From Here to There

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, (The word Gethsemane is derived from two Hebrew words: GAT, which means "a place for pressing oil or wine (winepress)" and SHEMANIM, which means "oils”. A literal translation of GAT SHEMANIM would be “winepress of oils”.) and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, (James and John) and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” - Matthew26:36-38

Here in the scripture, we find Jesus at the most critical moment of His earthly ministry. Here in Gethsemane, the night before He is to die for the sins of the whole world, we find Him in trouble. Here, we see Jesus in a very vulnerable moment. Most of the written account about Jesus is that we can find Him that He is untroubled. He is always in a trouble but He is never troubled. He always has confrontational situations with the Pharisees and the Sadducees but we did not see Him disturbed with them.

But here in the garden, we see Jesus fully God and fully man, 200%, battling between the will of self-preservation and the will of His heavenly Father. Here in Gethsemane, He says something very interesting, “You guys sit here while I go and pray over there.”

The distance from here to there was difference in the distance

between religion and relationship,
between bondage and freedom,
between brokenness and liberty,
between sickness and healing,
between poverty and prosperity.

He went the distance, the distance between here and there. I believe that what God is calling for in the body of Christ is to take no solace or comfortable place in the place called HERE, but in faith, continue to walk with the Holy Spirit to the place called THERE, because THERE is a place of . . . .

Authority.

Power.
Blessing.
Prosperity.
Miracle.
Avalanche Blessing

There is a place where no one can question your faith, because you’re not speaking it; you are living it. The place of faith is there, the place of deliverance is there, but what you must do to get THERE? You must start HERE.

Now, Jesus was in Gethsemane, and the word Gethsemane as we defined it, it means an oil press. [A winepress or olive press is where olives were gathered into rough sacks and stacked one on top of another. A beam is lowered onto the stack (that is to apply pressure) and increasing weight is added to the end of the beam to press oil from the olives. The more pressure you apply, the more oil you will extract.]

This is also true for us Christians, any time God wants to do anything of significance in the life of a believer; He will put you in the oil press. Or Let me rephrase that. He will invite you to the oil press. Because no one is forced into greatness, but God invites you and gives you an opportunity to step into greatness.

Up until this point, Jesus had lived a phenomenally charmed life. Of course you know how He was born. We understand all of the significance around His birth, 30 years of preparation for 3 years of public ministry for 3 hours of purpose. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour as He hung on the cross, and died for the sins of the whole world, His entire life was developed for this moment. (and we all know what happened next, after 3 days He resurrected and seated mightily at the right hand side of the Father.) Here in the garden, He said, “It’s time to go the distance. You all sit here while I go and pray over there.”

Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John.

Now, Jesus actually shows us a model of the temple. The crowd would be the at the Gate, The eight would be the outer court, The three would be the Holy Place, but then He went by Himself in the Most Holy Place. The Gate, the outer court, the holy place, and only the high priest could go into the most holy place.

There are some places that are reserved only for you and God. It’s great to have friends, but you better have an intimate one-on-one encounter with our Father.

Identify who are the crowd, the eight, three, and one are. You’ve always got to identify and put people in their proper position. If you got people that are always calling you with a lot of negativity, and a lot of drama, and a lot of gossip, you need to keep them in the outer court. But with this I am not referring to the people that rebuke and correct you if you did something that is against the will of God.

You need to put people in their proper position. This doesn’t mean that you’re better than them. You’re not judging them. You’re just saying, “In this season of my life, I need people that are going to speak life to me, I need someone who will encourage me to live a life that is pure, holy and acceptable in the eyes of God and I don’t need that kind of negative stuff in my spirit. I need my three, Peter, James, and John.”

I believe in this season, God wants us, as mature believers to discern the relationships that we have in our life to make sure that people are in their proper position so that we can get where God has called to go without unnecessary baggage.

I believe that Jesus chose Peter, James, and John for significance. It was never like James, John, and Peter. It was always Peter, James, and John. Notice that Peter, James, and John were at critical moments of Jesus’ development. In Mark 5:37 [Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James)]. , who He allowed to follow Him? Peter, James and John. At the mount of transfiguration, who was there? Peter, James, John. Here in the garden of Gethsemane at His most broken and vulnerable moment, we see Peter, James, and John. Why? Because you always need people to surround you who will remind you of your ultimate destination.

