Thy Will be Done

But I'm going to invite you to go with me to

the book of Luke, chapter 22 and verse 39. Amen.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Chapter 22 and verse 39. If you can maybe give

me a little more here, that would be great. Amen.

How many of you are there? It's probably not

going to be on the screens, but maybe they'll

be able to get the verses up. But if not, that's

okay. That's why you've got to bring your Bible

or have it on your app. Amen? In Luke chapter

Luke 22:39

22, verse 39, it says as follows. Coming out,

he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed.

As he was accustomed. So this was a... This was

a routine of Christ. And his disciples also followed

him. When he came to the place, he said to them,

pray that you may not enter into temptation.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's

throw. And he knelt down and prayed, saying,

Father, if it is your will, take this cup away

from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours,

be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven,

strengthening him. Notice that the angel came

and strengthened him upon praying this prayer.

And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.

Then his sweat became like Great drops of blood

falling down to the ground. Amen. Somebody say

amen today. Somebody say amen. If I had to put

a theme or a title to this in the moment, I just

want to maybe speak for a few moments on thy

will be done. Someone say thy will be done. Now,

I know I read the New King James Version where

it says your will, but I kind of like the King

James Version of the Bible where it says, has

all the these and the thous. There's just something

about thy will. It just sounds a little more

prophetic and apostolic, you know, a little more

anointed. Amen. Why don't we pray right now and

let's ask God to speak to us. Father, we thank

you for your presence in this place today. God,

we have come to worship you. We've come, God,

with thanksgiving in our hearts, praise in our

lips, and we thank you, God, that you have met

us here for such a time as this. And now I pray,

Lord, that as we lend our ears to what the Spirit

is saying to the church, God, that you would

anoint us to receive this word. Anoint my lips

of clay today, God, as I do my best to be obedient

to the move of your Spirit and allowing you to

shift things, God. For reasons only you know,

God, someone needs to hear this message today.

So I pray right now, God, that you would empower

me and enable me to deliver this word. And I

ask all of this right now in the name of Jesus.

Someone say amen. Amen. You can be seated in

the house of God. I have preached on this several

times before. It is a moment that in our Bible

reading and our learning of the life of the ministry

of Christ seems to capture our attention for

obvious reasons. This was right on the precipice

or on the verge of Jesus being betrayed and eventually

going to the cross. To fulfill his ultimate mission.

The very purpose he came into the world. Which

was to seek and to save. That which was lost.

To die on the cross. That was the mission of

Christ. Amen? I said that was the mission of

Christ. He didn't come simply to preach. He didn't

come simply to host evangelistic. ministerial

gatherings to heal the sick, raise the dead.

He didn't come just to be a moral authority or

a good example for others to follow. Even though

he was all of those things. To be a model citizen

or a religious man, a man worth emulating your

life after. He was all of those things. He came

to show us how to live. Amen? But more than coming

to show us how to live, if anything, He came

to show us how to die. Because His whole purpose

for coming was to go on that cross and to shed

His blood in order to wash away our sins, to

be our substitute. to take our sins and nail

them to the cross. And then, of course, not simply

to die, but to be buried and to raise again on

the third day. That is the gospel. That is the

purpose for Jesus' coming. And that purpose is

something that Christ lived with, I think, from

the moment that he had complete understanding

growing up. Because he lived as a man, not only

was he 100 % God, he was 100 % man. And as early

as he was able to be fully aware as a man what

his purpose was in life, he lived always knowing

that the day would come, the hour would come,

the moment would come that his mission would

have to be fulfilled. So he lived with that understanding,

that goal in mind. Even at the start of his ministry,

his public ministry, when he began preaching

and assembling himself, a group of followers,

12 disciples who would accompany him as students

along that journey. He never lost sight of what

his ultimate purpose was. It was with him. But

I think that there was probably moments in time

throughout his life and throughout his ministry

where that ultimate goal or that final ending

was not always front and center in his mind.

I think as a man, he must have gotten comfortable

with just earthly living and the relationships

that he was forming, the life that he was living.

