Sunday Message - Today Jesus 141

24/02/08
<Matthew 26:47-56>
FOR ALL WHO DRAW THE SWORD WILL DIE BY THE SWORD
• These few weeks’ messages are the essences of the “Today Jesus” series. We will receive the
most complete answer if we really hold on to these few messages, believe in God’s word and pray
• We are truly being loved. Just like the 12 apostles of the Lord, we are able to hear God’s Gospel;
our spirits are attracted by it and willing to come before Him. All of us wish to love God, follow God
and die for Him
• However, there seems to be an evil spirit in us that cannot be driven away
• There are things that we still do not believe in. It is clearly visible from our facial expressions and
our actions
• The Lord doesn’t find fault with us. He will still love us
• Although there is still disbelief in us, and that there are things that we still cannot do, we mustn’t
give in to the world or be worried
• During then, we must listen to God’s voice even more and not be deceived
• We will not be impulsive, hurt others or be deceived if only we pray. We can see how God is
loving us right now when we calm down

Read <Matthew 26:47-56>

• v49 Judah was the most cursed, not because he had sold the Lord but because he didn’t
know the Lord even though he was with the Lord everyday
• v51 Peter was the one who drew out the sword
• v52 No matter what problem we faced, we shouldn’t use the sword (i.e. impulsive / emotional)
• v53 Even if God was to send only one angel, a ten thousand army would be wiped out
• v54 The result of prayers is the word of God will actualize, and not that we will receive money
• All the problems we face is for the actualization of God’s word
• v56 The one who drew out the sword had ran away too. This is how an impulsive / emotional
person will behave
• Lord Jesus speaks, acts and faces those who wanted to capture Him and the forthcoming
hardships with complete victory
• Jesus Christ is sinless. He is the son of God. He came on earth once and took on the body of
flesh to be like us. He would be tired and can feel pain; He would laugh and experience hardships
• He is God living in the body of flesh. Therefore, everyone who believes in Him will also receive all
the victories

1. Jesus Christ faced “tribulations” with a victorious life

1) Christ continually faces battles during His days on earth
• When Jesus Christ lived on earth, He faced battles and hardships throughout His life.
From the moment He was born, the king had wanted to kill Him
• He was faced with temptations during the 40 days journey in the wilderness. He was also
tempted by His disciples when they were together
• Although the Lord was tempted, He had never fallen because He wanted to actualize
God’s word
• Jesus Christ was beaten and went through lots of torture before He was crucified
• Even God deserted Him when the Lord was being crucified
 • Therefore, regardless of the problems we face, our problems can never be compared to
what the Lord had gone through

2) Christ triumphs all His life on earth by relying on the power of prayers
• The Lord’s prayer at Gethsemane became the factor for His victory in the things to come
• Everyone faces tribulations but not everyone will be victorious
• When the masses were praising Him, the Lord went alone to the mountain to pray. He
didn’t want to be praised by the people because He knew that Satan would use the
praises of people to tempt Him. Moreover, He knew that the people who praised Him then
would leave Him eventually
• When the Lord prayed at Gethsemane, He saw that the kingdom of God was established.
He saw the eternal from there. Therefore, from there He received strength to face the
upcoming tribulation
• Regardless of the tribulations we are in right now, as long as we pray, we can see that the
problem is a chance for God’s word to be actualized. A person who has seen this will not
hand himself over to Satan or to impulsiveness
• During then, Jesus Christ was a human (flesh). Therefore, His teaching was to be
victorious through prayers
• We know that we will face some tribulations throughout our days on earth. The process
we go through will be beneficial to us in the future and also to the people we will meet
• Jesus Christ is the Lord who transcends time, space and physical body. The things we
lose today would be returned to us increasingly tomorrow
• The Lord didn’t just pray once. He prayed thrice and the contents remain the same. He
need to pray thrice because He was a human
• Sometimes, we will still be sad or weak after we’d prayed once. Therefore, we need to
pray again
• When the Lord saw that the Apostles were still sleeping after His third prayer, He knew
that He must not look at people but God
• The Lord received the most absolute answer after He’d prayed. Therefore, He could face
the soldiers calmly. He could remain calm because He knew that everything is under the
control of God
• We are sad or panicky because we couldn’t see the answer

