The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
The Rock Family Worship Center is a multi-cultural non denominational church led by Pastors Scott & Britt Silcox.
The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
Gardens | The Garden Of Gethsemane - Pastor Scott Silcox
Pastor Scott explores Jesus' pivotal moment in Gethsemane where three prayer requests reveal the foundation of our salvation and provide a blueprint for our own spiritual lives.
• The name Gethsemane means "oil press," symbolizing how Jesus was pressed three times to produce our salvation, healing, and cleansing
• "Remain here" is Jesus' call to proximity - our effectiveness comes from being close to Him, not just doing things for Him
• "Watch with me" is the call to spiritual alertness - waking up to what God is doing rather than sleepwalking through faith
• "Pray that you may not enter into temptation" teaches us that prayer is not just communication but formation of inner strength
• The disciples' failure to pray with Jesus foreshadowed their inability to stand firm when tested later
• The three pressings of oil extraction parallel Jesus' three prayers and the three blessings we receive: sacred anointing, healing, and cleansing
• Jesus demonstrated true surrender by saying "not my will, but yours" - the victory was won in the garden before the cross
Join us next week as Pastor Rusty brings the Palm Sunday message as we continue our journey toward Easter.
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamilytv Now. Join us for a message from Pastor Scott Silcox.
Speaker 2:I got up early this morning, so it's going to sound like I've been drinking a lot of coffee and I haven't, honestly. But I'm on fire inside because I've been up reading past sermons not mine, but old sermons of guys that have long gone before us. But I don't know about you, but if you ever get an opportunity to just kind of pause and reflect on how people engage with the Lord, over time it'll start to build and burn some fire inside of you. It starts to kick some things up, and I was just going through this. Of course we're in a series in gardens with the idea of gardens and we're going to be jumping into one of those garden narratives today. But let me just tell you I'm just motivated by this.
Speaker 2:When we come into the house, I just would encourage you, can I just can I encourage you a little bit on this front end, right here. This has nothing to do with what I'm talking about today, all right, but I need to say this I would encourage us that any time we get to come into the house of the Lord, do not come empty-handed. I'm going to say it again Do not come empty-handed. And I'm just telling you the Lord, you can't declare his worthiness, his holiness. You can't come before him today. And can I tell you, when I say don't come empty-handed, I'm not talking about dollars. That's not at all what I'm talking about. I'm talking about an opportunity to worship him. When Christ comes into the garden and Adam and Eve have already turned their back right, they've already chosen their way right. When he confronts them about where are you, it's not because he doesn't know where they're at, but it's because he's fully expecting them to come again with a worship, like they did the day before and the day before that. And what happens is they no longer show up with a worship in their hands. And now we recognize something is different. I'm just telling you, we can't ever show up empty handed when we come into this room, and there's something each of us can give and that's what Pastor Brian was trying to push us in worship today is to declare a new song, declare a word from you, and if that's all you can say is, you're good, you're good, you're good, that is plenty, because it's an opportunity for me to partner in worship. Can I tell you, when we come before the Lord, he's worthy of all of it, amen. And so I'm just stirred up this morning. I'm telling you today is going to be a good day. Tappy neighbors say today is going to be a good day.
Speaker 2:Before we jump into this, I do want to say this to all of our guests what an honor it is to have you here today, a real honor. We're in the middle of a series we're kind of a seven-week series that's leading us all the way through to Easter. Next week, pastor Rusty will be in the house and he's going to be doing the yeah, he's going to be doing Palm Sunday. I can't wait to hear from him. He's in Tennessee today, he's ministering and so he sends his love, but he will be in the house next week for Palm Sunday and then, obviously, we'll jump into our Easter week and it's going to be an incredible week. You don't want to miss out on all the great opportunities to be together and to gather and it's just going to be. This is now. We don't have to wait until Easter. We can start today. Amen, come on. We can start today. We're not waiting for Easter to get here to lift up the name of Jesus. Amen. And in fact, that's probably going to come across today in this message, because I really believe that any chance we get, I just want to present the gospel in a way where everyone can respond. I believe everybody deserves the opportunity to hear the good news and today I've got good news for everybody in the room is that this message is not going to last very long and Scott is like, yeah right, he believes none of it and he's wise not to do that. But I will do my best, but I'm excited about it. But so, listen, if you have your Bibles, I want you to open up to Matthew 26.
Speaker 2:As we kind of get ready to go there, I want to just kind of talk about the Garden of Gethsemane today. The Garden of Gethsemane, an incredible narrative of when Christ is in the garden and there is a shift that's happening in not just the atmosphere, but there's a shift happening in the spirit and we're going to talk about that. I want to just highlight this real to you, remind you, this is kind of where we started. We were in Eden, then we went to the new creation right From the beginning to the end. We slung back over to the tabernacle, which we talked about, the desert garden. You guys must remember us talking about that last week, just finding the narrative what Christ has been doing all throughout the journey. But today we're going to really just land on Christ.
