The destruction of ends time.

You know, having false teachers rise, having the war, uh, this world be

plagued with war and Jesus will return.

And today we're gonna talk about the pain here in Mount Olives, the

pain of the garden of Gethsemane.

It's here at the Mount of Olives.

And Jesus feeling the weight of the world sin on him.

Now let's break this scripture down here in Luke 22, as you see here.

Oh, first.

First point is the spiritual pain, right?

The Garden of Gethsemane.

And here we see the first uh, verse here.

Jesus went out as usual to pray, and I found that this was not just an

occasional practice for Jesus, right?

It wasn't based on circumstance, but he always went out to pray as usual.

Now, in this moment here in the garden, Jesus is faced with

overwhelming weight of what's to come.

He knew exactly what was ahead, the cross, the humiliation, the rejection,

the intense physical suffering.

But most of all, he knew about the spiritual agony, the spiritual separation,

that he was soon faced with his father, you know, in his humanity, because Jesus

is fully God and fully human, we see that he pleads with his father in prayer.

Father, if you're willing to take this cup from me, see, there's no pretending here.

Jesus is like, man, I don't want to do this.

I know what's to come.

I know about the prophecies, but God, if there's another way, please remove

this cup as we see this cup here.

This cup, uh, was used this, this term.

The cup was used in many scriptures, especially in the Old Testament.

The cup was used to describe someone's faith.

You know, to drink the cup is to do what God has already determined as necessary.

You know, the Cup is also representative of Jesus's.

Uh, or of God's suffering and wrath.

You know, there's mentions of, as we see in Isaiah 51 verse 17, it says,

Isaiah 51:17

awake, awake, rise up Jerusalem.

You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of his wrath,

you have drained to its drags the goblet that makes people stagger.

We see the cup representing the harsh experience that God's people will face.

The cup of his wrath shows us the consequences when we disobey God and

Jesus knowing the wrath that he will soon face, he pleased with his father, man,

I know what this cup is gonna be like.

God, please remove this cup.

I don't wanna drink from this cup.

You know, as I think about it, if I was in that position with Jesus,

there's no way I'm doing that right.

I'm trying to get rid of that pain.

But one thing that I love that Jesus does here.

It's that even in the agonizing spiritual pain where every weight

of sin is on him, Jesus surrenders.

He says, yet not my will, but yours be done.

Jesus has trust in his father.

It's a decision to surrender to, not to uh, his will, but to his father's

will, to his father's desires, his fears to God's greater plan.

And in this moment, despite the deep pain.

Jesus decides to lean in to the father's will, he begins to drink that cup.

You know, the amazing thing here is as he, you know, leans into that, right?

We see here that an angel appears and we see that the angel here

appears to comfort Jesus, right?

But notice this, notice that even when the comfort was there, the

pain was still there as well.

I think it's so important for us to remember that man, God's

gonna be there when we're in pain.

He's gonna try to comfort us, right?

But it doesn't mean that pain is gonna go away.

You know?

We see Jesus here having an angel, being with him.

He was still being anguish.

He prayed more earnestly.

His sweat was like drops of blood.

You know, I think for us, that can be a hard concept to accept

sometimes about how God is gonna be there with us through the pain.

He's not gonna remove us from the pain, but he's gonna be

there to walk with us through it.

You know, we want a quick fix.

I know I do.

We want the storm to stop, not just the courage to stand in the storm.

We want healing to happen without going through the process.

We want a breakthrough without even having to wrestle for it.

But Jesus here, Jesus shows us that God doesn't always take us outta

the pain, but he meets us in it.

He gives us exactly what we need, not escape from the pain, right?

But endurance for the pain.

Not avoidance of the pain, but assurance in it.

Not comfort that eliminates pain, but comfort that carries us through the pain.

So maybe today you're asking God to remove something away.

Maybe there's something heavy going on in your personal life right now

that you've been wrestling with, and maybe he hasn't taken away yet, but

that doesn't mean he's not with you.

Amen.

That doesn't mean he's not hearing you out.

That doesn't mean he hasn't heard you.

It just means he's giving you strength for the moment and comfort that

sustains rather than removes the pain.

And what's incredible about that is that even while carrying that

kind of pain, even in the middle of his own spiritual agony, Jesus

doesn't turn to himself right.

What does it say here?

He says he turned to God obviously in prayer, but he

also turned to his disciples.

