Luke 22:54-62

Maybe it was because he wanted to see what happened.  Maybe it was because he was working on a plan to save him. Maybe he just had to know.  For whatever reason, Peter followed Jesus after His arrest.  He was among the crowd when he was pointed out.  He had been discovered!  What would he do?  Deny it.  Deny it all.  He didn’t dare admit it and see a similar fate.  He didn’t try to escape.  He wanted to see what happened, but he wanted to do so in anonymity.

We do the same so often as well.  We want to be around Jesus, but don’t want to be seen.  We want Jesus in our lives, but we don’t want to experience any persecution because of our faith.  We are glad to say we follow Christ when we are among believers, but when we come to situations that make faith uncomfortable we deny our faith.  We hide in the open, wanting to see if Jesus is going to do anything, but unwilling to do anything ourselves.

God wants us to identify ourselves with Him not only when it is convenient to us, but when it is challenging as well.  He wants us to trust that He is in charge and will protect us. He won’t hide from us.  We shouldn’t hide our faith in Him.

Luke 22:47-53

I’ve always wondered, why a kiss?  Judas could have just pointed Jesus out.  He could have stood at a distance and said, “That’s Him.”  (They knew who He was anyway.)  All Judas needed to do was tell them that he would be in the garden and they would have found him.  But Judas came and gave Jesus a kiss of betrayal.

I don’t know if I have a good answer, but I do know that betrayal often comes with a kiss.  It’s not our enemies that betray us, it is those that are close to us.  We put our trust in someone and it turns around to bite us.

Though it’s not much consolation, Jesus experienced betrayal as well.  Just as we are betrayed, so too Jesus was betrayed.  Yet, Jesus remained faithful to His calling.

Betrayal may draw us away from what God wants for us, but it doesn’t have to.  Life may bring us betrayal, but God continues to bring us faith.  We must remain faithful even when we are betrayed with a kiss.

Luke 22:39-46

How do we avoid temptation?  It seems easy enough to answer…Jesus tells us repeatedly to pray that we would avoid temptation.  Even in the prayer He modeled for us He said we should pray that we would not be led into temptation.  The answer is simple.  Why, then, do we still have so much temptation in our lives?  I imagine the reason is that as simple as the answer is, we still don’t do it.  I admit that it isn’t a part of my daily prayer regiment to ask God to keep me from temptation.  Other concerns and needs seem to take presidence, and when the prayer for temptation rolls around, I just leave it off.  I guess I figure I’ve asked God to take care of so much, the least I can do is take care of avoiding temptation myself.

But God doesn’t want us to take care of temptation by ourselves.  He never meant for us to do so.  He wants us to ask Him to help.  He’s so serious about it that at one of the most critical moment’s in Jesus’ life, He told His disciples to pray to avoid temptation.

God wants to help us avoid temptation.  Isn’t it about time that we ask Him for help?

Luke 22:35-38

Ask the generations of martyrs whether the Christian faith is safe and you will discover a harsh reality. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world are at war, and war is tough. Jesus doesn’t promise that we will be always be protected. He warned the disciples that danger was in their future. The call to carry a sword wasn’t a call to fight, but a reminder to be prepared. They were going into battle for souls, and the battle would be hard.

God doesn’t promise that as Christians we will always be blessed and protected. The world is opposed to faith and will challenge us constantly. We must be ready for battle, because the world is battling for our souls.

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On a personal note, many of you know that Krystal and I are expecting our second child. We expect the baby to be born in the next week. For fun, I have put a poll on my website for you to cast your vote as to whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Cast your vote at www.huhns.org