Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

Jason Sliger

It’s Wartime - Part 1: Life is War

It’s Wartime - Part 2: The Weapon of War

It’s Wartime - Part 3: Wartime Communication

It’s Wartime - Part 4: War in a Garden

It’s Wartime - Part 5: The Weapons of Our Warfare

It’s Wartime - Part 6: The Perfect Battle

It’s Wartime - Part 7: Sheep among Wolves

It’s Wartime - Part 8: Marching Orders

Father in heaven, we thank you again, Lord, that we can start our day together in this family worship, focusing our attention upon you.

Lord, as we continue to look at warfare around us, most specifically this morning in the life of Jesus, May He be our pattern, Lord.

Lord, we pray that You would send Your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and To take the words that are spoken and apply them in our lives.

Thank You, Father, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

We have seen in our study so far that as God's people, we are not civilians.

As soldiers in God's army, we must be properly clothed for protection with the armor of God.

We must also be properly equipped with the weapons of spiritual warfare.

And so far we have looked, we've looked at the 2 weapons that God gives to us, the sword of the Spirit and the gift of prayer.

And as we looked at these 2 things, we saw that it is imperative for us to spend time with God in Bible study, to spend time with God in prayer.

And this morning, I want to look at how this plays out in the life of Jesus in the last 48 hours of His life.

We're going to take the next 3 days to look at that portion of Scripture, because I believe it is rich with meaning and advice in the war that we are fighting.

I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 14 and verse 4.

As soldiers in an army, we need a good general to follow.

As soldiers in the army of Prince Emmanuel, we need a good general to follow.

And the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 14, Speaking of the 144, 000, it says, "'These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins, ' meaning they are spiritually pure, these are they which follow the Lamb, withersoever he goeth." God's people in the last days, In the time of spiritual warfare, when the dragon is wroth with the woman and goes to make war with the remnant of her seed, they will be found following the lamb wherever he goes.

Because the Bible tells us in Revelation 17 and verse 14 that the Lamb shall overcome.

They shall make war with the Lamb, but those who follow the Lamb will be victorious and will overcome because The Lamb is a conquering general.

As soldiers in God's army, we need a good general to follow, and God has given us a wonderful general in following Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Review and Herald, April 12, 1898, says this, we need not wait till we are translated to follow Christ.

We shall follow the Lamb of God in the courts above only if we follow Him here.

Those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes will follow the Lamb not just in the times of peace and prosperity, not when The water is gushing out of the rock and there's manna to be found on the ground.

Those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes will follow the Lamb both in the times of peace and prosperity and also in the times of adversity.

Because the Lamb is their only hope of success in this battle.

We are told that we will only follow the Lamb in the courts of heaven above if we become accustomed to following him here below.

All those who follow him there will first have followed him here.

As we study together this morning, We're going to look at the last, as I said, the last 48 hours of the life of Christ.

And as we look at this, we must count the cost, because if this is what has happened to Jesus, we cannot expect anything different to His followers.

I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 26.

We will spend most of our time here in our study together this morning.

Matthew chapter 26, Jesus is in the upper room with the disciples.

And I didn't have time to go into this in our study, but you might be interested in doing this study on your own.

Just doing a quick survey through the Gospel of Matthew, you will find that there are about 5 times that Jesus warned the disciples about this time of spiritual warfare that was going to take place at the end of Jesus' life.

It was a spiritual war that Jesus intended to prepare his disciples for.

I briefly touched on it in the tale part of 1 of my presentations where Jesus repeatedly warned the disciples about his betrayal, his death, his crucifixion, and that with that he promised them every single time that he would rise again.

We looked at yesterday how imperative it is for us to cling to the promises of God, but the disciples unfortunately had their own fabricated idea of theology, that Jesus was going to set up His earthly kingdom, and they were busy trying to jockey for the right position on the right hand and the left hand of Jesus.

And because of that, when the time of war came in the Garden of Gethsemane, They were found sleeping.

Title of our message this morning, War in a Garden.

