Good morning. We'd like to report that after or during the lock-in, they had a young girl saved during the lock-in. And then I heard this morning that when she got in the car to go home, she told her mother. And her mother said, I was saved in a lock-in when I was about your age. So that's the reason we have lock-ins. I'm glad the kids have fun. But that's not the reason we do lock-ins. The reason we do everything that we do is to get the Word of God into the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls. That's wonderful news. Well, back in Lesson 9, a lesson on prayer. Of course, we're talking again about Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. And we talked about number one was Jesus sorrowed. Has everybody got an outline this morning? Anybody else need an outline? One over here. Little Dennis laid out last week, so he didn't get one. No, he didn't lay out. Just joking. So Jesus sorrowed is number one. Then A under that is the request to watch. And B is the request to pray. So last week I think we read out of Matthew. This week we'll read the account in the Bible of the prayer at Gethsemane out of Mark. And Mark 14, 32, And they came to a place which was called Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tear ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, All things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth him sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, neither wished they what to answer him. And he cometh the third time and saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest, it is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth me, is at hand. So number two is the disciples slept. So Jesus prayed and the disciples slept. As often the case, the flesh overcame the spirit. Now, when I started studying this lesson, it seemed that the lesson plan, the writer of the lesson and the scriptures also seemed like maybe it's a little harsh because we know that it's easy to fall asleep when you're praying, right? One of the best medicines for not being able to sleep is praying. And sometimes that works. A lot of times that'll work. You try to pray and devil leave you alone so you go to sleep. So it's easy to fall asleep when you're trying to pray. But as I continued preparing for the lesson, I began to understand the reason for the harshness. We talked about how Jesus knew what was about to happen. But Jesus had also told the disciples what was about to happen. See, they weren't completely in the dark. Now maybe they just forgot about it. Maybe they didn't truly understand, but we can see in the scriptures before this, he had told them he was going to be killed, that he was going to die for the sins of the world. So they knew that, and they also knew that it was very close to happening. And even during the supper, Peter got John to ask Jesus who it was that would betray him. So they were looking for it to be done. Jesus told them whoever takes the sop is the one, and Judas took the sop, and they couldn't figure it out. We read it and say, well, why didn't they know? It's obvious to us, but they just couldn't believe that about Judas. They doubted themselves more than they doubted Judas. But they should have known what was about to happen. This is sort of a morbid thought, but you know somebody or maybe yourself have been called to the ICU in the middle of the night because of a horrible accident and you're there waiting for news of what's going to happen. You haven't seen them yet. You're waiting to see what the doctor says about them, just how bad it is. You don't fall asleep. If you just fell asleep and you got the call and you went there, you'd stay awake all night. because of the dire situation that it was. Well, the disciples should not have fallen asleep. They should have understood the dire situation. Like Peter, James, and John, we fall asleep because we don't understand how dire the situation is. Our flesh is weak, and by the very nature, our flesh is unspiritual. We know that. We realize that our flesh is unspiritual. Doesn't like an hour long prayer meeting. Doesn't like especially all night prayer meetings. Our flesh is weak. But oftentimes when we ought to be working or ought to be praying, the flesh convinces us that we're tired and we'll do it later. We'll do it some other time. We don't have time right now. And the bad thing is the opportunity to serve God is delayed or lost because we say we'll do it later. Well, we can do it later, but we missed this time. So in the lesson we got A, the willingness of the Spirit. Now if you're saved, the Spirit is willing. If you're saved and I ask you, do you want to be close to God? Everybody will say yes. Right? Yes. But you asked your flesh, is now when I'm going to get close to God? Soon. Right? But not now. But to the willingness of the Spirit, Matthew 26, 39 says, and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And then Mark 14, 35, and he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. Now, no doubt, Just like if somebody asks you to pray for something. Jesus had asked the disciples to pray. Reasonable request. You understand they need prayer. That's not the problem. It's not that you don't understand they need prayer. It's not that they didn't think that Jesus deserved prayer. And they planned to do exactly what he said. He said, you stay here and pray and I'm going to go over there and pray. And that's exactly what they had planned to do. But then it says, Jesus went a little further, and Luke actually points out that it was just a stone throws away. Now, if it was me throwing the stone, it would be very close. Some people may be a little further. But they weren't far away, unless there was some obstruction that he was actually inside of them. So everything was going well. They listened to the Lord. They followed the Lord, and they were close to the Lord. That sounds really good, doesn't it? And it was really good. And that's an excellent example for us. We ought to listen and follow and stay close to the Lord. But how strong is your willingness to walk, obey, and live a life that is pleasing to Jesus? God highly esteems a willing spirit in 1 Chronicles 28 and 9. It says, And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understandeth all the imagination of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." God not only knows what you do for him or what you don't do for him, he knows what you're thinking about doing or not doing for him. He already knows. Mark chapter 12, we have the story of the widow's mite. And it tells us that the widow casts more in than all the rich people around. Although she only put in, what was it, two mites? But what she did, she gave all that she had. She was willing to give. Now, are we willing to do whatever we can? And this is the sad truth. A lot of Christians, I'm talking about good Christians, attend church. And they do things for the Lord. And they do things for the gospel to get the word out. But do we do whatever we can? Unfortunately, a lot of times it's, I do this, this is what I do. And we become satisfied with what we do. We should never be satisfied with what we do. I do enough, in other words. We should always be looking, what does God want me to do? Okay, God, I've done what you asked me today. And tomorrow, we have to ask the Lord again, what do you want me to do today? If it's the same thing, great. If it's different, we say, well, God, I already do this, I'm good. But we need to be willing to do all that we can with whatever we have. whenever it's needed and wherever we are. So that brings us to be the weakness of the flesh. So that's the real struggle here, right? The willingness of the spirit and the weakness of the flesh. Matthew 26, 41 says, So Jesus tells them, you know, I know your flesh is weak. So you got to watch. You got to be on guard. 