Speaker 2:Today we're going to talk about Christ and this is what we're going to do. We're going to read from Matthew 26, verse 36. And I'll read it and you guys follow along with me and I'm going to highlight a handful of things in this. There's a repetitiveness to this passage of scripture. Now you're going to see this narrative played out in all the four gospels right Now, each of them taking a little bit of a unique approach to the conversation, with Matthew and Mark being pretty similar. Luke having a couple of extra details in it which we'll talk about in a second.
Speaker 2:And then John, who just basically jumps right to the the ratchetness of Judas. That's essentially what he does. He just doesn't even. He's like we crossed the Valley of Kidron, we were in there to pray, but really this is Judas is a jerk. That's John's approach to this story. So you can go and check that out. John just got right to it, right.
Speaker 2:But today I'm gonna primarily stay in Matthew and then I'll just ping pong a little bit back and forth into Luke because of some of the extra things there, but this narrative plays out pretty much the same in all four Gospels and it's really just a repetition of things that Christ is doing Now to set the stage. We all know this. We're but hours away from the time where Christ will be crucified. We're seeing that this Gethsemane is the culmination. It's all that has started in Eden is now culminating down into this transformational moment. If you don't know what that moment is, that moment is that Christ will become the sacrifice for our sins, for our iniquities. He is going to pay an ultimate price, and all of history has been gearing up to this moment. So you just have to imagine thousands of years of just work, prophecy, rising and falling of kingdoms, israel being captured, israel being released, christ showing up on the scene, just as it was prophesied in Isaiah, ezekiel and Jeremiah.
Speaker 2:These guys all spoke about who Christ would eventually be, and all of that's been fulfilled, and even down to every little detail of his ministry who he would be, how he would respond, what kind of character would he be, what kind of what kind of person would he be? Even described as forgettable? He was described as forgettable, a commoner he was just. Nobody looked on him in a way that just wanted to elevate him. He didn't have the stature of Saul, if, so to speak, where Saul was head and shoulders over everybody and it was just easy. No, no, no, he was one that might get lost in the crowd, which makes a lot of sense, since every time people got upset it was hard to find him. He would just slip in and out. But that really had nothing to do with his appearance and everything to do with timing Timing how many know this?
Speaker 2:That if you're in this room today, you need to know one thing that God has timing on everything that you're going through, everything that you're facing, everything you think you've missed. Can I tell you, god knows perfect timing. He knows exactly what we need, not a person in here or even that's watching us online. He knows exactly what you need. He is not late Young person. He has not left you, abandoned you to your teenage years. No, he sees you, knows right where you're at. Just as he orchestrated the life of Christ, so is he orchestrating your steps, so long as they're submitted to his lordship.
Speaker 2:Come on, somebody. You got to get these understandings first, right, because if not, you read passage of scriptures like we're going to get to in a second, and we just kind of read it, as in fact, I would guarantee this, the majority of the people here, especially those who traveled in inclement weather. Right, we know you're the real Christians, we know that You're not afraid. Your faith is strong. A little rain limb or two down, that won't keep you from being in the house of God. Amen, hallelujah. You guys have your little, probably got a little DC talk patch for some of you over there. That just we had a conversation yesterday about it. It's all good Like you're in it, about it. It's all good Like you're in it. But my guess is the majority of us in this room have read this passage thousands of times, or at least looked over it or read over it. But I'm going to challenge us in three specific areas that Christ actually three times prays into and I want to talk to us about it. But I'm going to read it to you for just a second.
Speaker 2:It says this then Jesus went with them to the place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray, and taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled and then he said to them my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. Now I highlighted this or underlined it. I want you to do the same in your Bible or into your phone. I just want you to highlight this idea to watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and he prayed, saying my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Not what I want, but what you want, lord. I want to just talk about this for just a second, this idea of the request that he's made to watch with me, to sit and watch with me, to watch with me, to sit and watch with me.
Speaker 2:I would venture to say the hardest job of the believer, the hardest job of just living life, is probably just being still and watching with the Lord. But I would tell you this the greatest gift set you can work on in your life right now with Christ is that ability to just be. In fact, most of us spend most of our time following the Lord, quantifying and celebrating the things that we do, thinking it qualifies us for salvation or for closeness. But I'm here to argue this morning is that I believe that is a can be I'll say can be a giant waste of time. Because how many know this? Our righteousness could not justify our shortcomings, our self-righteousness.
Speaker 2:Church, those of us who believe we're doing so good because we know all the disciplines I know a lot of people who know how to pray, who just don't know how to get before the Lord, though They've learned the language, they've learned the words, they've been around enough of the church to mimic it so that it feels genuine, but it never has heart change. This is the thing that he's guarding us from. It's things he's trying to tell us beware of. So watch this. He says this verse 40, and he trying to tell us beware of, so watch this. He says this verse 40,.
Speaker 2:And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter so could you not watch with me for an hour, not one hour, peter, could you not just hold on for an hour? This looks like Tuesday night prayer service in here sometimes I've found two or three of you. Can you not watch with us one hour, just pretending to be face prostrate before the Lord, just sleeping? So Tuesday, I'm going to remind you, I'm going to just come around you and pray loud. Could you not watch with us? Shut up, just get loud about it. Come on, you know what I'm going to. Just come around you and pray loud. Could you not watch with us? Shut up, just get loud about it. Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Anybody ever fallen asleep in a prayer service? Don't lie. Raise your hand, come on, and the rest of you are liars. Come on. The old school dudes who used to do the all night prayers, all night, come on.
