October 12, 2025 • 25 mins
A single request echoes through the garden and into our lives today: stay awake. Not just awake on the outside, but alert in spirit—eyes open to God’s will, ears tuned in, and a heart ready to move when he says go. Pastor Lee walks through Mark 14:32–42 and the scene at Gethsemane, where Jesus asks his closest friends to watch and pray and they cannot hold the hour. From that moment, we follow a thread through Luke 18 and John 4 to see how easy it is to be physically present yet spiritually distracted, missing the very people and moments God is using to advance his kingdom.
Pastor talks about “access to excess” and how constant inputs can numb discernment. Pastor Lee contrasts a surface-level faith with a living, listening relationship that actually recognizes the Father’s work in the small and the surprising—children brought to Jesus, a Samaritan woman who brings a town, a grave about to become a testimony. Along the way, we unpack what watch-and-pray really means: a posture of alertness, humility, and dependency that turns everyday routines into assignments. Expect a pastoral, urgent, and hopeful charge to wake up with practical steps—simplifying your inputs, carving undistracted prayer, staying ready to give an answer, and making yourself available to be used any day of the week.
If you’ve felt spiritually drowsy, drifting, or overwhelmed by noise, this conversation is your alarm clock. Join us as we ask God to open our spiritual eyes and ears so we don’t miss what he’s doing right now. If this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs a wake-up call, subscribe for more conversations beyond Sunday, and leave a review to help others find the show.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, and Iam Pastor Lee, and I pastor
Christ Family Outreach Churchlocated in Amelia, Virginia.
If you've not yet come andvisited with us, please, please,
please do so.
We have a Thursday night servicethat begins at 7 p.m.
and our Sunday morning servicebegins at 10 a.m.
(00:30):
Normally I have someone sittingwith me at the table, but this
episode is going to be a littlebit different.
Right now, it's just you, it'sme, and it's the Holy Spirit of
God ministering to us as we moveforward throughout today's
podcast.
Next week, we will have aspecial guest on, but right now,
just right now, I want to talkto you about something that's
(00:52):
been on my heart for a littlewhile.
And if you're taking notes, Iwant to begin this episode by
writing these two words down.
Here it is.
This is what's been on my heartlately.
Stay awake.
That's right.
Stay awake.
That's our theme today.
So let's dive right into thedeep end of the pool together.
I'll be reading from Markchapter 14, 32 through 42.
(01:16):
And this is what the text says,my friends.
And they went to a place calledGethsemane, and he said to his
disciples, Sit here while Ipray.
And he took with him Peter andJames and John and began to be
greatly distressed and troubled.
And he said to them, My soul isvery sorrowful, even to death.
(01:37):
Remain here and watch.
And going a little farther, hefell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, thehour might pass from him.
And he said, Abba, Father, allthings are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yet notwhat I will, but what you will.
(01:58):
And he came and found themsleeping.
And he said to Peter, Simon, areyou asleep?
Could you not watch one hour?
Watch and pray that you may notenter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing.
Lowercase S there.
The spirit indeed is willing,but the flesh is weak.
(02:19):
And again he went away andprayed, saying the same words.
And again he came and found themsleeping, for their eyes were
very heavy, and they did notknow what to answer him.
And he came the third time andsaid to them, Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest?
It is enough.
The hour has come.
(02:41):
The Son of Man is betrayed intothe hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
You know, we live in a society,and this is really what I wanted
to come to you listeners andjust kind of talk to about
today.
We live in a society where if weare not careful, my friends, we
(03:05):
can be lulled to sleep.
Maybe not physically, but I wantto talk to you today about being
lulled to sleep spiritually.
We have so much, so much to doat our fingertips.
We've we have so much, andlisten to how I say this, we
have so much access to excess.
All right, I'm gonna say itagain.
(03:26):
We have so much access to excessthat there is offered to us an
abundance, right?
An abundance of life choicesthat can cause us to miss the
choices that really matter.
I'm talking about when it's allsaid and done, those choices
that really, really matter.
(03:48):
You know, I just mentioned in arecent sermon that we can get so
caught up in the temporarythings, so caught up, we can
have so much stock invested inthe temporary right now things
that we forget the things thatreally matter down the road in
the eternal.
(04:08):
So I want to break down what Ijust read to you from the text.
Here we've got Jesus, and Jesusis going to the garden, and he's
he's gonna pray.
He's he's getting ready to betaken, he is getting ready to be
led, to be crucified, and hefinds himself going to the
(04:29):
garden to have this prayer.
And there's a lot of stress onhim, there's a lot going on.
He he takes the disciples withhim and he gives his disciples
some very simple instructions.
I mean, you know, you ever youever had somebody let you down
at something and you're like,man, you had one job, right?
You you had one job.
(04:50):
And maybe you've told someonethat today, maybe, maybe you
told someone that last week orrecently, and it's just kind of
jarring a memory for you.
But you had one job to do.
