Lead Me to the Cross: Cross to the Grave
Ghavinn Crutcher
3/13/16

The last days of Jesus are spent in deep prayer with the Father. Jesus prays so deeply that God’s will be done but if at all possible that this cup would pass by Him. Three times He prays and three times he wakes his disciples to stay awake with Him, to stand guard for Him, and to support Him. The last prayer Jesus is so anguished that he prayed intently that His sweat was like blood dropping to the floor. Have you ever prayed so hard that you sweat let alone sweat blood? Have you ever had something you were facing that was so stressful, so difficult that you prayed to God for hours? If we are all honest we probably haven’t. We probably think praying more than a couple of minutes at a time painful enough that we try to find things to distract us so we can move to something else. Jesus, however, found that in times of need and distress there is only one thing to do and that is to kneel in prayer giving everything to the Lord asking for His will to be done. Now after His prayer we are led to Jesus being betrayed by Judas, then is arrested, and goes to trial. What we forget is Jesus prayed for this cup to pass and it didn’t, Jesus doesn’t get upset with God because of this instead he accepts this as being His fathers will. Jesus submitted to the Lord does what is asked of Him even when He didn’t necessarily want to. From here until we see Jesus placed on a cross at a top of a hill we see Jesus go through, beatings, lashings, He gets spat on, cursed at, His character questioned, and he is lied about. As horrible as all of that sounds the worst of all of this is he gets denied by one of his beloved disciples, and abandoned by the rest. Jesus knew his lot and knew what was coming and was willing to follow Gods will in spite of all of this so that those who choose and believe in Him might have eternal life. He was willing to take on the cross because not only the glory that awaited Him but also the Glory He has prepared for you. I hope you are able to come and join us this Sunday at 10 am, as we delve very deeply in this incredible selfless sacrifice to give us hope, a hope of eternity with Him. See you Sunday.