Speaker 2:We would tarry to the end. Most of y'all couldn't tarry past 11. Instead, you pretend to be slain in the spirit. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, for the second time, everyone say.
Speaker 2:The second time he went away and prayed my father, if this cannot pass, unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he Did. You hear those crickets. You saw how we did that. We even set the atmosphere of the garden in here like that. That's the kind of next level stuff we're up to around here. Y'all aren't ready for it. Guest. Yeah, that's what happened. We just knew it. We released crickets in all of here, so don't be shocked when they I'm sorry, I don't know You're supposed to let those things go, but I just can't. I can't. This is in me, I can't. All right, my father, this can I pass. Unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time Everyone say the third time, saying the same words again. And then he came to the disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.
Speaker 2:Now I want to just read this passage here, luke 22. If you have, just flip over, save that one and we'll go back to it. But Luke 22, verses 39, and I'll read it, you highlight it, you can go back and check it out. It says and he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation. Came to the place, he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation. Listen to the pivot here too. I just want to get to that. Pray that you Isn't it interesting?
Speaker 2:He's not even asking to pray with him about the situation. He's saying you need to pray for yourself. Can I just pause right here? Some of us are waiting for other people to intercede on your behalf, and the word of the Lord is learn to pray. Contend is what he's saying. Contend for yourself. Right now. Don't just pray for the atmosphere where we're at. I'm talking about. Contend for yourself. This is something we'll get to in a second. And he says this Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
Speaker 2:Verse 43,. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him and being in agony. He prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow. And he said to them this question why are you sleeping? Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Why are you sleeping? What a big question. I don't know about you, but my boys failed that test. You know what I'm saying. You know how embarrassing it had to be to come back by the third time and I've been dozing off and finally listen. I know what this is like my dad used to.
Speaker 2:I got called out one time. He was actually traveling and I was in a little church service and he had a special guest come in to teach and I won't say his name because you might know him. So he was out of town, but I guess I had had, I don't know, maybe a late night on Saturday and I'm in this little service and we're about. I don't know. Maybe a late night on Saturday and I'm in this little service and we're about, I don't know. Felt like four hours into it, but I'm pretty sure it was like 30 minutes or so, but I was out. I was out and I was too old to be asleep. You know what I'm saying? Right, jude, it's my son. Too old to be asleep. He's not asleep, thank you Jesus, but too old to be asleep in a service.
Speaker 2:But when I say asleep in a service, I'm talking about mouth gaping open, the embarrassing kind, not like where I could fake prayer. I'm sitting there but my head's, my head, just broke. My neck is snapped. My head's face is wide open and in the middle of service he calls me out, the guest speaker. He's not gracious. He doesn't just let me, you know, soak up the presence of the Lord and get rest. He points it out and then like, makes a joke about it. And then, of course, I'm devastated because I'm obviously embarrassed. How many know? Nothing sobers you up and gets you up faster than being embarrassed in front of a group of people and in a small setting.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden I was awake. I was so alert. I was so alert. I could hear anything. I could hear the rustle of candy wrappers 16 rows ahead of me. I could hear it. I was so in tune to what's happening in the room because I've been scared to death.
Speaker 2:And here's what I'm scared to death of that this guest speaker is going to tell my dad he saw me asleep in service. It's precisely what he did. He did just that and told my dad that I've been sleeping. It didn't go well for me. I'll just tell you what I don't think. I slept for like four days after that because I was up. I was wide awake. You know what I'm saying. And if you don't know anything about that young people. They used to call it spanking. I don't know if you've ever heard of that before, but that's a thing it used to be. It's why we're good humans right now.
Speaker 2:Come on somebody, I was asleep, I failed the test, and that's where the disciples are. They're weary, tired. Just come off the Passover meal, right? It's been kind of a stressful time, kind of an exciting time. Christ is revealing himself. He's reminding. Kind of a stressful time. Kind of an exciting time. Christ is revealing himself. He's reminding them my hour has come. Before I leave, though, christ serves them at the Passover and then, after all of that's done, they're in prayer.
Speaker 2:Jesus is in agony. I want to just point this out to you. One thing that I think is very encouraging to us is to recognize that our Savior can very much relate to agony. I think there's sometimes in us as believers, where we believe we're somehow experiencing something greater than what he experienced, which is when you appeal to him. You appeal to him to say don't you know, can't you see? You don't understand what I'm going through, but the truth is, he knows exactly what you're going through and has been there before. In fact, this Gethsemane moment is the closest to humanity that you're gonna see Christ In this very moment. He is going to be the most human that has ever been seen in the history of his life. It all culminates to this point and that humanity is confronted with if this cup will pass for me, can it? It's a question, it's a desire, can it? It's a question, it's a desire. If there's a way around this, hey, I'm going with door number B, letter B. Give me that one, give me option B out of this. But in that very moment, he chooses it's not me, but it's you. There's three things I want to point out to you. Three times Christ comes to the disciples and he asks them to pray. And this is the request that he makes of them, and I'll jump to it.