I just asked you to do onething, right?
I just needed you to do onething.
That's all I needed you to do.
Jesus just asked him to do onething.
Just pray.
(05:11):
Sit here while I pray.
I'm not I'm not asking you to doa whole lot.
I just want you to sit here andI want you to pray.
And then Jesus takes with him alittle further.
He's got Peter, James, and John.
The 33rd verse lets us know thatJesus is greatly distressed and
troubled because he knew whatwas getting ready to happen.
(05:33):
He knew that he's getting readyto go to the cross for
crucifixion.
So you can see what Jesus isdoing here.
He's going to the Father inprayer.
He's taking with him the 11 ofthe 12 disciples.
Okay.
He's taking with him thoseclosest to him.
And I'm not saying 12 for 12because you know what's going on
(05:54):
with Judas, right?
Judas, the betrayer, he's doinghis dirty deed and he's handling
that business.
And Judas is going to show up tothe garden in just a moment, but
but he's coming later thaneverybody else.
And so you know what happens.
Jesus goes away to pray.
Returning, he finds the threeapostles sleeping rather than
praying.
(06:15):
And again, as I mentionedearlier, it's like, hey, he
hasn't asked you to do a wholelot.
Just one thing.
Just sit there and pray.
Remember, it's not too longbefore this that Peter had vowed
to Jesus that he would die withhis Lord.
He would die with Jesus if hehad to.
But but that's not what'shappening right here, right?
(06:38):
Here we see Peter that he can'teven stay awake and keep watch
with them.
You know, this the same Peterthat said he would go to the
death with Jesus is the samePeter that can't even stay awake
and keep watch with his Lord.
And I'm just telling you todaythat that we have pastors in
churches all over this worldthat are not remaining awake.
(07:02):
They're not carrying the mantlethat God has called them to
carry.
And I I don't think I'm so muchcondemning today as much as I am
encouraging for people to wakeup that have spiritually fallen
asleep, right?
Because it's not just thepastors that have fallen asleep.
It's not just worship leadersthat have fallen asleep.
(07:26):
It's the laity, it's it's thechurch body that's fallen asleep
all over the world, not justlocally, not just in America,
but all over the world.
And don't get me wrong, I knowthere are a lot of amazing,
awesome pastors out there.
There are a lot of amazinganointed worship leaders out
there.
There are a lot of amazing uhbody members, body parts in the
(07:48):
body of Christ out there.
I want to talk today to theindividual that you know.
You know that you know that deepdown you've fallen asleep.
And I hope, I hope that thisepisode is a charge for you.
It's it's not to be here andjust kind of beat you over the
head.
It's it's to charge you, toencourage you in the name of our
(08:08):
Lord Jesus Christ to wake up.
And and and the reason thechurch must wake up and remain
awake is because we've beengiven a job.
We've been given a job to do.
Just like Jesus gave thedisciples some instructions, sit
here and pray.
You know, when we get into theword of God, we see that there
(08:31):
is a plethora of instructionsthat we as the New Testament
church are to be doing.
You know, we we are messengersof the message, we are
ambassadors of Christ Jesus, ourLord and Savior.
It is our job to proclaim thegospel, and we must remain
(08:51):
awake.
The instructions Jesus gave toPeter, write this down if you're
taking notes.
Here it is.
Here are the instructions thatJesus gave to Peter according to
the text.
Write this down.
Watch and pray.
Watch and pray.
So pay close attention to whatI'm about to say next.
To watch and pray means to bealert and pray.
(09:17):
To watch and pray means to bealert and pray.
We all know you cannot be on thelookout if your eyelids are
closed the entire time.
And again, I'm not just talkingabout physically with Peter.
I'm talking about spiritually asthe church.
The church cannot be on thelookout if our spiritual eyes
(09:42):
are closed, if our spiritualear, our inner ear, as scripture
talks about, if our inner ear isnot tuned into what's going on
around us.
But have you ever consideredthat some people they walk
around in life with eyes wideopen, physical eyes wide open,
but they're still missing themark.
(10:03):
And maybe you've done it, youknow, maybe, maybe you've just
been walking, eyes wide open,you haven't been paying
attention, and you run intosomething, you know?
So along with our physical eyes,right?
We need our spiritual eyes to beopen because we don't want to be
that type of person that walksaround eyes wide open, but still
bumping into things.
We we we want not just physicaleyes open, we want spiritual
(10:27):
eyes and spiritual ears open.
It's no different than havingour physical ear and our inner
ear, that spiritual ear open andtuned in to what God is speaking
to us, to what God isministering to us, to how the
word of God is calling us, tohow the Holy Spirit is
discipling us.
(10:48):
We've got to make ourselves,write this down, make myself
readily available.
I want to make myself readilyavailable for what God Almighty
has called me to do every day.
Every day, my friends, not juston a Sunday, not just on a
Wednesday, not just on aThursday.