And the lives that he was impacting. Like any

man, I'm sure he felt what we would feel when

we are being praised and acknowledged and admired.

We have a following. I mean, when someone just

likes one of our posts, I think there's like

a chemical reaction that happens in our brain,

right? I said, man, that felt good. I hope more

people will like it. Right? Or maybe a picture

that gets liked or people comment. Jesus was

no different than us in that regard. And that

when he received praise, attention, love, hospitality,

it must have made him feel good. It must have

done something to his humanity to be received

that way, to live that way. And so through...

As you see His ministry beginning to build and

the narrative of the Gospels, certainly there

was a point in which they were shouting and singing,

Hosanna! Right? Hosanna! Like when He came in

to the city of Jerusalem riding on the donkey

and they were laying down those palms. See, what

I'm doing here is I'm just painting for you a

picture of how, as a man, Jesus would have experienced

the highs and the euphoria. The joy, the excitement

of knowing that he has found favor with people

and his popularity was at an all -time high.

But as we know, those days wouldn't last forever.

And ultimately, the time would come, the seasons

would change, and his mission would have to be

fulfilled. Think about the kind of war or battle,

because we're in a series about the battles that

build us. And I really believe that this message

falls right in line with that. The Holy Ghost

is all in to what he put in my heart to share

at this moment. Think about the war that must

have waged within Christ being a man. Not just

God, but being a man. Realizing that all of the

popularity, accolades, attention, love that he

was receiving, admiration and respect as a man.

Think about the difficulty and the battle it

must have been at a time where he's receiving

all of that to know that now he has to lay that

down. Now he has to be willing to let go of that,

which is something that is so difficult for us

to do. To walk away or to lay down or to surrender

or to submit or to let go at a moment where it

feels like, man, things are going so well. Things

are going good. That's a very difficult thing

to do, even in our lives, you know. That's why

some people have a hard time retiring from a

successful career. In the sports world, it's

really hard for somebody who's at the top of

their game to exit stage left, you know, and

to leave when they're at the top. I think Michael

Jordan did that, yeah. Walked away. And then,

oh, maybe not, because then he came back to play.

But even when he came back, he was still pretty

good, you know. Then he walked away. He never

just sat on the bench, and then finally they

had to say, hey, man, they had to cut him further.

He never got cut from a professor. He went out

on top. He went out on his terms. But that's

not the case for a lot of other successful athletes

or entrepreneurs, career -minded people. Because

it's hard to let go. It's hard to lay those things

down, to put ourselves in check and realize that

perhaps it's time to move on to something else.

Something else that I'm supposed to do. Jesus

was at that moment when we read here about that

garden, the garden of Gethsemane, that he goes

and he begins to pray, realizing that even though

He was at the top of his game, even though things

were going good, even though things were, in

a way, couldn't be better. He realized that ultimately

his life was not about becoming famous in this

world and amassing followers and building upon

his popularity, but he understood that he had

a divine purpose to fulfill. And sometimes...

Your divine purpose that God has on your life

will directly contradict and fly in the face

of what others are telling you and what the world

is telling you. Amen, somebody. And what life

is telling you and what opportunities may be

telling you. And it takes a great deal of discipline.

Hear me today, church. A great deal of eternal

and spiritual. understanding and perspective

and maturity to turn off and turn away from whatever

those voices whatever that pool is and say there

is a higher calling There is a greater purpose

that God has for my life. And even if it means

losing popularity with man and the world, if

I gain the applause of heaven, then that's what

it's all about. Amen, somebody. At the end of

the day, we need to make up in our mind, whose

applause am I living for? My God. Can I preach

like I want to today? Amen. Whose applause am

I living for? Whose recognition, whose reward

am I living for? Am I living for the approval

and the applause of man? Or is my life oriented?

Is my life being lived for the approval and the

applause of heaven? Now sometimes, I'll be honest

with you, sometimes it seems like all the stars

align. And you have both the applause of heaven

and of man. But those are very short intermediary

seasons of life. Because more often than not,

you're either receiving the applause on one end

or the other. More often than not, one is silent

and the other isn't. More often than not, you're

serving one or you're serving the other. And

this is a difficult thing for us to wrestle with

in our generation and our, if I could put it

this way, our me first generation. Can I just

tell you that we live in such a me first world?