Speaker 2:Back to Matthew 26,. He says watch with me, I want you to watch with me, and this is what I want to say about that today. He says the first call to them is remain here, remain here, remain here. It's a call to proximity. It's a call to proximity. I want you to listen to me. We often want God to do, but he just wants us to be.
Speaker 2:His call to the disciples that day was not hey, lift me up in prayer, because I need prayer. He's God, the Father. God the Son manifests here. He is appealing to his Father. There are angels coming to minister to him. What he's saying is what I need from you more than anything, and what you need more from me than anything, is proximity, closeness. When you think what you need is more money or a better job, what Christ says you ought to just draw closer to me. When you think you need a better life, he says I invite you to a better life with me, in proximity of me.
Speaker 2:When we walk into the room and we say my bracket is busted and you're stressed out over things that make zero sense right now, his invitation to us this morning and to the people that are in this room and listening to me this morning, the invitation to you is the same as it. Remain here. I got news for you. This isn't going to be very deep, but it's going to be very personal today. What I'm preaching today is not for your wife, it's for you, wife. It's not so that your husband's better when he leaves here for your sake. It's so that he has, and you have, and we have, a deeper understanding of what Christ is inviting us into.
Speaker 2:Remain here. Remain here I would guarantee you this the majority of the time where things start to get wobbly in our life. You know what I mean when I say wobbly. Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you ever pulled a trailer before? You know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what you're doing, you can get yourself in some trouble real fast, you know, and when that thing is not working, that thing could get wobbly on you really quick and you have that thing jackknifed and turned upside. What I mean by there are circumstances that come in life where life begins to feel a little bit more wobbly, a little bit more shaky. And here's the invitation remain, remain. Some of us have been.
Speaker 2:I felt the same way, very similar to you, brian, this morning, just praying over you. Tuesday I made a point to try to touch every one of these chairs in here in prayer. What I loved was I had a little lady that was right on my heels the whole time. She was so your daughter, the most precious thing I've ever seen in my entire life. She's got to be this tall and nobody worshiped in here better than she did, and her dad was singing. She just outworshipped that dude. She was in here praying over every seat and I'm just telling you this to simply say that our intercession during this week has been for the people that are in this room today and this is the reminder, as it was when I started praying on Tuesday remain, don't get so flighty, don't get so moved, don't get so frustrated that you step out and decide to lead it your own way. The invitation is like to the disciples to remain.
Speaker 2:Proximity is everything If you wanna see God's hand move on your life. Proximity matters. Young people, proximity matters. It makes the difference. Proximity matters. I'll show you, I'll give you an example of why that matters. How many know that you become who you hang with. Hang with If you will give more to an influence in your life. It starts to show up in ways that even you probably haven't paid attention to. But that's all because of proximity. Can you guys hear that today? Are you good? He's just looking at me like oh my gosh, what are we doing here? All right, I like this phrase right here.
Speaker 2:Leonard Sweet said this. He says the Garden of Gethsemane is where love tasted fear and still chose the cup. Where love tasted fear. The humanity of Christ was that fear was trying to creep in. Here's some encouragement to you today to creep in. Here's some encouragement to you today, for those that are sitting in this place where fear and anxiety is starting to grip your life in a way that it keeps you crippled for moving forward. Here's good news for you. Christ understands your pain and and his instruction to you is remain, don't get scared off, lean in.
Speaker 2:This is the time, not where you try to figure a better way out. This is the time where you turn and you say I just need to get near the Father. This is what I mean by like, when you come into a worship set, like we did today, like we just can't afford to just like accidentally bump into God, even though that happens a lot. How many know you can intentionally bump into him. We're constantly walking around hoping. I'm saying you don't have to hope to run into him if you'll turn and face him, get in proximity of him. Second thing he does is this Sure, hopefully he'll stay there Watch with me. Watch with me is the second request that he gives to the disciples Watch with me. It's a call to being alert. It's a call to being alert. I'm going to talk about this.
Speaker 2:Watching is not about paranoia. It's about discernment. What he's teaching the disciples here is not to say I'm paranoid, somebody's coming for me, we're hiding out in the garden. I don't want to be found. This isn't Jesus hiding and trying to figure out a way out of it. He is in the pressing of life. Every bit of history is culminating down to this moment, and he's not running. But he is trying to tell you stay awake and prepare yourself, wake up. If there is not a more clear message for the church today, it's wake up, wake up. You can't just continue to go about life thinking this is about job promotions. This life is not about job promotions. This life is not about you're happily ever after. It just isn't. And the lie that we've lived in that somehow that's the whole purpose of this. Are you kidding? We have to get dust our Bibles off and get back into it. Realize that there is something even greater that he's called us to do. And he's simply asking watch with me, pay attention, get your head up, get it on a swivel. Simply asking watch with me, pay attention, get your head up. Right, get it on a swivel.
