Harrisonville Church of the Nazarene

We as a culture are afraid of submission - we want to stay in control of our lives and our futures. Jesus did not have this fear. Jesus' full submission to the Father in the Mount of Olives demonstrated to us that submission to the Master does not destroy our will, it crucifies our will so that God can be Lord of our lives and use us for his kingdom purposes.

In life, even when we have set a goal to guide us, many things can take us off course. As Mary shows us, gratitude serves to orient us back to God, back to the purpose for our following Christ on the journey of discipleship

Part of the Christian journey is training for endurance, for the long road ahead, because God promises us not an easy road but that we will go through tough times. The answer is not to abandon the journey, the answer is to recognize that our endurance comes from one source…

the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.

As followers of Christ, how we respond to spiritual crises that arise in our lives will be determined less by the split second decisions we make in that moment and more by the disciplines we are able to build into our daily living. It is by persevering in prayer, Bible study, and fellowship and accountability that we will be better prepared for the storms and trials, because it will be in that training that we will have learned to rely wholly in God.

As today's passage shows us, even Jesus had to face temptation in his life - which means that no one is immune from it. Becoming a mature Christian does not mean not facing temptation - becoming a mature Christian, becoming more like Jesus, requires standing firm in the face of temptations.

As Albert Einstein put it, "He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. When is the last time you were in awe of something? When is the last time you were in awe in the presence of God? It is during those times when we are reminded of God's great mercy toward us. It is during those times that we are able to learn humility and compassion, so that we are transformed more and more in the likeness of Christ.

We are not Chosen By God in order to live comfortable, self-centered lives. We are chosen by God so that we might be witnesses of his inbreaking kingdom! This is why all Christians are gifted and equipped to help people move from being unchristian to newborn Christians…and from newborn Christians to mature Christians.

When we encounter the gap between our present suffering and the promises of God, we can respond in different ways. Some choose despair and pessimism, some choose "functional atheism" (God may exist, but if I want something done I have to do it myself). But there is a third path, the path of hope: hope that believes God sees the troubles in which we live, and is doing something about them.

It is not enough to "add a little God" into the parts of our life that we want to improve or make better. Following Jesus has always involved baptism, death to our sinful self so that we can be made alive in Christ. God's desire for you is that you might live out your baptism daily: by dying to yourself and living for Christ.

In Ephesians 1:4 Paul writes, "God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world." God loves us not because of anything we can do or earn but because God is love, having chosen us for salvation before the beginning of time. The fact is that God loves you as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.