And what were his disciples doing during that time?

Guys?

What They were sleeping.

His disciples were sleeping.

And I know for me, when I'm overwhelmed, when I have a lot of things going

on in my life, my first instinct isn't to turn to God in prayer.

It isn't to get open to the brothers or even my wife.

My first instinct is to look at myself and really to just think about how can

I get out of this myself throughout my, uh, with my own strength here?

How can I numb this feeling?

What can I do?

Maybe I can take a nap and sleep away my problem.

Maybe I can watch TV all day and hopefully that problem will go away.

But that's not what Jesus wants for us.

He invites us to stay awake, right?

The disciples were sleeping, but Jesus, he wants us to stay awake.

He wants us to be present.

He wants us to be in prayer, not just for ourselves, but also for each other.

Because here's one thing, the disciples, they weren't just sleeping on Jesus.

They were also asleep towards one another.

They weren't looking out for each other, they weren't encouraging each other.

They weren't just trying to get, they were just trying to get through the moment.

And we can do the same, you know, we can show up to church, we can

be part of our family groups.

We can show up to events physically present, but

spiritually, man, we can be asleep.

We don't check in, man.

We don't ask deep questions.

We can assume people are okay, but maybe they're really not.

Maybe they're hanging on by a, a life, a lifeline, right there.

Man, we cannot be a people around, let people around us suffer in that

we have to stay awake spiritually.

Church, we have to be engaged in prayer.

We have to be present with him and also with each other.

We do not want to be a people that lets other people, lets other brothers

and sisters suffer in silence.

Let's not sleep in those moments.

We're meant to support one another.

Let's be a kind of church.

Let's continue to be a kind of church.

That tries to see that, try to listen, that praise, that show up physically,

but also spiritually as well because Jesus, he didn't give up on his disciples

and he's not giving up on us as well.

Jesus call is clear.

Don't let the pain, uh, don't turn away from the pain when it's overwhelming.

Instead, lean into God, lean into prayer during this time,

we see Jesus do this constantly.

We see it right here.

Even in the moments of pain and agony, he leans in to the Father.

He has trust in them.

Even if he doesn't have the answer, he still continuously trust in him.

Church, when we find ourself in spiritual pain, whether it's doubt, whether it's

fear or confusion, will you lean in?

Will you bring your pain to God?

When the answers aren't immediate, even when the circumstances don't

change, will you lean into God?

Will you lean in?

Will you join Jesus in the garden of prayer and let God meet you in it?

You know, we see Jesus.

Jesus here is wrestling with God and after talking, uh, to his disciples

who fell asleep on him while he was praying, Jesus then started to be

approached by a crowd of people.

And we'll pick up here in verse 47.

And we pick up on the emotional pain that comes next, we see betrayal and denial.

In verse 47, it reads, while he was still speaking to, uh, speaking, a crowd

came up and the man who called Judas, uh, one of the 12 was leading them.

He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, Judas, are you

betraying the son of man with a kiss?

When Jesus followers saw, uh, what was going to happen, they said, Lord,

should we strike with our swords?

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered no more of this, and he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priest, the officers of the Temple Guard and

the elders who had, uh, come for him.

Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs every day?

I was with you in the Temple Courts and you did not lay a hand on me, but

this is your hour when darkness rains.

So we see here the emotional pain hits hard, right?

Judas.

Now, Judas is one of the 12.

Judas was a friend of Jesus.

Judas followed Jesus everywhere, and he got to see the miracles.

Jesus invested.

He poured himself into Judas.

And yet we see Judas here enter the picture and he kissed Jesus, right?

And a kiss man that is so intimate a kiss shows like, man, I really love you.

But here, this kiss wasn't a sign of love for Jesus.

This kiss was a kiss of betrayal.

And think about how Jesus, knowing that everything he'd done for him

had to experience this from Judas.

Yeah, I mean, think about that.

That must have been a slap in the face to Jesus right there.

And what's worse is it's because it came from someone Jesus had

poured in and invested into so much.

Imagine the pain that Jesus.

Not just the physical pain of being arrested, but the emotional betrayal.

The sting of seeing one of his own disciples turn on him even if

he knew he saw this coming, but still having to to go through it.

What would you do in that moment?

I know for me, I'll be quick to fight back.

Right?

I'll be quick to start, you know, calling for justice, man.