I want to have myself readilyavailable for everything that
(11:13):
God wants in my life.
I want to be ready to makeimpact at any moment.
I want to always, as Scripturecalls us to, be ready to give an
answer for what we believe in.
Amen.
So here's what I want you tothink about.
How can we know the will of Godif our spiritual eyes and our
(11:37):
spiritual ears are closed off?
How can we really truly know thewill of God in this moment,
right now, if if all of ourantennas are shut down?
Physically, we can be lookingaround, and physically we could
be listening.
Physically we could be tuned in,but spiritually, we could be
(11:59):
missing it.
Now, I don't want to just giveyou some talking points here and
then move on.
So, what I want to do, myfriends, I want to give you some
examples of this found inScripture.
I want to take you to the Wordof God because anything that we
go through in life, we should goto the Word of God to find
examples, to support what we'retalking about, because it's the
(12:22):
Word of God putting it inside ofus that causes growth.
So, so so Luke chapter 18.
Two verses here we're going tolook at for a moment.
Luke chapter 18, verses 15 and16.
And the word of God says this,my friends.
Now they were bringing eveninfants to him, that being
(12:45):
Jesus.
Now they were bringing eveninfants to Jesus that he might
touch them.
And when the disciples saw it,they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them to him,saying, Let the children come to
me, and do not hinder them, forto such belongs the kingdom of
God.
So let's talk about that for amoment.
(13:06):
The people, according to thetext, they're bringing their
children in hopes that JesusChrist, the Messiah, is going to
bless them by touching them.
The disciples saw it as justbringing children, and they're
thinking that Jesus had biggerthings to do.
(13:28):
But how quickly Jesus correctedthem for their way of thinking.
They miss the heart of God, myfriends.
The disciples missed the heartof God in that moment.
You may remember when Jesus wastalking to the Samaritan woman
at the well, and the disciples,they had gone away.
(13:49):
They're coming back.
They see Jesus speaking withthis Samaritan woman at the
well.
And we find their response inJohn chapter 4, verse 27.
And in John chapter 4, verse 27,here's the response.
It says they marveled that hewas talking with a woman.
(14:12):
They literally marveled that hewas talking with a woman.
It wasn't just the fact thatJesus was talking to a woman.
It went much deeper than that.
They were blown away that Jesuswas speaking with a Samaritan
woman because the Samaritans andthe Jews, they had nothing that
they wanted to do with oneanother.
(14:37):
But this lady, this lady ends upgoing back and she reports to
everyone that she can in townabout how this Jesus has told
her everything, and I meaneverything she had ever did.
And because of it, manySamaritans came to trust Jesus
Christ as Lord.
(14:59):
So here the disciples, they pullup onto the scene.
Jesus is there with the woman atthe well, and the disciples,
they've missed the heart of God.
They've missed the heart of God.
I wonder how many times, justlike we see, just in these two
references alone, we see thedisciples miss the heart of God
(15:20):
when it came to the childrenbeing brought to Jesus.
We see the disciples miss theheart of God when it comes to
Jesus speaking with theSamaritan woman at the well.
They'd fallen asleep, myfriends, physically, wide awake.
Physically, they're there.
Mentally, they're there.
They think that they're on thetop of their game.
(15:43):
What is Jesus doing allowingthese children to come in?
What is Jesus doing speaking tothis Samaritan woman?
They they were not on targetwith the will of God.
They had lost it for a moment.
And I wonder how many times youand I, again, I'm just talking
(16:04):
here.
It's like I said earlier, it'sit's nobody at the table right
now.
I'm the only one in studio rightnow.
So it's just myself, it's you,the listener, and the Holy
Spirit ministering to us.
So, so so I wonder how manytimes you and I have missed it.
We've missed the heart of Godbecause we preconceived what we
(16:27):
thought Jesus was trying to dowith somebody.
We preconceived, we had alreadypre-made it up the best way that
we thought it could ever happen.
We've already, we've already gotthe the pregame plan on how
things are gonna go down andwhat God's gonna do.
And then when we see it kind ofcontradict that or not be as
close to that as what we hadwanted it to be, we go get and
(16:50):
been out of shape.
Oh no, no, no, it can't be likethis.
No, no, let me just say this: God never makes a mistake. (16:54):
undefined
God never makes a mistake.
And here we see Jesus tellingthe same disciples, he's telling
them, like, hey, you guys aremissing it.
There's a reason I'm I'm lettingthese children come to me.
The kingdom belongs to thesechildren.
(17:15):
There's a reason I'm talking tothis Samaritan woman because
she's gonna go back and she'sgonna tell everyone.
She's gonna tell everyone inthat city who she met out here.
And by the way, disciples, youjust came back from a busy
place.
How many people did you tellabout Jesus?
(17:36):
How many people did you tellthat Jesus was out there if they
wanted to go check him out?
If they wanted to go listen towhat he had to teach.
How many did you tell?