3) Change “critical moments” into “opportunity” – Enjoy the wisdom and power from above
at the moment of being captured
• We can change critical moments into opportunity when we are calm
• When everyone else is worried, we are calm; then we will be different
• When we don’t pray, our reaction, judgment and speech will be the same as any ordinary
person. After which, we will regret the things we did based on our own decision
• Although the Lord faced the soldiers calmly, one of the disciples drew the sword and cut off
the ears of a soldier
• The Lord also used that opportunity to teach the disciples; He taught them not to be impulsive
or rely on their own strength but to commit everything to God in prayer. That event had surely
left a great impact on the disciples
• Therefore, Peter was not anxious when he was captured and threw into prison later. It was
then the angels came and set him free
• Sometimes, we aren’t able to understand the things we face immediately. However, the Holy
Spirit will make us remember the event subsequently. Our reaction and speech will be calm
after we’d remembered
• A lot of Christians doesn’t look like Saints. They are always impulsive or emotional. They
always want to compete with others and want to win over everything
 • Although they may appear to have won in all things, they are actually losers spiritually
• In the end, they will pass on all their spiritual problems and pride to their descents and
disciples. This is the problem of mankind.
• Those who captured Jesus Christ did not have peace. The Jews, Chief Priest and Pilate all
didn’t have peace
• The Lord’s disciples learnt a great deal from the Lord’s live example. This is why they could
become Apostles with great power later

4) “Christ’s body” = Saints. They can’t escape from “battles, trials, temptations” while living
on earth
• Why do Saints have tribulations? It is because the same Lord dwells in them now. Satan, who
is the ruler of the air now, will continue to prosecute the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Therefore, the Saints today will also be prosecuted. We live on earth with Jesus Christ’s body
and image
• Those who captured Jesus Christ then represent the whole world. In other word, the whole
world prosecuted Jesus Christ
• The Chief Priest represented those people in the church who don’t understand the Gospel.
Someone among the disciples had betrayed Jesus (i.e. betrayed by our own disciples). Rome
represented the military powers
• All these represent important religious leaders, people with financial power, politicians, and
military personal. The Chief Priest has both money and power
• The whole world prosecutes us. The culture of this world prosecutes us. This world is ruled by
Satan. Therefore, we will surely face prosecution
• The more we rely on the worldly method, the greater we will fail
• The best role model that the Lord has given is the prayer at Gethsemane. We can only be
victorious over all things if we have the prayer at Gethsemane

• When we are facing some things that make us really sad, the last thing we want to do is pray.
However, if we do not pray, we will face ten more things that will make us even more sad
• The Lord had told the Apostles what would happen, during the last supper. However, they did not
comprehend the contents because all they were interested in was “who was the greatest?”
• Why can’t we comprehend God’s world? It is because our focus differs from that of God’s. Thus,
we always cannot see things in God’s perspective
• When the Lord told the Apostles to sell their cloaks to buy swords, He was referring to the “sword
of the spirit”. The Lord wanted them to prepare for the spiritual battle
• The Apostles really thought that the Lord had wanted them to bring physical swords. That was
why the ear of one of the soldiers got cut off
• Though the Lord knew that the disciples were weak (and had deserted Him), He still interceded
for them. The Lord loves the disciples till the end
• The Lord left lots of “role models” for us. He had taught us how to be teachers, pastors, husband
etc

2. Disciples who faced tribulations in their dreams

1) Freely proclaim: die with the Lord → slept instead of praying → sudden bravery
(impulsive) draw the sword → frightened and fled → disown the Lord
• We can see how the Apostles had behaved throughout the process from the last supper,
till the crucifixion
• The behavior of the Apostles: willing to die with the Lord → slept instead of praying →
(impulsive) draw the sword → frightened → fled → disowned the Lord
 • At the last supper, Peter told the Lord that he would die with the Lord. He was fast asleep
at Gethsemane. He was impulsive and cut the ear of one soldier when they came to
capture the Lord. And finally, he fled and disowned the Lord out of fear
• This was how the Apostle had behaved. Similarly, this is also how we often behave
• When Saints pray, they often ask God to anoint them. Does anointment means to receive
special strength? Anointment means to ask the Lord to allow them to continuously see
that He is with them; even when they are in great difficulty, they can still see Him
• Saints have asked the Lord to anoint them in the morning, but end up quarreling with their
family members soon after that. The problem of the Saints is that their prayers do not
correspond to their behavior
• A person may has just proclaimed his faith at this moment, but become stingy the next,
when he faces some shortage. Men can boast easily but can also deny the Lord quickly
• Men like to compare with others easily. However, they will also become inferior easily.
This is what it means by being impulsive. Impulsive = easily excited, easily disheartened