I'm like, man, this is not right.

What are you doing?

But we see Jesus, he doesn't fight back.

He doesn't scream in anger.

He doesn't lash out on Judas.

Instead, what he does is he, you know, tells people, Hey,

enough of this, no more of this.

Stop this.

And in the process he heals the, the high priest's ear right there.

You know, when I think about this, when we think about Judas here, sorry.

There it is with Judas.

What's incredible about Judas though?

What we see right after he betrays him.

You know in verse, in Matthew 27, verse three through five, it says, when Judas,

who had betrayed him saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse

and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

I have sinned.

He said, for have betrayed innocent blood.

What is that to us?

They replied, that's your responsibility.

So Judas, through the money into the temple and left.

Then he went away to hang himself.

Think about this Judas story right here.

It ends right there.

He ultimately decides to hang himself story that that is all that we hear

from Judas and we see that this betrayal that he did, that he did it for money,

obviously, but then he realized like, man, oh, I, I shouldn't have done this

rather than in his own pain, turned to God and asked Jesus for forgiveness.

Instead, he thought there was nothing else he can do.

So instead he decides to end it all.

I think that he, he didn't let Grace meet him where he was at, right?

Grace was right there in front of him in Jesus, but instead he

decided to end it all right there.

You know, I think about that.

I think about how maybe the fear got to him, right?

Maybe the doubt got to him right there, and we see the tragic ending

of Judas, but there's also another thing that Jesus goes through.

It wasn't just the kiss of betray, kiss of betrayal.

We also see the denial of him, you know, and picking up in Luke 22, verse 50 54.

Luke 22:50

Here, it says, then seizing him.

They let him away and took him into the house of the high priest.

Peter followed at a distance and when some, uh, some there had

kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together.

Peter sat down with him.

A serving girl saw him seated there in the firelight.

She looked closely at him and said, this man was with him.

He denied it.

Woman, I don't know him.

He said a little later someone else saw him and said, you are also one of them.

Man, I am not.

Peter replied about an hour later, uh, another asserted certainly this

fellow was with him for he's Galilean.

Peter replied, man, I don't know what you're talking about.

Just as he, uh, just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed, the Lord

turned and looked straight at Peter.

Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord had spoken to him.

Before the rooster crows, you'll disown me three times.

And he went outside and he, uh, wept bitterly.

Now we see that Peter denies Jesus three times.

And with each denial, I think Peter begins to crack.

He's not just protecting himself from danger.

He's dis disconnecting himself from the one he loves.

Fear, shame, doubt.

They started to take control of him.

And then the rooster crows.

I dunno if you guys saw this, but it says, uh, the Lord turned and

looked straight back at Peter.

I dunno about you guys, but Jesus was going through a lot that day, right?

He had the spiritual pain.

He didn't want to take this cup.

He's been betrayed and now he's been denied.

Now I think about how, what was the look?

What, what look would I give to Peter if I was Jesus?

I know for me, I would probably give the look of anger.

Come on, dude, you just, you told me not too long ago that

you'll be with me even if I died.

I'll be disappointed in him being like, man, I invested so much in you, man.

I thought you would be with me here for the long run.

But knowing Jesus though, thank goodness Jesus is not me.

I tend to believe that Jesus looked at Peter with love, with compassion, and

looked at, said, Peter, I still see you.

I still love you.

That looked broken as we see that Peter went outside and he and he wept bitterly.

But I think when he wept bitterly, I don't think it was out of

guilt of, oh man, I got caught.

Jesus caught me.

Oh my goodness.

I think that weeping of bitterness right there was out of wow.

Jesus still loves me.

He still sees me, despite me turning my back on him.

He still loves me and church.

Maybe that's where some of us are right now.

Maybe some of us feel like we, we are denying Jesus like Peter did.

I want you to know that Jesus has not given up on you.

He didn't give up on Peter.

He has not given up on you.

Maybe you guys are like Peter because, or we are like Peter because it says

Peter also followed at a distance.

Right?

And I think for me.

I think of falling outta distance.

I think, man, I'm gonna be an earshot.

Like I'm still gonna hear what Jesus is gonna say, right?

But I'm still gonna be far enough where I can be in control of my own life.

Now, maybe you've pulled back because of fear and you've

distanced yourself because of that.

Maybe you convince yourself that you're not worthy, you're not

strong enough, or you're not ready.

