Special Good Friday Message 10/04/09

THE LORD JESUS’ PRAYER GAVE HIM STRENGTH

TO FACE THE HARDSHIP OF THE CROSS

Teachers to read bible scripture: <Mk 14:32-41>

Children to memorize bible scripture: <Mk 14:38>

Introduction
Today is Good Friday. Children, do you all know about the story of Good Friday? The Lord Jesus is
God Himself. His word became flesh and He came to this world. When He was 30 years old, He
started to serve the Lord, going about saving and healing God’s people. Some people followed God
after knowing that He knew God. The Lord Jesus also brought up 12 disciples. These 12 disciples
were at Jesus’ side daily, receiving His teachings and they evangelize together with Him. However,
many of the priests, leading teachers of the law, Pharisees and Sadducees in the synagogues hated
the Lord Jesus very much. This was because they saw that many people followed Jesus, They were
hence very jealous and were filled with extreme fury. They thought of ways to kill Jesus. The Lord
Jesus knew their hearts and also knew that He came to earth to complete the work of God, to die for
God’s people and to use His precious blood to triumph over the power of Satan, washing away the
sins of God’s people and saving them. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus was 33 years old, He knew
that the day when He would be betrayed, caught and killed would come very soon. On the night he
was captured, He brought His disciples to a place called Gethsemane. The Lord Jesus prayed
earnestly when He was there because He knew that He would soon be caught and nailed on the
Cross. He was suffering and was extremely fearful. At first, the Lord Jesus prayed to His heavenly
Father, “Father, if it is possible, do not let me go through this hardship”. Later, heavenly Father gave
the Lord Jesus strength to understand the Father’s will and he was no longer fearful. The Lord Jesus
prayed again, saying, “O Father, if You want me to complete Your salvation on the Cross to save
Your people, I am willing to submit.” The angels then came to serve Jesus and gave Him great
strength. When Jesus saw the disciples sleeping and not praying, He told them, “You must quickly
watch and pray so that you will not fall into the temptation of the devil.” However, the disciples
continued to sleep and did not listen. That fateful night, the priests bribed one of the Lord’s disciples,
Judah. Judah hence betrayed Jesus and led the priests and solders to Gethsemane to capture Jesus.
When the disciples saw Jesus being caught, they got frightened and all ran away. All those who
followed Jesus abandoned Him. Although Jesus did not do anything wrong, when He was brought
before the priests, they thought of all ways to accuse Him, flog Him and mock Him; therefore, He was
brought before the governor, Pilate and they requested that Pilate nailed Him on the Cross. Because
Pilate was afraid of the Priests, he acceded to their request to have Jesus flogged and later nailed on
the Cross. However, in all these, the Lord Jesus received strength to endure all the way, was unafraid
until He was crucified on the Cross and completed God’s salvation. Jesus died on the Cross, His
blood washed all our sins away. Therefore, we who believe Him have our sins forgiven and are not
bound by Satan but instead have become God’s children.

1. The Lord Jesus knew that He had to face hardships ahead and be nailed on the
Cross
1) The Lord Jesus knew that God’s people had separated from God, were bound by the
devil, Satan and lived in sins. [Let the children understand that when we are born, we
already have sins. Hence, we will naturally be selfish, hate others, lie to others etc
without anyone teaching us these.] Those with sins will be bound by the devil.
Therefore, they are always unhappy and will eventually enter hell together with the
devil.
2) But because God loves us and wants to save us, God decided to come to this world
in the likeness of Man to die on the Cross for our sins, so that our sins are forgiven
because we believe Jesus Christ and are not controlled by the devil.
3) Therefore , the word of Jesus Christ became flesh, came to this world and taught His
people (us) about the word of God. Thereafter, the last thing He had to do was to be
nailed on the Cross, bleed for us and save us.
2. The Lord Jesus prayed earnestly and received strength at Gethsemane
1) The Lord Jesus knew that He would soon be betrayed, killed and therefore be in
great suffering. Hence, He prayed earnestly.
2) When the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed God’s will and was willing to submit at the
same time, the angels gave Him strength immediately such that He had the wisdom
and courage to face the hardships ahead of Him. The disciples did not watch and
pray. Hence, they fell into temptation and all ran away.
3) Therefore, when we encounter problems or unhappy matters, the most important
thing is not to continue thinking about that problem but to quickly go before God to
pray and know His perfect will. When we are willing to submit, we will receive much
strength.

3. The Lord Jesus received strength through prayers and fulfilled the way of the
Cross
1) Because the Lord Jesus received strength, He did not waver and was not fearful
before those who accused Him. Although He was flogged, He had the strength to
withstand the pain.
2) The Lord Jesus was eventually nailed on the Cross, drained of all His blood,
breathed His last and died. However, that was not defeat but victory because He
bled to save God’s people, such that they would not be bound by Satan forever. The
Lord Jesus also resurrected on the third day.
3) Therefore, when we encounter problems and are falsely accused by others or suffer
for no reason, we must remember the example of the Lord Jesus. When we pray,
entrust and submit to God, God will eventually defend us, solve our problem and
glorify us.