A me first world, a consumer driven world, a

world that is constantly telling us that We are

the center of the universe. That it's all about

me, myself, and I. We live in a world where every

message we seem to hear is about you and I. It's

not called a WePhone. It's called a... They understand.

that the moment you believe as a consumer that

it's all about you, again, there's kind of the

chemical reaction in the brain that says, you

know, it feels good, almost feels like worship.

It feels incredibly good when it's all about

you. And that's the world that we live in. And

I could go on and on. I don't want to do an analysis.

Of the me first consumerism that we are seeing

in our world right now. I don't have those facts

ready for you. But just a bit of awareness. If

you have two eyes and ears and you hear and see

what's going on. That is the message that the

world is sending us. Now here's the problem.

The problem is not so much that the world is

self -centered. The problem is not so much that

the world puts itself or people in the world

put themselves. First, they make themselves the

center. They make themselves the center of the

solar system. They make themselves first and

foremost. Me, myself, and I. It's not so much

that the world, I'm not here to hark on the world

because the world is what the world is. That's

the mentality. The problem, the problem is when

that mentality creeps into the church. And more

than ever, we're starting to see, I mean, to

a certain degree, it's always been there. It's

always been there, but perhaps now more than

ever, we're seeing that me first mentality take

hold of the hearts and minds of God's people.

I hope you're hearing what I'm saying today.

I didn't come to beat anybody up today, by the

way. That's not... I had a whole other message,

but God flipped the script on me because evidently

there is something that God wants us to consider,

that God wants us to come to terms with, that

we need to pray about, that we need to check

our own hearts and spirits. There is a war going

on, and oftentimes it's a war between what pleases

me and what pleases God. There's a war between

what puts me first and what puts others first.

There's a war between my preference and others,

between serving myself and serving others, between

serving God and serving myself. And so this war

comes to... The forefront here in the text where

Jesus is sitting in the garden and he's praying.

And of course, there's that me firstness that

exists then because we've always been human.

This has been a part of the human psyche from

the first garden of Eden. So this is woven into

our humanity. But Jesus is there in the garden

and he's praying. And he's having now to look

at a cross, a rugged cross, an excruciating cross,

an agonizing cross. A bloody cross. And he's

having to come to terms with the fact that in

order to go to that cross and to fulfill the

mission that I have on my life, I've got to be

willing to put myself second. I've got to be

willing to say, not my will, but thy will be

done. There is the crux of Christianity, my friend.

There is the crux. It's not that we need brighter

lights. It's not that we need more of this and

more of that. What we need is less of ourselves

and more of God. The greatest competition that

you will face in your life for the things of

God is not with the devil. It's with your own

craving to put self first. As Jesus prayed in

the garden, he wasn't fighting the devil. Your

greatest fight is not with the devil. Pastor,

man, I really went toe to toe with Satan this

week. Man, he got me good, but then I got no.

If you're fighting the devil week after week,

you got a lot to learn about Christianity. The

devil is defeated. You ought to be walking on

him, not fighting with him. Jesus already defeated

the devil. Amen. Your greatest conflict is not

with the devil. It's not even with other people.

If that one sister would just leave me alone,

we would have revival. My co -worker is just

getting on my last nerve. I'm about to step off

the cross and lay hands. Sometimes we feel like

doing that, right? But thank God the Holy Ghost

is in us. Got the fruit of the Spirit, self -control.

But then that's what it's about. It's about us.

The greatest fight, the greatest battle is not

with the enemy. It's with ourselves. Jesus prayed

in the garden. He prayed not against the enemy,

He wasn't rebuking the devil. He wasn't coming

against him. It was with himself. That's where

the struggle was. That's where the fight was.

That's where the battle was. Where he was conflicted.