But I need to ask you, church, are you following at a distance because

Jesus is still looking at you?

Not with condemnation, but with compassion.

Not to shame you, but to call you back to remind you, I still see you.

I still love you, and I'm not done with you.

You know, Peter's story here doesn't end at the courtyard and

yours does not have to either.

There is grace still waiting for you.

There is purpose on the other side of your pain, but the question

is, will you come close again?

There was a season in my life where I definitely felt like I've

followed Jesus as a di at a distance.

And it happened actually last year around, you know, January,

February, uh, you know, I was, uh.

Working with the team ministry, I also got engaged during that time.

I picked up extra hours at my job.

We're planning a wedding and there was just so much stuff going on.

I remember just waking up in the morning saying a quick prayer and

just kind of going out the door and just saying, alright, uh, I'll, I'll

get back on track spiritually soon.

Right?

Like, but I kept kicking that can further down the road and then one day

I remember just sitting in my household and then I remember actually Justin

and I, we had a quiet time together and I was so grateful for that.

And we're reading Isaiah 30 and it in there it said, uh, and repentance

and rest is your salvation and quietness and trust is your strength.

And I just sat there just so convicted, right?

Thinking about how, wow, God doesn't really care about the busyness I'm in.

He just wants me to be there with them in this moment, right?

That moment.

Remind me that.

God has always welcoming back with open arms that, but I have to choose to

continually, continuously be close to him.

So let me ask you this today, church, are you following Jesus at a distance?

Not because you stop believing in him, but because maybe life pulls

you in a thousand directions.

I know some of us, we have kids, you, we have families, we have work.

There's so much stuff going on financially around this world that man, we can be

pulled in so many different directions.

But through that, are we following Jesus?

At a distant, as I mentioned, Peter's story didn't end in the courtyard.

We, Peter actually went on to be one of the greatest leaders in church history.

But there is grace waiting for you.

There is purpose on the other side of your pain, and with that, you know, with

the other purpose outside of your pain, it brings us to where we're gonna get to,

especially next week for Easter, which is the physical pain, the suffering.

Going to the cross.

But even before that, we see in verse 63 through 65, it says, the men

who were there or who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him.

They blindfolded him and demanded prophesy who hit you.

And they said many other insulting things.

And we see now Jesus is in the hand of the soldiers.

He's being mocked, he's being rid, ridiculed, he's blindfolded,

they're, they're humiliating him.

All of this to make him feel this small, to make him feel so

powerless to make him feel alone.

What does Jesus do in that moment?

He endures.

He takes every blow, he takes every insult.

He doesn't fight back.

He doesn't cry out for justice or a revolution.

He simply endures.

And in this silence, that silence, that strength, we get to see

Jesus heart for his mission.

You know, we often think that responding to pain means fighting

back or maybe retreating or resisting at all costs, but Jesus shows us

something radically different.

He, uh, retaliate.

He didn't retaliate obviously, and maybe people think of that as weakness, but

it was actually a sign of his strength.

It was a sign of his commitment of fulfilling the mission God has gave him.

You know, when we face pain, it can feel like it's gonna break us right?

Church, it can make us wanna stop moving forward or to retreat back.

But Jesus shows us that pain doesn't have to define us,

it doesn't have to defeat us.

In fact, when we surrender our pain to God, he can do something far greater

with our pain than we could ever imagine.

I mean, think about some of the people in the Bible who

had experienced so much pain.

I think about Hannah, who really wanted to bear a child, but she

couldn't, and she wrestled with God.

She prayed that she could have a child, and God delivered them that promise,

and that child turned out to be Samuel.

I think about David, who always started off with, with, uh, maybe

with some insecurities, but now he became strong because of God.

Think about Job who lost everything, his family, his wealth, and yet

he still had the heart of you.

Give and take away Lord.

Blessed be your name.

You know, Jesus didn't run from his pain, right?

He endured every ounce of pain.

He endured all this for a reason.

For you and for me.

Yep.

His pain led to our healing.

So I want to ask you today, what will you do with your pain?

Jesus didn't run from it.

He leaned into it and he trusts God had a greater purpose and

he calls us to do the same.

Now, rather than avoiding pain, he calls us to endure it.

Maybe you're facing some spiritual pains today.

Maybe you're facing some physical pain today, emotional pain, or any type of

pain today, maybe emotional pain because you're feeling betrayed or rejected.