Now, what we do know, I don'tknow if you've ever thought
about this yet or not, but theHoly Spirit's just kind of
ministering to me, even as I'mtalking to you right now,
recording this podcast.
What we do know is that thedisciples came back with
(17:58):
themselves.
This woman, this woman, sheleads droves.
There are droves that want tocome here, what Jesus has to
say.
Droves.
And matter of fact, they invitehim to stay.
I mean, many, many people getsaved because of what this woman
(18:18):
has done.
She goes back into town and shesays, Hey, there's this man
named Jesus.
He's he's told me everythingthat I've ever done.
And because of it, because ofit, my friends, many Samaritans,
many, many Samaritans have cometo trust Jesus Christ as Lord
during that time.
Or let's take it a step further.
How about in John chapter 11?
(18:41):
In John chapter 11, we see inthe text that Jesus has gone to
raise Lazarus from the dead.
And Jesus told his disciplesthat Lazarus was just sleeping.
And then you have Mary andMartha mourning, but Jesus is
about to raise Lazarus from thedead to bring honor and glory to
God the Father.
(19:01):
In all these examples, Jesus hada greater purpose in mind than
what his disciples were seeingor hearing.
See, it's not that Jesus washiding this from them, because
he ends up explaining it to themwhen they missed a mark.
(19:22):
It's simply because they werenot tuned into the will of God.
They were operating in their ownfeelings, they're operating in
their own experiences.
They've missed a mark.
Physically there, spiritually,falling asleep.
You see, I don't want, and I'msure many of you do not want
(19:45):
either, but I do not want asurface relationship with the
God of heaven and earth.
I'm not satisfied with just atopical surface relationship
with the creator of all thingsgood.
I want to know the heart of God.
I want to be tuned in to whatGod wants to do in my life.
(20:08):
And I'm hoping that you do, myfriend, as well.
I want to be tuned in to whatGod wants to do in my life and
how He wants to use my life.
I do not, I do not want to befound spiritually asleep when
God calls for me to make a move.
And I don't want to be foundspiritually asleep when God goes
(20:29):
to do something and then I'mguilty of not being able to
understand it because I'vefallen asleep and I'm not tuned
in to what he's told me to do.
The third time Jesus came backand found the men sleeping in
the garden.
Let's get back to where we kindof began in this episode.
The third time Jesus came backand found the men sleeping in
(20:50):
the garden, instead of watchingand praying, Jesus responds and
says in the 41st verse, he says,It is enough.
The hour has come.
It is enough.
The hour has come.
The Son of Man, he says, the Sonof Man is betrayed into the
(21:10):
hands of sinners.
Now, Judas couldn't join himbecause he was too involved with
his own plan.
The disciples joined him in thegarden, but they were too
distracted by sleep.
Jesus let them know of theurgency of the moment, but they
(21:31):
just simply did not comprehendit.
Jesus was left to pray allalone.
And my friends, I'm just tellingyou, the word of God lets us
know multiple times over thatthe kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
The kingdom of God Almighty isat hand.
(21:51):
It literally is at stake here.
It's what is at stake.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
And it's our job to share it andtestify to it and proclaim it to
all those that need to hear it.
This was the greatestopportunity.
I want you to think about this.
(22:13):
This literally, this moment inthe garden, this was the
greatest opportunity ofintercessory prayer ever
recorded in history.
In human history.
Have you ever considered that?
It is the literally the greatestopportunity of intercessory
prayer ever recorded in history.
(22:35):
And there was not one, myfriends, not one person willing
to go the distance with Jesus.
Not one.
Not one person went on to watchand pray.
Not one person went on to stayawake.
Oh my goodness.
How would it have been if wewere one of the ones in the
(22:57):
garden?
Or we can kind of get an idea,you know.
I've I've I've had people tellme before, when I get to heaven,
I'm gonna give Adam and Eve apiece of my mind, right?
Because, you know, but butbecause they took of the, they
took of the fruit of the tree inthe garden.
Now we all have to experiencesin.
No, no, no, no.
The truth is, had it been you ormyself in the garden, both of us
(23:18):
would have messed up.
That's the truth of the matter.
We we can gauge that on the factthat, you know, uh we we are not
going uh a month, two months,three months, a couple weeks, a
week without falling short ofthe glory of God, right?
So consider this.
Had we been in the garden, we'dhave probably been sleeping too.
(23:39):
And maybe, maybe you're maybeyou're spiritually asleep right
now in life.
Maybe you've been asleepspiritually in life.
You you know what you need todo, but you're just not doing
it.
Would you allow God and his HolySpirit to minister to you
(24:00):
throughout this podcast?
Would you allow the Spirit ofGod to be the alarm clock that
this is what God uses to wakeyou up?
Let this be the day, my friends,where you begin asking God
Almighty, the creator of heavenand earth, of all the universe,
to open your spiritual eyes andears, that you, my good friend,
(24:26):
would be in tune with Him.