Because even the Lord Jesus himself. knowing

what his purpose was, knowing it was the cross,

knowing that's the end game, that's what it's

all about. If I don't fulfill that, then everything

I've done here is for naught. He understood what

it was all about. And even the Lord himself was

struggling with the idea of, do I really got

to go through with this? Do I really got to pay

this price? Do I really got to lay down my flesh?

And so he prays, Father. He said, Father, if

it is your will, take this cup from me. The cup

in his hand was the cup of pain. It was the cup

of sacrifice. It was a bitter cup. It was a painful

cup. And he's looking at his life. In the cup,

and he's saying this cup represents the misery,

it represents the suffering that I'm going to

have to endure. And so God, is there any way

that I can, and there are times in our life we're

looking at the cups in our own lives and we're

saying, God, is there any way I can have what

you want from me without this cup? Come on now.

Is there any way, God, that I can get from point

A to point B without this cup? Is there any way,

God, you can use me without this cup? Any way

you can bless me without this cup? Any way we

can have revival without this cup? Any way we

can grow our church without this cup? We're always

looking for an out cause. That doesn't require

us to drink from the cup, Brother David. And

I'm here to tell you that if you ever fight with

the cup in your life, you're not alone. My goodness,

we all do. Jesus did. Jesus did. Is there any

way we can go around this? Is there an alternate

route we can take to redeeming mankind? Can I

just preach a better sermon next Sunday? Can

we just sing the latest song? Can we just refresh

our website? I mean, do we really got a drink

from the cup? Come on now, somebody. Can I get

through this? Taking the path of least resistance,

the path that requires the least out of me? And

too often, what happens is that people are asking,

not how much can I give? They ask. What's the

least I can give and still have the blessings

of God? What's the least I can surrender and

still make it to heaven? But when you're really

in the will of God, when you're God's child,

how many of you, we are the children of God,

amen? When you're God, when you're really God's

child, you'll have a cup in your life. And that

cup is going to look at you, and you're going

to look at it, and you're going to have kind

of a staring contest. Remember those? Who's going

to blink first? You have a staring contest, and

it's like, it's not going to just go away tomorrow.

You wake up Monday, and guess what? The cup is

still there looking at you. Here comes Tuesday.

There's the cup. And you can't get rid of it.

You've got a staring contest with the cup. And

some of us here today, maybe not everybody, even

if this is just for one or two people today,

but there's a cup in your life. And you keep

trying to figure out. You're trying to maneuver

your way around it. You're trying to look beyond

it, trying to get under it. You're trying to

say, is there any way that we can have what God

wants for us without this cup? Because this cup

right here is going to require something of me

that's going to change my lifestyle. That's going

to bring pain. That's going to inconvenience

me in some way. And so is there some way, God,

that you can let this cup pass from me? And the

cup is just so stubborn it doesn't want to move.

Can I tell you that it is a rite of passage?

Everyone who is called of God has a cup that

they must drink from. And when you drink from

that cup, And when you accept whatever the cost

is, saying this is what is required of me for

God to do what he wants in my family, to see

the restoration. And the revival of my loved

ones to see the manifest presence of God greater

in my life. To see souls won through my ministry.

To see the glory of God released through me.

To see blessings both physical, spiritual, and

financial. I've got to come to terms with this

cup. I've got to drink from this cup. And so

he prays. Father, but if there'd just be any

way to get this thing out of here, if we could

just bypass it, that would be great, God. But

as he's praying, he already knew the answer.

He already knew that there was no getting around

it. And I have a choice to make. Did I go through

all that I've gone through? Did I... Endure all

that I've already endured. All the lessons I've

already learned. All the seasons that I've already

survived. Did I go through all of that to come

to this point just to walk away? And Jesus, as

he's praying, he's saying, God, is there any

way he realizes that I've come too far to turn

back now? Someone say, I've come too far. I've

come too far. Jesus was wrestling with a voice

in his mind, a voice of God that was saying,

you're already here. You're already here. This

is the point of no return. This is the point

in which you have to decide whether you're going

to fulfill your purpose in Jesus. Under the weight

of that responsibility. He's praying and he feels

the heaviness of the call. He feels the crushing.