14, Mark 14, 28, but after that I'm risen I will go before you into Galilee. The spirit was willing and that was good but we see the weakness of the flesh. Now Paul understood that and in Romans he goes really in quite depth about how that In the spirit how that he wants to follow God and how he wants to do the things of God his Truly his bottom desire is to do the things of God and that should be our desire And he says that's what he wants to do. But Romans 7 15 says For that which I do I allow not For what I would that I do not Because you have to overcome the flesh, just wanting to do it and trying to do it. You have to overcome the flesh. He goes on to say, but what I hate, that do I. And then down to verse 19 he says, for the good that I would do not, for the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. In other words, he's saying, I want to do what's right, but I don't. I don't want to do what's wrong, but I do. And we do that. We set out, when we look at what we're going to do today or what we're going to do tomorrow, we're not going to say, I'm going to fail the Lord today. We don't set out that way. That's not what we want to do. But too many days, if we look back, that's what we've done. He wanted to please the Lord but he often failed. His flesh overcame his spirit just as the three sleepy disciples. Now I'm going to read, go back a little bit to Romans 7 verses 14 through 25. I know we read verse 15 and verse 19. We're going to read them again and I'm going to break them down by punctuation and then separate them into section a little bit and read it that way Maybe to try to comprehend what Paul is trying to tell us here. So Romans 7 verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual. Right? Now we say well we're not under the law. Let's don't get a bad taste in our mouth for law. The law was from God. The law was good. The law was perfect. The problem is man couldn't keep the law. The law is spiritual. It comes from God. But I am carnal, sold under sin. We're saved, but we're still carnal. Verse 15 again, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. And in verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. I said the law is good. It's me. I'm the one that's not doing right. Verse 17, now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. See, in our mind, we know what's right, but we constantly have to overcome the flesh. Verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now he says it's a law, in other words, the law here is sort of like speaking of a law of science. In other words, a law of science is if the apple falls off a tree, it's going to go down, right? The same thing just as often as That apple falls when it breaks loose from the tree. We have to fight the flesh if we really want to do what's good. Verse 22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. We have to realize the law of sin, we are still sinners and we have to trust in God. Verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we're not going to do it, we're never going to say, well I'm going to pray and I'm going to study and I'm going to read and I'm going to follow the right people and one day I will never have to fight sin again. You're never going to get there. But through Jesus Christ we can overcome sin because He overcomes. death, hell, and the grave. Paul said, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So we have to serve God. We have to ask God for help. Paul was saying he did sinful things. Now who can tell me where in the Bible it tells us these bad things that Paul did? Well I'll answer for you, you can't tell me because it's not in there. Because God's seen fit not to put it in there. But Paul is saying, hey, I'm a sinner too. I don't always do everything right. I don't always do everything I'm supposed to. He was just trying to be honest with us and tell us. We do the opposite. Our sin can be seen, but we're not even honest enough to admit them to ourselves. No, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm not talking about we're going up to somebody else, but we're saying to ourselves, I'm where I need to be. I'm doing good. Everything's okay. And sometimes it is, but not always. Galatians 5, 17, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. The Bible makes it very clear several places in the New Testament that we are always going to be fighting the flesh. Psalm 73, 26, My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. We have to go through God if we're going to overcome sin. The flesh is going to say, well, that's not bad, that's okay, that's okay. It's imperative for believers to understand that our flesh will always lead us away from God and away from God's will and will always let us down spiritually. We cannot depend on the flesh. Jeremiah even said, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. So if the Lord says it, it's always true. It's always right. And we try to come up with something sometimes in our own lives that mimics what God said is right. And we say, that's good enough. No, it's how God said it, exactly the way he said it. You know, it's like golf, and I've never played very much golf. I understand what you have to do, and it's very simple, right? You just take this little ball, and you hit it with the club. and you put it in a hole. I mean, balls like that, you got a big ol' hole to put in, right? I mean, there's a few obstacles. Maybe the hole's around the trees. Maybe the hole's 400 yards away, right? So you have to overcome those obstacles. Well, life is much the same. We know what's right. If we took a test, if I gave you a test and I had on there, should you lie about somebody? No. Should you love everyone? Yes. Should you talk about people? No. Everyone, if I give you a test, I get everyone to make a hundred, right? Now, as I take this test and examine your lives over next week, and then grade yourself. Don't bring it to me. Grade yourself. Did you make a hundred this week? Did you make a hundred over next week? You might for a week, I don't know. But if you're honest, you probably won't make a hundred for the week. So there's obstacles in our life that keep us from doing what we know is right. We know what we should do and we know what we should not do. I mean, we know. If you've been saved long, you know. But we don't always do it. Like the Apostle Paul, what we find ourselves doing is often the very thing we know we should not be doing. Thank the Lord one day He will deliver us from the flesh. So I'm going to stop right there since it's point three. Got a little bit of extra time left, but I'll stop there. That'll give us a whole lesson for next week. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day that you've given us. We thank you, Lord, for your many blessings. And Lord, help us, Lord, to search help from the one that saved us to search help with our lives, Lord, from the one that can do something about our situations, Lord, about our sin, and it's not ourselves, but it's Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to remember that. Lord, we pray for services today. We pray, Lord, for all the Sunday school classes. Lord, we pray for all the preaching that will be done later, and, Lord, in the kids' sanctuary and Spanish church and in the main auditorium. Lord, we pray for your will to be done. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Yeah.