Let's pray.
Father, I'm so grateful that Ibelieve this episode has been
used as a wake-up call.
I'm believing that this episodewill be used by you to open the
spiritual eyes and the spiritualears to have people be tuned in
(24:52):
to what you're doing in theirlives.
That Father, that this would notbe condemning, that this is
something that should beencouraging us.
We should be excited that yougive us the opportunity to wake
up.
You literally give us theopportunity to wake up and be
part of the body, part of thefamily of God.
(25:13):
Father, I love you, we love you,we praise you, and we honor you
in the name and the blood ofJesus Christ, all God's people
said together, my good friends,my brothers and sisters.
Amen, amen, and amen.
Until next time on BeyondSunday.
God bless.
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, and Iam Pastor Lee, and I pastor
Christ Family Outreach Churchlocated in Amelia, Virginia.
If you've not yet come andvisited with us, please, please,
please do so.
We have a Thursday night servicethat begins at 7 p.m.
and our Sunday morning servicebegins at 10 a.m.
(00:30):
Normally I have someone sittingwith me at the table, but this
episode is going to be a littlebit different.
Right now, it's just you, it'sme, and it's the Holy Spirit of
God ministering to us as we moveforward throughout today's
podcast.
Next week, we will have aspecial guest on, but right now,
just right now, I want to talkto you about something that's
(00:52):
been on my heart for a littlewhile.
And if you're taking notes, Iwant to begin this episode by
writing these two words down.
Here it is.
This is what's been on my heartlately.
Stay awake.
That's right.
Stay awake.
That's our theme today.
So let's dive right into thedeep end of the pool together.
I'll be reading from Markchapter 14, 32 through 42.
(01:16):
And this is what the text says,my friends.
And they went to a place calledGethsemane, and he said to his
disciples, Sit here while Ipray.
And he took with him Peter andJames and John and began to be
greatly distressed and troubled.
And he said to them, My soul isvery sorrowful, even to death.
(01:37):
Remain here and watch.
And going a little farther, hefell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, thehour might pass from him.
And he said, Abba, Father, allthings are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yet notwhat I will, but what you will.
(01:58):
And he came and found themsleeping.
And he said to Peter, Simon, areyou asleep?
Could you not watch one hour?
Watch and pray that you may notenter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing.
Lowercase S there.
The spirit indeed is willing,but the flesh is weak.
(02:19):
And again he went away andprayed, saying the same words.
And again he came and found themsleeping, for their eyes were
very heavy, and they did notknow what to answer him.
And he came the third time andsaid to them, Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest?
It is enough.
The hour has come.
(02:41):
The Son of Man is betrayed intothe hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
You know, we live in a society,and this is really what I wanted
to come to you listeners andjust kind of talk to about
today.
We live in a society where if weare not careful, my friends, we
(03:05):
can be lulled to sleep.
Maybe not physically, but I wantto talk to you today about being
lulled to sleep spiritually.
We have so much, so much to doat our fingertips.
We've we have so much, andlisten to how I say this, we
have so much access to excess.
All right, I'm gonna say itagain.
(03:26):
We have so much access to excessthat there is offered to us an
abundance, right?
An abundance of life choicesthat can cause us to miss the
choices that really matter.
I'm talking about when it's allsaid and done, those choices
that really, really matter.
(03:48):
You know, I just mentioned in arecent sermon that we can get so
caught up in the temporarythings, so caught up, we can
have so much stock invested inthe temporary right now things
that we forget the things thatreally matter down the road in
the eternal.
(04:08):
So I want to break down what Ijust read to you from the text.
Here we've got Jesus, and Jesusis going to the garden, and he's
he's gonna pray.
He's he's getting ready to betaken, he is getting ready to be
led, to be crucified, and hefinds himself going to the
(04:29):
garden to have this prayer.
And there's a lot of stress onhim, there's a lot going on.
He he takes the disciples withhim and he gives his disciples
some very simple instructions.
I mean, you know, you ever youever had somebody let you down
at something and you're like,man, you had one job, right?
You you had one job.
(04:50):
And maybe you've told someonethat today, maybe, maybe you
told someone that last week orrecently, and it's just kind of
jarring a memory for you.
But you had one job to do.
I just asked you to do onething, right?
I just needed you to do onething.
That's all I needed you to do.
Jesus just asked him to do onething.
Just pray.
(05:11):
Sit here while I pray.
I'm not I'm not asking you to doa whole lot.
I just want you to sit here andI want you to pray.
And then Jesus takes with him alittle further.
He's got Peter, James, and John.
The 33rd verse lets us know thatJesus is greatly distressed and
troubled because he knew whatwas getting ready to happen.
(05:33):
He knew that he's getting readyto go to the cross for
crucifixion.
So you can see what Jesus isdoing here.
He's going to the Father inprayer.
He's taking with him the 11 ofthe 12 disciples.
Okay.
He's taking with him thoseclosest to him.