If I had more time today, I could tell you that

the place he was praying, Gethsemane, that word

Gethsemane means olive press. Olive press. That's

where the olives are pressed to produce an oil.

to light candles and to treat the sick. Can I

tell you that there is no anointing without affliction.

There is no anointing without a cost. We want

the oil, but we don't want the pressing that

comes before it. But he's in all the press and

he's feeling it, the pressure, the intensity

of the call on his life and what it's going to

require. of him, just like we today are feeling

the down press of the word of God on our hearts

and our souls. You're feeling. As these words

are going forth, there's areas of your life that

realize that there's a cup and there's a press.

And God's trying to squeeze something out of

us. He's trying to squeeze something into existence.

And so we ought to pray like Jesus today. God,

it's okay to say God. Is there any other way?

But at some point you realize this is the path

that God has chosen. And so Jesus, as he's praying,

he's saying, God, if it's your will, take this

cup away from me as the keyboardist comes in.

Will take this cup away from me. But he says

nevertheless. Somebody say nevertheless. Come

on. Everybody say. Somebody say nevertheless.

He said nevertheless. You know what we need today?

A nevertheless in our spirits. We need to get

to a nevertheless in our walk with God. A nevertheless

in our prayers. A nevertheless in our ministries.

A nevertheless and say, God, nevertheless. He

says, not my will, but yours be done. Lord, I've

come to realize that it's going to be your way

or no way at all. I've come to realize, God,

that there are some things that are worth fighting

for. things, God. There are some things worth

the sacrifice, the suffering, the inconvenience.

Now thank God you and I don't have to suffer

the way that Christ did. Amen, somebody. So thank

God you and I don't have to suffer. Thank God.

That whatever he's asking of you does not compare

to what he endured on the cross. God's not asking

for you to die on a cross. He's asking you to

pick up a cross and to follow him. And to say,

not my will, but yours be done. Would you stand

with me today? Yours be done. The Holy Spirit

is here right now. I feel him talking to us today,

church. And what he's looking for is not a perfect

man or a woman. He's not looking for someone

who is pretending. Someone who is going through

the motions. He's not looking for someone who

will just blindly say yes. Not even that. Because

even Jesus shows us, it's okay to question. It's

okay to have a rebuttal in your spirit that says,

God, but... But do I really have to? Is there

another way? But God is so good today, church,

that he doesn't disqualify us on the basis of

our objections, even our doubts. He doesn't disqualify

us on the basis of our misunderstandings, even.

He doesn't disqualify us on the basis of our

weaknesses, on the basis of our questions, on

the basis of our struggles. So you can pray with

God honestly today. You can come before him honestly

today. But just know that in the end, the cup

is still going to be there. In the end, there's

got to be a submission in our hearts that say,

okay, God, nevertheless, not my will, but thy

will be done. I wonder if there's somebody that

wants His will to be done in your life. Maybe

that cup looks like ending a relationship that

has been toxic and counterproductive in your

life. Maybe that cup looks like obeying His word

on giving and tithing. Maybe that tithe and that

offering that you need to give is going to hurt

your budget for this month or next month, but

you've yet to put that discipline into practice

in your life. And if you want God to bless you

more, he says, but what about that cup, though?

What about that cup? I'm not going to bypass

that cup, that cup of giving, that cup of tithing.

Maybe that's it for somebody today. I don't know

why I just feel to say that in the Holy Ghost.

That's the cup. But pastor, it's not easy. I

got rent due next week. Who said it was going

to be easy? But when are we going to trust God

and say, if this is what I've got to do, then

I need to drink from the cup because the end

result is the goodness of the Lord. The end result

are the promises of God. The end result are His

glory being revealed. Oh, hallelujah. Maybe that

cup. Looks like greater submission to authority

in the church. Maybe that cup is forgiving somebody

whom you don't want to forgive. Someone who hurt

you. Someone who used you. Maybe that cup is

forgiving somebody whom you can never have a

conversation with again. There's a cup. There's

a cup. There's a cup. And you've got to face

that cup today. so that you can say, not my will,

but thy be done.