Speaker 2:One of the most frustrating things as a basketball player is to watch games like I had to watch last night, when two teams that should have won both lost because of fundamentals. Two high caliber offenses who were already leading the entirety of each game lose in the last three minutes because of the lack of discipline. Through the end, simple decision making. Does not matter the preparation that you made. It does not matter the preparation that you made. It does not matter about the work you've made. If you cannot stay focused all the way through it. Watch with me. The watch.
Speaker 2:The ask of the disciples has nothing to do with. I need a couple of cronies to stay with me. He's not insecure. He's Jesus Christ. He's not insecure. He's Jesus Christ. He's not insecure. If he's asking you to watch, how many know it's not for his benefit, but for yours.
Speaker 2:The invitation to this room is to wake up. Look up. Don't be a conspiracy theorist. Read your Bible. If you're logging more hours on dumb websites that have opinions about the Bible, you are losing in this game. You are not equipped, you are not ready why? Why do we know? Because that request that he's asking from them is very specific. Watch with me. Why Least you fall in temptation?
Speaker 2:What I thought this was just about. Like you, you're going to die, not us. How about this quote here? Aw Tozer says this every man has his own Gethsemane, but only one man bore the weight of the world on his. I say that to say this is that there are gonna be many Gethsemane times. Probably in your life there's gonna be times where you agonize over the next decision to make, or what to do next, or what's my future.
Speaker 2:Ronnie, what is that? What is it? It doesn't look as clear as I thought it was going to look. It's not laid out all perfectly, but that watch with me, that be aware, pay attention that I'm relocating you for a purpose and a reason. It may be beyond your understanding right now, but the request is for you to pay attention so that you don't get tripped up. It isn't that God doesn't know where you're at? Isn't it funny? Do your prayers sound like my prayers sound like this? Sometimes, I'll just admit it Sometimes I pray to the Lord like he's lost. I will, I'll pray to him as though like hey, did you see that? Did you see that in them? You should fix that. And I think he does what you're doing. You know it's like okay, that's funny, that's good, I gave you a sense of humor, you know it's great.
Speaker 2:The question is, can you, can we remain, can we lean in? He does this one time, two times, three times. I'll skip it because you already read it, but the third time is this it's pray that you may not fall into temptation. It's a call to inner strength. Prayer isn't just communication, it's a call to inner strength. Prayer isn't just communication, it's formation. It's not just communication. When we pray, when he calls us to that place to remain, to watch and to pray, so that we don't fall in temptation, it's an actionable prayer. That prayer is directed, it shifts. It's no longer about like we're just praying. That this is my favorite. Okay, I'll say it like this Anybody ever been asked to pray for somebody and you're like in it, but you really don't know what to pray for them, and so you kind of go into the autopilot prayer.
Speaker 2:Right, lord, just give them strength, lord, give them grace, give them mercy. Lord, help them, lord, lord, remember my brother. Right, it's just just no Prayer. What we're talking about in this place is he is getting them to pivot towards a better understanding of the hour. The reason he's having him lean into prayer. He said wake up and focus your prayer on you, because in just a few moments, all of your preparation will come to the surface. That in just moments later, not only were they not prayed up and ready for the moment.
Speaker 2:Peter tries to kill a man, tries to chop a guy's head off. He ducks, he gets his ear. Jesus isn't happy about it. Go and read it. He's not. He's not, he's not happy and he's like put the sword away or the dagger or whatever it was. You can pontificate on what it is, what weapon of choice it was, but he's frustrated. And what happens from that moment is everyone scatters, no one goes with Christ. Peter's gonna find out that the temptation he's supposed to be praying for he's gonna fall victim to hours later, where he denies Christ three times.
Speaker 2:Conversation this morning is to recognize the need to learn how to pray, how to stay with him, to remain with him, but also how to lean into this concept, this idea of intercede for ourselves, to pray, praying for ourselves and praying. Learning the art of prayer and it's a gift of prayer and it's a grace of prayer is really what it is. It's communion with God, it's intimacy, it's being with him, and when we learn how to do it and we're doing it in the proper way. There is at times where he leans into.
Speaker 2:You've got to be able to pray and cover yourself in prayer, and when you do so, it's so not just for posterity's sake, but it's for formation's sake. It's so that who you're supposed to be gets formed and shaped. And then we can pass that off to the easier way, which is don't pray at all and just, you know, get you some you know hobby lobby signs and put them in your house. You ain't got to pray at all, you just walk room to room and read quotes. It's funny because it's true. You know what I'm saying. It's funny because it's true. We're just like we can't even see our refrigerator for all the quotes we have. But I dare the devil to show up at your doorstep. And then we're scrambling and we got a Facebook post and we need a bunch of likes on it and some, you got a refrigerator full of scripture.