And I'm not saying 12 for 12because you know what's going on
(05:54):
with Judas, right?
Judas, the betrayer, he's doinghis dirty deed and he's handling
that business.
And Judas is going to show up tothe garden in just a moment, but
but he's coming later thaneverybody else.
And so you know what happens.
Jesus goes away to pray.
Returning, he finds the threeapostles sleeping rather than
praying.
(06:15):
And again, as I mentionedearlier, it's like, hey, he
hasn't asked you to do a wholelot.
Just one thing.
Just sit there and pray.
Remember, it's not too longbefore this that Peter had vowed
to Jesus that he would die withhis Lord.
He would die with Jesus if hehad to.
But but that's not what'shappening right here, right?
(06:38):
Here we see Peter that he can'teven stay awake and keep watch
with them.
You know, this the same Peterthat said he would go to the
death with Jesus is the samePeter that can't even stay awake
and keep watch with his Lord.
And I'm just telling you todaythat that we have pastors in
churches all over this worldthat are not remaining awake.
(07:02):
They're not carrying the mantlethat God has called them to
carry.
And I I don't think I'm so muchcondemning today as much as I am
encouraging for people to wakeup that have spiritually fallen
asleep, right?
Because it's not just thepastors that have fallen asleep.
It's not just worship leadersthat have fallen asleep.
(07:26):
It's the laity, it's it's thechurch body that's fallen asleep
all over the world, not justlocally, not just in America,
but all over the world.
And don't get me wrong, I knowthere are a lot of amazing,
awesome pastors out there.
There are a lot of amazinganointed worship leaders out
there.
There are a lot of amazing uhbody members, body parts in the
(07:48):
body of Christ out there.
I want to talk today to theindividual that you know.
You know that you know that deepdown you've fallen asleep.
And I hope, I hope that thisepisode is a charge for you.
It's it's not to be here andjust kind of beat you over the
head.
It's it's to charge you, toencourage you in the name of our
(08:08):
Lord Jesus Christ to wake up.
And and and the reason thechurch must wake up and remain
awake is because we've beengiven a job.
We've been given a job to do.
Just like Jesus gave thedisciples some instructions, sit
here and pray.
You know, when we get into theword of God, we see that there
(08:31):
is a plethora of instructionsthat we as the New Testament
church are to be doing.
You know, we we are messengersof the message, we are
ambassadors of Christ Jesus, ourLord and Savior.
It is our job to proclaim thegospel, and we must remain
(08:51):
awake.
The instructions Jesus gave toPeter, write this down if you're
taking notes.
Here it is.
Here are the instructions thatJesus gave to Peter according to
the text.
Write this down.
Watch and pray.
Watch and pray.
So pay close attention to whatI'm about to say next.
To watch and pray means to bealert and pray.
(09:17):
To watch and pray means to bealert and pray.
We all know you cannot be on thelookout if your eyelids are
closed the entire time.
And again, I'm not just talkingabout physically with Peter.
I'm talking about spiritually asthe church.
The church cannot be on thelookout if our spiritual eyes
(09:42):
are closed, if our spiritualear, our inner ear, as scripture
talks about, if our inner ear isnot tuned into what's going on
around us.
But have you ever consideredthat some people they walk
around in life with eyes wideopen, physical eyes wide open,
but they're still missing themark.
(10:03):
And maybe you've done it, youknow, maybe, maybe you've just
been walking, eyes wide open,you haven't been paying
attention, and you run intosomething, you know?
So along with our physical eyes,right?
We need our spiritual eyes to beopen because we don't want to be
that type of person that walksaround eyes wide open, but still
bumping into things.
We we we want not just physicaleyes open, we want spiritual
(10:27):
eyes and spiritual ears open.
It's no different than havingour physical ear and our inner
ear, that spiritual ear open andtuned in to what God is speaking
to us, to what God isministering to us, to how the
word of God is calling us, tohow the Holy Spirit is
discipling us.
(10:48):
We've got to make ourselves,write this down, make myself
readily available.
I want to make myself readilyavailable for what God Almighty
has called me to do every day.
Every day, my friends, not juston a Sunday, not just on a
Wednesday, not just on aThursday.
I want to have myself readilyavailable for everything that
(11:13):
God wants in my life.
I want to be ready to makeimpact at any moment.
I want to always, as Scripturecalls us to, be ready to give an
answer for what we believe in.
Amen.
So here's what I want you tothink about.
How can we know the will of Godif our spiritual eyes and our
(11:37):
spiritual ears are closed off?
How can we really truly know thewill of God in this moment,
right now, if if all of ourantennas are shut down?
Physically, we can be lookingaround, and physically we could
be listening.
Physically we could be tuned in,but spiritually, we could be
(11:59):
missing it.
Now, I don't want to just giveyou some talking points here and
then move on.
So, what I want to do, myfriends, I want to give you some
examples of this found inScripture.
