(Visiting the Garden - Part 1)

Hello and welcome!

I hope you’re all having a great week. And I hope you’re ready to visit another interesting place in the Bible.

Last week we visited a very important garden. Do you remember what it was called? That’s right, the Garden of Eden. And what important thing happened in the Garden of Eden? Yes, sin entered the world. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Sin came into the world. And when sin came into the world death was right behind. Now the whole earth and all the people who ever lived on it are sinners. And they will all die for their sin unless someone dies in their place. It’s like someone else getting disciplined because you disobeyed.

Can you imagine?

Well, this week I would like us to visit another very important Garden. This garden is called the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane is located just outside the city of Jerusalem. It was a place Jesus liked to visit often with His disciples.

Gethsemane was part of a larger place called the Mount of Olives. Why do you think it was called the Mount of Olives? Right! It was full of Olive trees. Did you know Olive trees can live for over 2000 years? That means if you visited the Mount of Olives today you might see an Olive tree that Jesus sat under. There’s no way to know for sure but it would be interesting to visit the area.

Today we are reading about a very important visit Jesus made to the garden with his disciples. It was on the night just before He died on the cross. He wanted to spend that last night with His closest friends on earth. And those friends were His disciples. So after they met in an upper room in a house in Jerusalem Jesus took them to the garden. He told most of the disciples to wait for Him at a certain place. But Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him to His special place of prayer.

When they got there He told them to wait while He went and prayed to His Father in Heaven. Jesus wanted to spend some time talking to His Heavenly Father in prayer. Because He knew the next day He would go to the cross and die for our sins.

Well, let’s read about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Hey, I have an idea. Let’s do a sword drill. Everybody get your Bibles and put them on your lap. Make sure your Bibles are closed and your hands are at your side. First I’ll tell you the passage and then I’ll say ready, set, go. The first person to find the passage must say the first word in the passage. If they do...they win!!! After that we’ll read the whole passage together. Be sure not to touch your Bible until I say go.

Are you ready?

OK, here’s the passage...don’t touch your Bibles until I say Go...

The passage is.....Luke 22:39...don’t touch....

Luke 22:39

Ready, Set, GO!

I wonder who the winner was in your house!

Any way...Let’s all of us turn to Luke 22:39. We’ll read it together up to verse 46. Ready?

39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation. 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

Did you notice Luke does not use the name Gethsemane? But if we read the other gospels, we find out the Garden of Gethsemane is on the Mount of Olives. And it seems Jesus really liked to go to this garden. It must have been a quiet place where He could pray to His Father in Heaven. Do you have a quiet place where you can pray to God?

There were several important things that happened in that garden that night. Each one of them is very helpful for us to know and understand as Christians. And each one of them has to do with prayer.

1.  Prayer helps us avoid temptation

Jesus brought his disciples with Him into the garden. They were His friends and He wanted them around Him during this very difficult time. But He wanted to teach them how to avoid temptation.

Praying to God helps us not to be tempted. Let’s say someone near you has something you want.

Maybe it’s a toy or a book or a ball or the attention of your parents, anything like these things. If we are always talking to God and asking Him to help us not be tempted, He helps us! He really does help His children! That means when I see the really cool toy my friend has, it doesn’t even enter into my mind to take it. Instead I’m happy they have such a fun toy to play with.

Prayer doesn’t mean we have the strength to resist temptation. Prayer is when we call on God to give us His strength. And that’s just what Jesus was doing in the Garden that night. So not only does prayer help us to avoid temptation... but...

2.  Prayer helps us to do hard things

How hard do you think it would be to die on a cross for someone else’s sin? Why would that be hard? Just think what would happen if your brother or sister or friend broke something that was very special to your mom. And they broke it because they were messing around in a way they knew was wrong. In other words, they were being disobedient. Maybe they were throwing a ball in the house. That was always a wrong thing to do when I was growing up.

So they threw the ball a broke a very special tea cup that was your mom’s. Then your mom comes in, because she didn’t see what happened.

Your mom comes in and says, “Who do this?” And your brother, let’s say it was your brother or sister...ok, your brother. Your brother says, “I did it.” But instead of your brother being punished for breaking the tea cup, your mom punishes you!

What would you say?

Probably, “No way! He broke the cup, not me!”

Now...Imagine you didn’t say that.

Imagine you loved your brother so much, you said to your mom, please punish me for my brothers disobedience. That would be so hard to do.

Now imagine you had a billion brothers and they all disobeyed and broke something. And you were going to be punished not only for all the things they broke. But for all the bad things all of them ever did. There’s no way. You couldn’t do that.

You’re not strong enough. Neither am I. No normal person could die for the sins of all of God’s children. That would take a lot of prayer.

Now imagine the love of Jesus. He took the punishment of death for all the sins of His children; billions and billions of His children. We actually don’t know how many but...It’s more than we can count. I think of the weight...the heaviness of all that sin. It came crushing down on Him in the Garden that night. Sin came into the world in a Garden. And the sin of the world was carried by Jesus in a Garden as well.

We don’t know if Jesus really sweat blood out of His body or not. But He was in great pain and agony both in body and spirit. And so He prayed.

He was about to do the hardest thing anybody could ever do. He was going to take to Himself the anger of God for all that sin. After this video, maybe you could talk some more about whether or not your sin was laid on Jesus that night.

So, Prayer helps us to avoid temptation. It also helps us to do hard things. Finally...

3.  Prayer helps us stay alert

The disciples came into the garden that night after a very busy and emotional day. But unlike Jesus they didn’t know what was about to happen. Jesus knew He would be arrested, beaten, mocked and hung on a cross to die for sins He didn’t commit. It would be a very difficult time for the disciples. They loved Jesus and they thought He was going to save the world right then and there. They thought He would defeat Rome and all of Israel’s enemies. Instead they would see Jesus abused and then nailed to a cross of wood. The Jesus who loved people and healed people. The most gentle caring man who ever lived. God Himself in human flesh, treated like a criminal. Imagine.

All that was going to happen soon. They should have been praying. They should have been alert, awake and ready to do whatever Jesus needed them to do. Instead of praying, they fell asleep.

But they would learn their lesson that night. Jesus didn’t need to be harsh with them. He had already told them these words a few days earlier...

But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

We should listen to Jesus as well.The Apostle Paul wrote this to us also.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

So...Next time you see a garden when you’re out walking or riding your bike, think of Jesus. Think of Him praying in the garden that night. Think of Him dying on the cross for your sin. And be thankful.

Thanks for listening.