Speaker 2:Let's put it to our hearts, right, all right, here's a. Here's a phrase I like from John Tyson the garden was the furnace of the soul where Jesus chose surrender over survival. Soul where Jesus chose surrender over survival. Where Jesus chose surrender over survival. What an incredible way to frame that. Can I just tell you what he's praying is if this cup will pass from me, if at all. What's the cup that he speaks of? His suffering, the wrath. If I can bypass the suffering and the wrath, father, you know my heart and because the Father knows his heart, he has no problem letting him sit under the weight of it. Come on, somebody. You just have to understand. Christ is sitting under an immense amount of weight. Well, why does that matter, pastor Scott? Why does that matter? I'll tell you why. Because of scriptures like this Isaiah 53.
Speaker 2:Who has believed what he has heard from us and whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of a dry ground. He had no form or majesty that he should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him. Stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. Listen to this, highlight it, underline it. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Speaker 2:Powerful, powerful statement from Isaiah. When Isaiah identifies this idea that, though he is not lovely and we don't really put praise on him, he is going to make an ultimate sacrifice on your behalf and he's gonna suffer a crushing. Now listen, why does this matter? And this is the beauty of Christ, and I believe this. If you read the Bible enough, you just start to see how he just continues to weave himself in and out of the narrative and he makes it so undeniable that he is the Lord. He makes it so undeniable that he is for you. He makes it so undeniable for you to even walk away, because he's making himself so available. And I'll give you ways that he did this Like, for instance, the Garden of Gethsemane is called the oil press. Well, that's interesting Of all the places that he could be this night, when all of history culminates down to this one garden.
Speaker 2:Let me also say this is that many of us believe that Christ, or many of us have read that Christ's victory was done on the cross and it was completed on the cross. But it didn't start there. The real victory started in the garden of Gethsemane. It was in that place of prayer. Three times where he comes back with the disciples, and three times he falls face down before the Lord asking the same question. It is in that place that he's getting pressed three specific ways In him. He's being pressed in three specific ways. That causes and ultimately results in our salvation. That ultimately results in our healing and ultimately results in our cleanliness. Now, how do you get all that? I'll tell you how we get that.
Speaker 2:Here's what we've come to understand now. There are three processes in which oil is brought out of the olive. There are three historical ways that that's done or has been done for a long time. There's a little bit more now. We've modernized it, tried to get a little bit more out of it, but in this era there have been three ways to extract oil and three very specific oils that were just extracted out of the olive. So you tell me Christ is in the olive press, being pressed against his life of what is to come out is to be our salvation. Three ways it looks like this Three crushings, three pressings of olive.
Speaker 2:Stage one is for sacred purposes. The first oil that comes out of the pressing of an olive is the extra virgin olive oil. It's the purest form of it. This olive oil is reserved specifically for anointing kings and lighting the menorah. Just want to pause and just say you know, when you wonder if the narrative of the garden is still playing out, or if the tabernacle is still playing out, or if the temple is still playing out, or if his fullness of his kingdom and a tree of life is still playing out, even in this place he's being crushed. The initial crush that happens to this is the purest form and it's reserved for sacred furnishings, for sacred anointings and ceremonies.
Speaker 2:The second pressing is this one here. Stage two it's for healing and sustenance. This is where that extraction, which is basically, they take the first one, that's done. Then they pile all of the stuff together again, put it in baskets, and this is interesting. On the second one, listen to me on the second one, they add weight. This is fascinating to me that in this moment now, we don't only just press it, because when you pressed it the first time, it was already the stuff at the top ready to come out right. It was ready to burst. It just needed one roll right. It needed one crushing. But in order to get more out of it, you're going to have to add weight.
Speaker 2:We often wonder at times that we're going through stages and it feels like it got heavier, not lighter, and I'm wondering if maybe he's producing something a little bit more out of you and I'm wondering if maybe he's producing something a little bit more out of you, and so he adds weight to it. The second one comes, and this is for our consumption. It's for food for our bodies and for our healing. How many know that he is your healer today? Even before he bore stripes on his back, he was already going through the crushing of what it would take to become your healer. The good news that we have today is you stand here today recognizing this that Jesus loved you so much that he endured the garden of pressing.
Speaker 2:The third one is the last one, and that is the last stage, which is cleansing. It's the last pressing, basically with more weight. They would add to it. It would get another draw of oil, and this oil was reserved really for medications or, excuse me, for soaps, for cleanliness, and this would also be for heating or for lamps in the house. It was the extra and I find it fascinating today as we go through the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the oil press. It's three times he goes to the Lord in prayers, three times he's feeling the pressure. It's three times and in that place it is when he starts to drop blood because of the pressing on his own physical, spiritual, life. All for us, the real win is that he doesn't get up and turn his back on the responsibility. The real win is that he does take a hold of the cup and because of that we get the benefit of living into all that he paid for in the garden.
Speaker 2:You guys tracking with me today. All right, brian, come, help me out. Come and help me out. I asked Pastor Brian to do something for me today. They're going to sing a song for us here in just a second. I don't have a shirt for you, brian. Like a Brian, would you come? It doesn't have the same ring, does it? No, we'll come up with some other phrase for Brian. They're going to come and sing for us. This morning.