Matthew chapter 26, verse 31 and 32, the Bible says this, Then saith Jesus unto them, his disciples, all ye shall be offended because of me this night where it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

But, listen to the promise, after I am risen again, amen?

After I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

I will rise again, and not only will I rise again, I will still be your leader.

However we find in Luke's account, you can write this in your notes, Luke 22 and verse 24, that as Jesus and the disciples left the upper room, Jesus had finally warned them.

He gave them this final warning, I will be betrayed, I will be crucified, I will rise again.

Yet we find that as Jesus and the disciples are making their way from the upper room to the garden of Gethsemane for this war that was about to take place, what do you suppose they were talking about?

Look at how many people I've won to Christ.

Look at how much time I've spent together with him.

They were busy arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest.

They are hours away from the greatest disappointment in their life.

Jesus has spent time and time again in His training and discipleship of His disciples trying to prepare them for this war.

But they were self-consumed with their own accomplishments and desire for worldly gain.

And we find them walking that road to the Garden of Gethsemane with pride-filled words in their mouth about who should be the greatest.

Brothers and sisters, we are treading the path to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Yes, we are in spiritual warfare every day, but according to Bible prophecy, the war is about to intensify.

We are treading the path toward the garden of Gethsemane.

What are your thoughts being filled with?

Are your thoughts filled with worldly gain and worldly position and worldly prosperity and all of the things that the world has to offer?

Or is your mind being filled with the advice from God and His Word that is to prepare you for that intensified battle that is just before us.

In my humble opinion, the stakes are much higher now than they were back then.

Of course, the disciples went into the garden of Gethsemane unconverted.

After Jesus rose from the dead, they experienced a conversion experience.

But brothers and sisters, we're not gonna have that luxury at the end days.

Now is the time for us to experience a heart transformation, a conversion experience that will prepare us to be successful, to not deny our Lord in that hour of war, but to stand next to Him no matter what might happen.

Matthew continues in verse 36, "'Then cometh Jesus with them unto the place called Gethsemane.

And he said unto his disciples, sit here while I go and pray yonder.

And he took with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

He went a little further and he fell on his face, praying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

And he came unto his disciples, and he findeth them Asleep.

And he saith unto Peter, What, could you not watch with me 1 hour?

Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And he went away again the second time and prayed, saying, oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.

And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

And he left them and he went again and prayed the third time saying the same words.

Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest.

Behold, the hour is at hand and The Son of Man is betrayed into the hand of sinners.

Behold, He is at hand that doth betray me." Christ feared that in His human nature, he would not be able to endure the attack of Satan.

And so, because of that, where do we find him?

Jesus went to the place where He oft retreated to spend time with His heavenly Father.

This dark cloud was descending upon Him as He was about to be eclipsed from his relationship with his father.

He was about to be separated as the sins of the world were being placed upon him, as the spiritual battle was about to intensify.

Approximately between the hours of 09:00 and midnight, just hours before, about 24 hours before Jesus would be crucified, Jesus invites his most trusted friends, his disciples, these 12 men that he had spent 3 and a half years with, to enter into this prayer time with him.

Series

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

It’s Wartime - Part 4: War in a Garden

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

How to Study the Bible and Empower Your Devotional Life- Part 2

58m

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

It’s Wartime - Part 3: Wartime Communication

58m

Origin Stories: Creation vs Evolution

The Seduction of False Science

59m

Prayer’s Blessing

42m

Preparing For the End of Time

1. Why Prayer Matters

45m

Plenary

Final Charge: Take up Your Cross

1h 9m

Elijah: Part 1 - Where Is Your Fire?

49m

Flip the Script

02 How Bible “Buts” Change Trials Into Triumph

53m

Creation- Genesis as the Foundation

53m

Workshop: Biblical Examples of Conflict Resolution

The Wise

42m

Plenary Sessions

AMEN 2022 Mission Program

50m

Practical Truth for Perilous Times

2. The Adventist Atheist

55m

Sound Doctrine