Maybe you're facing relational pain.

Maybe you have a strained friendship, a broken relationship.

Maybe you're distanced from the ones you love.

Maybe you followed.

You're starting to follow Jesus at a distance.

But I wanna remind you where you guys are at today, that Jesus

understands he's been there.

He's walked through it all.

He knows what it's like to suffer.

He knows what it's like to be betrayed, to be abandoned, and still he's calling

on you not to retreat, but to come closer.

So, church, will you come closer?

You know, here, I'm not sure if this is what the gar, uh, garden

of Yosemite really look like By picturing it's, it's nighttime, right?

So imagine stepping into the garden with Jesus.

Imagine.

Coming to that sacred place, surrendering everything to God.

It's a place where he didn't hide his pain.

He poured it out to God.

Will you church step into that garden today?

Will you move into that place of surrender, honesty and truth?

It's a place where we can meet God in our pain, knowing

that he has a purpose for it.

Jesus's pain didn't push him away from the father.

It drew him closer.

And in the same way, your pain doesn't have to push you away towards God.

It can bring you closer as well.

And here's the incredible thing, right?

His pain was the price and our gain was the reward.

He bore the weight of this, of, of sin so we could walk in freedom.

He suffered the garden.

So we get to stand in grace.

So what will you do with that pain?

Will it let it, will you let that pain push you away from God?

Will you let it.

Draw closer to God in the garden where healing begins.

So how do we respond to this?

How do we take what we've heard and what we felt and actually live it out?

You know, let's really get practical here, because I think Jesus didn't experience

pain for us to admire from a distance.

He invites us to respond, to take action, to walk with him.

So here are a few steps this week.

We get practical here.

One is we gotta commit to a time of prayer.

Set a set time aside to have a deep, honest conversation with God.

And I know it may seem difficult at first if you're new to this, but

I promise you it's gonna be great.

God invites us to come with our raw emotions and our feelings,

with our doubts and our fears.

So I challenge you this week to carve out a quiet moment, to talk with

God about what you are facing next.

We gotta reach out for support.

You know, Jesus wanted his disciples to be with him in the garden.

And we're called to be there for each other during times of hardship.

If you're struggling, I encourage you to reach out to a friend, reach

out to someone you trust that you love, that you maybe see as a mentor.

Let them know what you're going through and allow them to walk aside, aside

you in prayer and encouragement because I believe that that God really, uh,

wants us to share our pain with each other so he can bring healing and

others can bring healing to us as well.

And then lastly, let's choose to follow closer.

Peter struggled.

With Jesus by following him at a distance.

And sometimes we wanna keep God at arm's length when things are tough,

but this week let's commit to move closer to him when times get hard.

Let's not retreat.

Let's lean in to God.

You know, as we think about the pain Jesus endure and how he responded

to it, let's remember the ultimate gain that came through his sacrifice.

Jesus entered into pain for you and me, and he endured what we couldn't

so we could experience forgiveness.

Restoration healing.

Know we're gonna right now take, uh, prepare to take communion.

And communion is a time where we need to remember Jesus as we take the bread

that represents, uh, his body and the juice that represents his blood.

As we prepare to take communion, we have an opportunity to respond to him.

In one Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23 through 24, it reads, for I received from

the Lord what I also passed on to you.

The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had

given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Let's take this moment to remember the pain he endured, but also the gain we

receive because of his love and sacrifice.

Let's pray.

Uh, God, as we, uh, prepare to take, uh, communion this morning, pray that we get

to remember your son Jesus in the garden.

Remember the weight he carried, the spiritual agony, the loneliness,

the sorrow that he experienced.

Lord God, I'm so grateful that he endured it all.

He could have walked away, he could have chosen another

path, but he decided to stay.

God, I pray that we can, uh, practice the example of your son, not your, uh,

not our will, but your will be done.

He surrender to the pain because of the love and because of us.

And we thank you God, that Jesus didn't turn away from suffering and

that in his pain became the price and our salvation became the reward that

in his broken body and his spilled blood, we find healing, hope and grace.

Help us God, not follow you at a distance, but really to lean into

you during times of pain and trouble.

Lord, we take this bread, we take this juice and remembrance, uh, of you.

And we remember the love that stayed, the love that surrendered,

and the love that saved us all.

But we thank you.

In your son's name we pray, amen.