Speaker 2:I've been praying for you since Tuesday specifically about this and I really believe this, that today, since Tuesday, specifically about this, and I really believe this, that today I'd like to invite anyone that's here today that needs prayer. I really believe this. I believe there's power in anointing People with oil. And you might be like, oh no, I knew it. I knew it. I was a guess. I knew it. I knew I thought it was all good until he's like trying to put oil on people. And I knew it. I think I laid out a pretty convincing understanding of why it's important and why Jesus felt it was important. But I believe there are people in this room who are really dealing with serious things.
Speaker 2:We're getting preparation for Easter and it's a victorious one. Palm Sunday. That's gonna be so fantastic. It's gonna be so great. Easter's gonna be amazing. We're gonna teach on the cross, we're gonna preach about an empty grave. It's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2:But before we ever get to that, I think the Lord wants to deal with your Gethsemane. I think he wants to just speak to you individually about where you're at. Some of you have had conversations with the Lord to you individually about where you're at. Some of you have had conversations with the Lord. You made deals with the Lord. It's my favorite one. Anybody else making deals with the Lord? Man, I'm good at it. I'm like master negotiator with the Lord, but I'm the only one playing the game. The Lord's just like, oh my gosh, like seriously, have you not learned? But we do it because that's how we exchange in our humanity.
Speaker 2:I'll do for you if you'll do for me. See, here's the beauty of Christ's story. This is Christ. I'm just gonna do for both of us. I'm just going to do it for both of us. I'm going to be the sacrifice, I'm going to be the one, I'm going to be the savior, and this is what I'm going to do. Curtis Silcox, I'm going to give you the grace to just let it go. I'm going to provide you the way to just let me handle it. Isn't that great when he just says I'm going to do both sides. I'm going to do both parts of this. I'm going to do both sides. I'm going to do both parts of this. I'm going to empower you to just let me do what I do. It's one of the greatest mysteries when we give ourselves to Christ and give him an opportunity to respond.
Speaker 2:You know that today, right up there in that section, right there, this section over here, I think I can't tell what hat it is. It's green, though Right there. Yeah, is it New York? What is up there, la? I knew it was a big city, right up in here, this area. I'm just. I have the New York version of that hat. That's why I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 2:But I got so specific in prayer for the people that are in that section over there and just asking the Lord, god, how do I pray for them? How do I intercede? I don't want just to bless them, lord, but we begin to pray that Jesus would show himself so real in somebody's life. Today you maybe came here searching. You didn't know we were even going to be talking about where you were sitting today, but we are. I believe God has something for you there and I believe he's trying to share something with you even now, saying yeah, I brought you here for this reason, to remind you that I haven't left you, to remind you that just when you thought there was no hope and there was not. But the preparation that I made for you, I made in the garden, not just last week when you needed it, not the month ago when you needed it, not a year ago when you needed it all the way. In the garden he was making preparation for your day today and the invitation is to come to pray, to remain, to be with him.
Speaker 2:Three crushings the Lord has to undergo before he ever gets to the cross, and today he makes all three of those available to the people in this room. You may be here today. You say I don't know this jesus and I need to know him. Can I tell you he has a destiny for you, he has a purpose for you. He wants to be your savior. He wants you to be your lord. He's giving you an opportunity and he has has many times. I even felt that in prayer. There have been many times where he's responded to the Lord, but he's never wondered why. It just didn't take or didn't keep, and I believe the Lord wants to change that. You may be here today and you say you know what? I'm in desperate need of healing today. How many know? Sometimes it's not always just physical, even though I do believe the healer is present and I very much believe that we can call on the name of the Lord and he will show up.
Speaker 2:If you ever wondered what kind of church we are, we absolutely believe in that. And don't believe me. Just anybody ever experienced or been healed or been around anyone that was healed ever. Go and just keep them up high. And so, for everybody that doesn't believe, let's just look around. I like my odds to trust the Lord for the impossible. Either that or all of us are nuts. That doesn't work. That math don't math. And so we believe, not because we heal.
Speaker 2:By the way, there ain't nobody in here that can heal, nobody, you can't. There's. Maybe somebody here believes they can. You can't, you can't, you can't. God can, god can, and God can use people to bring faith around that situation and you can see supernatural transformation and healing. Can you not Nate? Can you do it? No, we can do it, pastor Henry, you know we can do it. How many miracles have you seen? I mean there's untold. How many miracles you've seen, experienced how God's used you? Oh, there's tons of testimony. It's an invitation.
Speaker 2:Today.
Speaker 2:You need healing.
Speaker 2:You know it's not always physical. Sometimes it's just the mental, the mental thing. Anybody else understand. Like God, he created the mind and he can heal it. Some of it is not even just mental, some of it's just brokenheartedness. I feel this so strong in the room. Somebody's just so eat up with brokenheartedness, so hurt. That initial wound is still so fresh that you get triggered pretty often. And here's the danger is that you get in a place where you get more comfortable about being triggered, so you do more guarding of your life so you're not triggered, versus just allowing him to fix it. And so what happens is you get emotionally and physically worn out because all you're doing is trying to self-protect. You spend your entire existence just self-protecting you. And here's the invitation today you don't have to do that anymore because he took that crushing for you already. You can exchange it today and he'll give you the grace to do it For someone in the room I don't know who it is, but you've, you've.
