https://www.bible.com/events/49341785
Church of the Nazarene East Rockingham Campus
Gethsemane Gathering
“Stay awake with me and pray”
Today we are going to have what we call a Gethsemane Gathering.
You may recognize the name Gethsemane from the gospels as it is the name of the garden where Jesus went to pray.
Let’s dive into the story in Matthew 26
Matthew 26:36-41
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to pray with him. Hours before his crucifixion, Jesus is pouring his heart out to the father, and he doesn’t want to do it alone. He wanted his closest friends to pray with him, to keep watch.
Jesus is pouring his heart out in prayer and he returns to find his 3 closest friends are taking a nap. Arguably when he needed them the most, they missed the opportunity.
Jesus goes away a second time, wrestling, pouring his heart out in prayer. As he finishes praying he comes back a second time to check on his friends, and they are fast asleep. again. This time, he doesn’t even wake them up. Jesus just goes back to pray on his own. A foreshadowing of what was in the hours ahead. That’s the story of the Garden.
Today our goal is to symbolically give back that one hour that the disciples missed that night in prayer.
We are going to spend our time together today in prayer and worship. We will focus on 7 different areas in prayer while the band leads us in worship throughout the service.
Our first area of focus is Souls
Father,
For the one, for the many, I pray.
None are lost to You, for You know just where each soul You created has wandered.
Let me be to those who don’t know You a voice of hope, a peace-filled presence, and an example of the transformation You can make in a surrendered life.
So that they each and all might come to know You. Amen.
Opportunities
Father,
Open my eyes that I may see the opportunities You place in front of me.
Let no conversation, no interaction, no path crossed be wasted.
I give You each coincidence and happenstance and invite You to give meaning to each moment of my life, so that I may be a part of Your movement all around me. Amen.
Petitions
Father,
I don’t know how to ask it.
I don’t know what to say.
Tam without words.
But You know. You know my heart, my mind and my needs better than I know myself.
So I trust You and give myself over to Your way. Amen.
Relationships
Father,
Where they are wrong, give me the grace and humility to forgive.
Where I am wrong, give me the grace and humility to apologize.
Where others are at odds, help me broker peace.
Where I am at odds, help me accept counsel.
Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do. Amen
Adoration
You are more than all I could ever hope for.
You are perfect and holy, above all others.
You give such good gifts and yet without a single gift given, I am richly blessed with You alone.
When I was all that is undeserving, You gave everything I could never deserve.
Father.
Abba.
Lord.
Yes/Yield
Father,
You have my yes.
Yes to whatever, to wherever, to whenever, to however.
Yes to all of You. Amen.