2) Cannot win the battle by impulsiveness – not only is impulsiveness unable to resolve
problems, it will only lead one to a more serious situation
• Men can be impulsive and emotional easily. This doesn’t just make things difficult for
others, it also make things difficult for themselves
• They can’t do things that they often ask others to do. Thus, it makes things difficult for
others
• We become disheartened after serving (co-working with the Lord) because we couldn’t
see the result. In view of this, the more we serve, the more we lose
• We talk freely with our family members because we are totally at ease with our family
members. Therefore, we often deal with them impulsively
• Parents can be quite impulsive towards their children too. They often demand their
children to be polite or do certain things, but the children just refuse to comply
• After a child has grown up and has his own thoughts; if the parents continue to ask him to
do things that he dislikes doing, the parents are only making him frustrated
• It is not wrong for us to teach our children. However, we should not be impulsive when
doing that. If they refuse to comply after we’d instructed them to do things once or twice,
we should let them be. However, when we have a chance, or before going to bed, we
should explain to them the reasons for asking them to do a certain thing
• Our battles cannot be fought out of impulse. Our battle is spiritual <Eph 6>
• The words we speak when we are in panic or the thoughts we have when we are helpless
are all examples of impulsive reactions
• Impulsive = the words we speak or things we do that are not in line with God’s timing or
perfect will
• The Lord stays calm when it’s time for Him to be calm. He cried when it’s time for
sorrows. He will laugh or rebuke at the appropriate moments
• We must slow down for a moment to see God’s perfect will. We will not be impulsive if we
are doing in accordance to God’s timing and sequence
• A lot of people seem to be very successful or some are even some big CEOs; however,
they do everything not in accordance to God’s will

3) All the failures of Saints come from “not praying” = one is being “impulsive” when he
doesn’t pray
• The most serious illness or problem any Saint can has is not praying
• The Gentiles always teach their followers to “pray”. Their prayers are communication with
“spirits”
 • We have received the Lord Jesus’ spirit. Thus, we will know when to be calm, when to talk
and when to be quiet, etc
• Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, He instructed the Saints to wait for the Holy
Spirit. The reason for that was the Lord wanted them to rely on the Holy Spirit and not by
their impulsiveness
• If a Saint shares the Gospel impulsively and people do not listen, he will become anxious
or angry. However, if he rely on the Holy Spirit to do it and people do not listen, he will
remain very calm
• They cannot do anything if the Holy Spirit doesn’t come on them or if they aren’t spiritual

4) Saints do not pray because “they do not know how to pray” = prayer that does not
receive answers
• What is prayer? Prayer means to rely on the Holy Spirit for all things
• What’s Abraham’s problem? Was it because his wife was no good that Abraham got to
marry Hagar? No. Instead, Abraham didn’t rely on the Holy Spirit to listen to Sarah when
she asked him to marry Hagar. He would have received God’s instruction if he slowed
down to listen
• What was the problem of Jacob? He often made judgment by looking at his surrounding.
God has been asking Jacob to return to Bethel. As long as Jacob returned to Bethel, the
temple for prayers to God, the angels would help him and he would have his problems
resolved immediately. However, he only returned to Bethel after being beaten
• A lot of Saints had seen miracles before. Their problem is they will forget God’s grace
upon them very quickly as they didn’t pray
• The Israelites had all witnessed the miracle of crossing the Red Sea. They had also seen
the great miracle of how the firstborns of the Egyptians were killed by God’s angels.
However, when they were in the wilderness, they were complaining to God because of
food and drink
• The reason for that was because, they didn’t pray when they were in the wilderness and
this is how we are today

• Saints didn’t receive because they didn’t ask. They ask but didn’t receive because they’d not ask
correctly (i.e. ask without knowing God’s will and timetable)
• However, the ultimate problem of Saints is still not that they didn’t pray. They didn’t even have the
desire to pray. Why is it so? Because, they’ve been praying but never receive any answer
• Why they couldn’t receive answer? It is because their requests differ from God’s desire. This is
what it mean by asking incorrectly
• The outcome of asking incorrectly is losing the desire to pray
• Why is it that some Christians love to pray? It is because as soon as they pray, the environment is
changed; sadness become joy, etc
• Majority of Christians will start praying only when they face problems (i.e. emergency prayer).
Thus, they will ask incorrectly
• We didn’t pray not because we are tired but because we didn’t see the answer after we’d prayed.
Moreover, our hearts and minds didn’t change a bit even after we’d prayed
• If our investment doesn’t give us any returns, we will never want to continue investing. However, if
people can see the result or returns of their investment, they will want to continue investing
• Preachers pray everyday not because they are not given a choice but because they’d seen the
fruits of their prayers. A lot of people pray only because they are afraid of God