I want to take you to the Wordof God because anything that we
go through in life, we should goto the Word of God to find
examples, to support what we'retalking about, because it's the
(12:22):
Word of God putting it inside ofus that causes growth.
So, so so Luke chapter 18.
Two verses here we're going tolook at for a moment.
Luke chapter 18, verses 15 and16.
And the word of God says this,my friends.
Now they were bringing eveninfants to him, that being
(12:45):
Jesus.
Now they were bringing eveninfants to Jesus that he might
touch them.
And when the disciples saw it,they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them to him,saying, Let the children come to
me, and do not hinder them, forto such belongs the kingdom of
God.
So let's talk about that for amoment.
(13:06):
The people, according to thetext, they're bringing their
children in hopes that JesusChrist, the Messiah, is going to
bless them by touching them.
The disciples saw it as justbringing children, and they're
thinking that Jesus had biggerthings to do.
(13:28):
But how quickly Jesus correctedthem for their way of thinking.
They miss the heart of God, myfriends.
The disciples missed the heartof God in that moment.
You may remember when Jesus wastalking to the Samaritan woman
at the well, and the disciples,they had gone away.
(13:49):
They're coming back.
They see Jesus speaking withthis Samaritan woman at the
well.
And we find their response inJohn chapter 4, verse 27.
And in John chapter 4, verse 27,here's the response.
It says they marveled that hewas talking with a woman.
(14:12):
They literally marveled that hewas talking with a woman.
It wasn't just the fact thatJesus was talking to a woman.
It went much deeper than that.
They were blown away that Jesuswas speaking with a Samaritan
woman because the Samaritans andthe Jews, they had nothing that
they wanted to do with oneanother.
(14:37):
But this lady, this lady ends upgoing back and she reports to
everyone that she can in townabout how this Jesus has told
her everything, and I meaneverything she had ever did.
And because of it, manySamaritans came to trust Jesus
Christ as Lord.
(14:59):
So here the disciples, they pullup onto the scene.
Jesus is there with the woman atthe well, and the disciples,
they've missed the heart of God.
They've missed the heart of God.
I wonder how many times, justlike we see, just in these two
references alone, we see thedisciples miss the heart of God
(15:20):
when it came to the childrenbeing brought to Jesus.
We see the disciples miss theheart of God when it comes to
Jesus speaking with theSamaritan woman at the well.
They'd fallen asleep, myfriends, physically, wide awake.
Physically, they're there.
Mentally, they're there.
They think that they're on thetop of their game.
(15:43):
What is Jesus doing allowingthese children to come in?
What is Jesus doing speaking tothis Samaritan woman?
They they were not on targetwith the will of God.
They had lost it for a moment.
And I wonder how many times youand I, again, I'm just talking
(16:04):
here.
It's like I said earlier, it'sit's nobody at the table right
now.
I'm the only one in studio rightnow.
So it's just myself, it's you,the listener, and the Holy
Spirit ministering to us.
So, so so I wonder how manytimes you and I have missed it.
We've missed the heart of Godbecause we preconceived what we
(16:27):
thought Jesus was trying to dowith somebody.
We preconceived, we had alreadypre-made it up the best way that
we thought it could ever happen.
We've already, we've already gotthe the pregame plan on how
things are gonna go down andwhat God's gonna do.
And then when we see it kind ofcontradict that or not be as
close to that as what we hadwanted it to be, we go get and
(16:50):
been out of shape.
Oh no, no, no, it can't be likethis.
No, no, let me just say this: God never makes a mistake. (16:54):
undefined
God never makes a mistake.
And here we see Jesus tellingthe same disciples, he's telling
them, like, hey, you guys aremissing it.
There's a reason I'm I'm lettingthese children come to me.
The kingdom belongs to thesechildren.
(17:15):
There's a reason I'm talking tothis Samaritan woman because
she's gonna go back and she'sgonna tell everyone.
She's gonna tell everyone inthat city who she met out here.
And by the way, disciples, youjust came back from a busy
place.
How many people did you tellabout Jesus?
(17:36):
How many people did you tellthat Jesus was out there if they
wanted to go check him out?
If they wanted to go listen towhat he had to teach.
How many did you tell?
Now, what we do know, I don'tknow if you've ever thought
about this yet or not, but theHoly Spirit's just kind of
ministering to me, even as I'mtalking to you right now,
recording this podcast.
What we do know is that thedisciples came back with
(17:58):
themselves.
This woman, this woman, sheleads droves.
There are droves that want tocome here, what Jesus has to
say.
Droves.
And matter of fact, they invitehim to stay.
I mean, many, many people getsaved because of what this woman
(18:18):
has done.
She goes back into town and shesays, Hey, there's this man
named Jesus.
He's he's told me everythingthat I've ever done.
And because of it, because ofit, my friends, many Samaritans,
many, many Samaritans have cometo trust Jesus Christ as Lord
during that time.
Or let's take it a step further.