Speaker 2:I'm just gonna do like hypothetical or not hypothetical, but like the quintessential Christian life. I've lived the right way. I'm living and attempting to live the right way. I've been trying, I've been doing. Somebody might even say I got saved when I was five or six or ten or young age. But there's something about it. It's just not giving life to you anymore and it's likely because of disappointment. But my gut is also.
Speaker 2:When I prayed for you on Tuesday was just this see if I can recall the right way to say it but there is a there's a sense that that maybe you've always known God, so it hasn't really progressed, sadly. It's like I've always known him and so I just know he's there, but it isn't because of any effort, it's mainly just because it's just what I knew. But the Lord is wanting to, to say I want to, I want to have a genuine relationship with you, one that is unmistakable, one that we're in communion together, one where you remain, and he really wants to. Just he's inviting you into a more intimate relationship and in fact, there even may be one or two here that say you know, I used to have that, but I don't have it anymore. And I would just say this that pressing that he took for the cleansing, I believe this is that he wants to kind of to kind of scrub you down a little bit, refresh you a little bit, just kind of wants to say hey, there's some areas in your life that you got comfortable with and yeah, you still love me, but you've been tolerating some things. Yes, we have a relationship, but you've been tolerating some things. Yes, we have a relationship, but you've been too busy to do your part in it. I would like to scrub that down. I'd like to fix that.
Speaker 2:It's an invitation today, and are we going to sing that song? I chose this song because I thought it was a good one and just because it's super simple and that everybody can sing it. And this is before you sing it. Before you sing it, this is what I'm looking for. This is the beauty of being in an atmosphere like this, and that is this.
Speaker 2:We've heard the word of the Lord, we're prepared our hearts, we're asking the Holy Spirit. That's my next prayer over us. I'm asking the Holy Spirit. That's my next prayer over us. I'm asking the Holy Spirit Because how many know this? It's the Holy Spirit that draws men unto him. It's not words, it's the Holy Spirit. It's not me running around and jumping on pew that don't bring the Holy Spirit. It's an invitation to allow him to illuminate the area that he wants to illuminate, and we're open to that. And the quickest way for us to get there is to get in the room. Unity, unity. And so I asked him to sing this song because it's a unifying, basically a one-word song, just about. It's a few other words, but basically all around one word.
Speaker 2:So I want you to stand to your feet and this is going to be kind of different today. We're going to sing this chorus and at any point you want to respond, I'm, I'm, this is a legit invitation and we'll do this and we're gonna pray over you, but it's an invitation to come to the altar. I've asked just a handful of our pastors, not our elders, today I want everybody to be praying into. How am I supposed to respond? And I'm asking a few of our pastors just to make themselves available here at the altar today. So, if you hear me, I mean Sudakar, I want you to be up here, and Terry and Steve and I got Adam in here, I got Rico and Kendra are coming down.
Speaker 2:So I, I, I this is Derek is coming. I want you to be in here. If you're a pastor and you're in here, I want you to lean in with me here and this is all I want us to do. Can you just close your eyes and we lift our hands and we're gonna sing this chorus and, as you feel it, you feel like, hey, this is something I'm supposed to respond to today. I would just say this Look at me real quick one more time before we do this. I'm sorry, I just I saw this in my heart and I was not gonna do it, but I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 2:But if you would say, hey, I'm in that stage where, like that crushing of of what Christ did in the garden, the way of salvation I need to know Jesus. I don't know him, but I need to know him. I want you to come to this side of the stage. We're going to focus specifically right here in this area, for anybody that just needs to know Jesus, who just needs to be re-entered. Maybe you need to be reintroduced to him, or you need to meet him for the first time right here, okay. And then, if you need healing in any way shape, form or fashion, or you're standing in proxy of somebody today and you would like to be anointed today instead of somebody, or for yourself personally, I want you to be right here in the center, okay. So, if you feel that you know like, hey, I know I need to step out in this, you're gonna come here. And then that last crushing right here, that is, I've been kind of living it, but he's supposed to be cleaning something up in me. He wants to scrub some stuff off of me. There's some things I'm not doing that I know. I can't continue to go with me. There's that thing he's doing. I want you to be on that side, this side, okay. Is that okay?
Speaker 2:Heavenly Father? We love you today. God, we're asking you for this right now. Holy Spirit, holy Spirit, come on, would you lift your hands and we just invite the Holy Spirit into the room, into your heart, into the garden of your life? Heavenly Father, we're asking you for it today. Supernatural grace and strength, god, we're asking you today, god, would you speak to us, holy Spirit, would you speak to those hidden places, those places that only we know? And, god, would you give us the grace, give us the courage to respond to you today. God, we know that you have been seeking us, pursuing us, and today is the invitation to meet you, maybe for the first time, maybe for our healing, maybe just to clean up the rough areas of my life. Whatever it is, god, I ask would you move through the Holy Spirit on the hearts and the lives of the people that are in this room, so that they can respond to your love and your grace? In Jesus name.
Speaker 1:We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 am. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus-filled week.