
Thursday 09.04.2020 The Last Supper
Good morning everyone. ๐ค๐ค I hope everyone is holding up fine during the lockdown โ. Let us take a moment today to pray for the leaders of this country ๐ฟ๐ฆ as they are busy making decisions about the lockdown, whether to extend or end it. They need a lot of wisdom ๐ง moving forward. We need to keep them in prayer. ๐๐ฝ Luke 22:7-8 Jesus and His disciples prepare for the Passover Today: is the Jewish Passover โก๏ธ. Tomorrow (Friday) is the day that the Passover lamb ๐ is sacrificed. Jesus and His disciples took part in the Passover feast ๐ฝ๏ธ the night before as Jesus knew that He would be crucified on the Friday. The Last Supper ๐ Luke 22:13-20: Jesus makes a new covenant with His disciples. Under the Old Covenant people were required to make animal ๐๐ sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins, but under the New Covenant it is no longer required as Jesusโs sacrifice was made once and for all. The wine ๐ท represents the blood of Jesus that is to be spilled for the forgiveness of our sins. And the bread ๐ฅ that is broken is the body of Jesus which is to be broken and beaten. All this done so that we can remember everything that Jesus went through for you and me.

John 13:5-17: Jesus washes the disciples feet. ๐ฆถ๐พ This is something unexpected. You see a dispute ๐ฃ๏ธ rose up among the disciples (Luke 22:24-27). The were arguing about who is the greatest amongst ๐คด๐ฝ them. Jesus surprised them and got up and washed their feet ๐ฃ. You can imagine how dirty their feet were! They walked in the dusty streets with sandals. ๐๏ธ

But here Jesus showed them that if anyone wants to be great in the kingdom of God they must be a servant ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ๐๐ฟ. A servant thinks of others first and becomes the least amongst those that they serve. This is very different to the way the world ๐บ๏ธ teaches leadership. The world teaches that it is all about me, but Jesus teaches that it is all about others. We need to practice humility and servant hood if we want to be a disciple of Jesus and a leader in His service. โHow does knowing this change your leadership style? John 13:23-30. Jesus predicts Judasโs betrayal.โ Luke 22:31-32, Matthew 26:31-35: Jesus predicts that the disciples will desert Him and Peter will deny Him. ๐๐พ โHow would you feel knowing this? John 14:1-17:26: Knowing this Jesus still goes on to encourage the disciples by promising them the Holy Spirit, telling them that their sadness will turn to joy. Jesus also prays for Himself, for His disciples and all believers. ๐๐ฝ Luke 22:39-45: Jesus surrenders to His Fatherโs will: ๐๐ฝ โIf you knew exactly how you would die and you could avoid it would you do it? The answer for most of us would probably be yes. You see Jesus knew ahead of time how He would die, but not just that, how much He would suffer. Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane where He prayed to God. ๐๏ธ

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.โ โ Matthew 26:39. Wow what a powerful prayer. Jesus had the command of Angels โ๏ธ and the power of heaven โด๏ธ that He could call down to rescue Him. But He didnโt. Instead He was obedient to God, surrendered His will and went on the rescue mankind. ๐๐พ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ When Jesus was done praying, He went on to be arrested and He was abandoned by his disciples. โJesus was a servant like no other, how can we be a servant like Him? โJesus was obedient to the point of death, how can we be more obedient to God? โHave you surrendered your will to God.? ๐๐ฝTake time to pray as we evaluate the decisions we need to make. Memory verse Choose a memory verse and put it up as your status to encourage others during this lock down. Close in prayer๐๐ฝ