3. One must understand the mystery of prayer in order to be “victorious with abundance”
over all things
• After we’d listened to so many messages, the most important to do next is to pray. We’d
listened to the message of Gethsemane; we must pray while waiting for Pentecost to come
• What is prayer? What should be the content of prayers? How can we communicate with God?
• E.g. Lord Jesus taught us, “The Lord’s Prayer”
• “Our Father in Heaven” – He is our Father. Father loves us. What has He (Father) done for
us yesterday? How is He walking with us now? If we want to ponder, this sentence alone
would allow us to ponder for 10, 20mins
• Prayer must be centered upon the good relationship between the Lord and us
• A lot of people treat God as “strangers”. Therefore, they couldn’t pray
• If we were to see a person sometime after giving him counseling, we will know that that
person has prayed and has met God personally
• To have a richer prayer content, the information and message we receive must increase
• We must know what God is telling us. Therefore, when we go for Sunday Service, we should
also know what God is doing in my life as well as the lives of other brothers and sisters
• Our communication with God must be lively. Before we can intercede for a person, we must
know how that person is and how God has been working in that person’s life, etc. Only then,
our prayers will not be repetitive
• Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer isn’t a one way communication. We must hear what
God is saying to us
• Prayer = logical (knowing), emotional (have a relationship with God), spiritual (pray with faith)
• There is a way to pray. If we’d gotten hold of this way, we will hear God speaking to us as
soon as we quiet ourselves down
• We must acquire the secret to prayers. If we can pray sometimes, but not always, we have
yet to understand the “know how” of praying

1) Lord Jesus Christ had already “revealed, fulfilled and in control” completely. He had
also demonstrated the “mystery of prayers” to us. Moreover, He interceded for every
Saints, “24hrs” daily
2) After the Apostles had acquired the mystery of prayers, they were able to see
“miraculous signs” following them always
→ <The Apostle’s Acts> = the acts of prayers = the acts of the Holy Spirit = the acts of
evangelism
• Lord Jesus Christ was completely victorious
• The Lord wasn’t victorious only after He was crucified. He was already victorious after He
had prayed at Gethsemane
• There is a spiritual world surrounding people. After a person has gotten hold of this
secret, everything that happen following that is fulfillment
• The one, who sold Jesus, hung himself and the Jews who killed Him were all cursed. That
was why everyone hated the Jews from generation to generation
• Peter became the main Apostle after he had grasped the secret of prayers. 3,000 people
repented when Peter stood up and shared with them
• The Lord was already victorious over all things as soon as He mastered the spiritual
world
• The Holy Bible is a spiritual book. Saints are already victorious. Saints should have such
a life: I give in today, I will receive more in return tomorrow
• What is <Acts>? Apostles are blessed people. They are blessed because they are people
who prayed
• The way God wants Saints to be successful is to pray. God will start His work after a Saint
is clear in his prayer
 • <Acts 1> They prayed together
• <Acts 2> All of them followed the Apostles’ teachings. God added to their number daily
• <Acts 3> Miracles will take place when they prayed
• <Acts 4> Now that Peter was captured, he didn’t use the sword anymore
• Paul prayed when he met an obstacle and God gave him the vision to Macedonia

3) It is like an infant gradually growing up. He will gradually get to know his parents,
himself, the world and everything; Saints who are born again need to learn the
“mystery of prayers” in order for his “spiritual life” to gradually grow up, get
strengthened and receive answers in all things

4) Learn with the focus to “receive results in our hearts and minds”
→ When we learn to pray, we must center upon “guarding our hearts and minds” <Phil
4:4-7>
→ In our hearts and minds: love the Lord more (centered upon building up a
relationship) / acquired God’s perfect will (in practical life’s situation) / be cleansed
(centered upon receiving freedom, peace and hope) / bless others (truly believe
that the person whom we intercede will surely be blessed) / triumph over evil and
temptation (centered upon casting out demons)
• The Bible is a book, in which God teaches us how to pray
• If we want to pray after listening to a message, then the message we heard is correct
• Our hearts and minds must change after praying. Therefore, do not stop praying till our
hearts and minds are changed
• Our hearts and minds will definitely be changed when our prayers are successful. The
weaker we are, the more we must hear that God loves us. Is there any bitterness in us?
The hurts that Jesus Christ had been through far exceed any of our problems
• We should be joyful after knowing God’s perfect will
• We must continue praying till the Pentecost arrives. God will give us the best answer in
our current situation
Sharing and Prayer Topics
1. Jesus Christ who faced “tribulations” with a victorious life: today, the Lord is still dwelling
in us; He faces “all the contradictions and problems that I’m facing” together with me. How
can I be like the Lord, to face the current problems calmly with a completely victorious
life? Am I able to discover the secret to “absolute victory” in the Lord’s prayer?
2. Disciples who faced tribulations in their dreams: Does “the contradictions faced by the
Lord’s disciples at Gethsemane” often appear in my daily life? Why is it that I don’t really
like to pray? Am I able to find the reason for this? Ponder how can I get it resolved?
3. Since the disciples had restored prayers, Christ’s victorious power was greatly displayed:
Have I realized the reason for “no other way but prayers”? When I pray, what are the
outcomes that I will receive? Am I able to list out the contents, examine them closely and
use them as my testimony?