How about in John chapter 11?
(18:41):
In John chapter 11, we see inthe text that Jesus has gone to
raise Lazarus from the dead.
And Jesus told his disciplesthat Lazarus was just sleeping.
And then you have Mary andMartha mourning, but Jesus is
about to raise Lazarus from thedead to bring honor and glory to
God the Father.
(19:01):
In all these examples, Jesus hada greater purpose in mind than
what his disciples were seeingor hearing.
See, it's not that Jesus washiding this from them, because
he ends up explaining it to themwhen they missed a mark.
(19:22):
It's simply because they werenot tuned into the will of God.
They were operating in their ownfeelings, they're operating in
their own experiences.
They've missed a mark.
Physically there, spiritually,falling asleep.
You see, I don't want, and I'msure many of you do not want
(19:45):
either, but I do not want asurface relationship with the
God of heaven and earth.
I'm not satisfied with just atopical surface relationship
with the creator of all thingsgood.
I want to know the heart of God.
I want to be tuned in to whatGod wants to do in my life.
(20:08):
And I'm hoping that you do, myfriend, as well.
I want to be tuned in to whatGod wants to do in my life and
how He wants to use my life.
I do not, I do not want to befound spiritually asleep when
God calls for me to make a move.
And I don't want to be foundspiritually asleep when God goes
(20:29):
to do something and then I'mguilty of not being able to
understand it because I'vefallen asleep and I'm not tuned
in to what he's told me to do.
The third time Jesus came backand found the men sleeping in
the garden.
Let's get back to where we kindof began in this episode.
The third time Jesus came backand found the men sleeping in
(20:50):
the garden, instead of watchingand praying, Jesus responds and
says in the 41st verse, he says,It is enough.
The hour has come.
It is enough.
The hour has come.
The Son of Man, he says, the Sonof Man is betrayed into the
(21:10):
hands of sinners.
Now, Judas couldn't join himbecause he was too involved with
his own plan.
The disciples joined him in thegarden, but they were too
distracted by sleep.
Jesus let them know of theurgency of the moment, but they
(21:31):
just simply did not comprehendit.
Jesus was left to pray allalone.
And my friends, I'm just tellingyou, the word of God lets us
know multiple times over thatthe kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
The kingdom of God Almighty isat hand.
(21:51):
It literally is at stake here.
It's what is at stake.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
And it's our job to share it andtestify to it and proclaim it to
all those that need to hear it.
This was the greatestopportunity.
I want you to think about this.
(22:13):
This literally, this moment inthe garden, this was the
greatest opportunity ofintercessory prayer ever
recorded in history.
In human history.
Have you ever considered that?
It is the literally the greatestopportunity of intercessory
prayer ever recorded in history.
(22:35):
And there was not one, myfriends, not one person willing
to go the distance with Jesus.
Not one.
Not one person went on to watchand pray.
Not one person went on to stayawake.
Oh my goodness.
How would it have been if wewere one of the ones in the
(22:57):
garden?
Or we can kind of get an idea,you know.
I've I've I've had people tellme before, when I get to heaven,
I'm gonna give Adam and Eve apiece of my mind, right?
Because, you know, but butbecause they took of the, they
took of the fruit of the tree inthe garden.
Now we all have to experiencesin.
No, no, no, no.
The truth is, had it been you ormyself in the garden, both of us
(23:18):
would have messed up.
That's the truth of the matter.
We we can gauge that on the factthat, you know, uh we we are not
going uh a month, two months,three months, a couple weeks, a
week without falling short ofthe glory of God, right?
So consider this.
Had we been in the garden, we'dhave probably been sleeping too.
(23:39):
And maybe, maybe you're maybeyou're spiritually asleep right
now in life.
Maybe you've been asleepspiritually in life.
You you know what you need todo, but you're just not doing
it.
Would you allow God and his HolySpirit to minister to you
(24:00):
throughout this podcast?
Would you allow the Spirit ofGod to be the alarm clock that
this is what God uses to wakeyou up?
Let this be the day, my friends,where you begin asking God
Almighty, the creator of heavenand earth, of all the universe,
to open your spiritual eyes andears, that you, my good friend,
(24:26):
would be in tune with Him.
Let's pray.
Father, I'm so grateful that Ibelieve this episode has been
used as a wake-up call.
I'm believing that this episodewill be used by you to open the
spiritual eyes and the spiritualears to have people be tuned in
(24:52):
to what you're doing in theirlives.
That Father, that this would notbe condemning, that this is
something that should beencouraging us.
We should be excited that yougive us the opportunity to wake
up.
You literally give us theopportunity to wake up and be
part of the body, part of thefamily of God.
(25:13):
Father, I love you, we love you,we praise you, and we honor you
in the name and the blood ofJesus Christ, all God's people
said together, my good friends,my brothers and sisters.
Amen, amen, and amen.
Until next time on BeyondSunday.
God bless.
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