The name Peter in Greek is Petra or Petrus, which means stone. In the Hebrew, that would translate to tablet or law.
The name James is actually the Greek version of the Hebrew Yakob or Jacob, which means replacement or trickster, that is where we get Jacob from and that is why God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
John means gift of God or grace of God

And Jesus in His most vulnerable moment was surrounded by Peter, James, and John to be reminded that His ultimate mission in life was to declare that the law has been replaced by grace.

Jesus was vulnerable, and He was vulnerable around the right people at a critical moment. Who are the people that you can be vulnerable around? Who are the people that you can share your intimate places, those hurting places, those broken places? And the greater question that you need to answer is “Are they the right people?”

For too long, Churches had allowed "Halloween church" - where we come in to with our masks on. We don’t allow people to see us for who we really are, because we’re not sure if they’ll really receive us once they know what’s really going on. Sometimes we are afraid that if we tell people the real issues of our life, we think they won't be as excited to talk to us.

Look at the people around you. They’re there for a reason. You’re at the right church at the right time with the right people, and God has a plan for your life with this community that is thriving, and growing, and building. Stay right here, and don’t be afraid to share your scars, for in your scars is a testimony that will heal someone else. It is an evidence that God heals. God doesn’t want you hiding your scars. He wants you to show what He’s delivered you from. What was overcome by the blood of the lamb could be attested by the word of our testimony. Instead of a Christian always hiding behind the air of perfection, may we take off our masks, and take off our long-sleeved spiritual garments, and show the cuts and the bruises that God has healed us and delivered us and restored us and built us and mold us.

So many people are battling through depression. So many people are battling through stages of grief, and they do so alone. Any predator always picks off the isolated animal first. Let us live in community, and in our weakest moments, in our most vulnerable moments, may we take Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as an example, who even as the King of kings chose to remain vulnerable and stay in community. Don’t isolate yourself. We love you. That’s the power.

We didn’t always know all the songs.
We didn’t always sing the right song.
We didn’t always praise.
We didn’t always preach.
We didn’t always give.
We didn’t always come to church

And I want you to know and understand that God took you from here, and brought you there so do not go back where God had pick you from. Yes, we have issues in our life but are these issues are enough reason to go back to where God took you from? So stay where God had planted you and in faith, take a step forward to where God is calling you to.

You know church what is hindering us to grow in our faith to God, what is hindering us to go the distance is the idea that we are in a “COMPETION”

You’re not in competition with anyone else. You are in concert with everyone else. When you’re in a community of believers, don’t feel bad like God likes them more than you because they know the protocol, or they know the songs, and maybe they have spiritual gifts that you don’t have. You might say Pastor, The Bible says, “Eagerly desire the greater gifts. And most Christians I’ve been around with also want certain spiritual gifts. How about that? That’s great. I love also when Apostle Paul said that and I have nothing against that, but my advice is if that’s not your gift, don’t try to force it because it’s weird.

Because sometimes, If somebody next to you is speaking in tongues, and you don’t speak in tongues, that doesn’t mean that God loves you any less. Don’t look over, and be like, “I want to do what he is doing, I want to do that. I want to do that. Oh la, la, la, la hhhmmmmnn. . . . mustasa, hhhmmmmnn. . . . hakuna matata, hhhmmmmnn. . . . Simba, hhhmmmmnn. . . . nemo. Hmmnnn. . isip pa, isip pa yung katunong ng sinasabi niya. . ” IT’S WEIRD! You are just deceiving yourself because after all it’s always between you and God.

Sometimes, You hear somebody singing really good, and you’re like, “Wow, no way he’s singing better than me and God needs to hear my voice also.” And you suddenly sung “And I will always love you, I.” IT’S WEIRD!

You are not in competition with anyone else. This is not a talent show. This is family, and God loves everybody equally. This is the power of JCLIM Church that people from every background, of different race, from Philippines, Kenya, Nepal, India, United States, and many more come to hear about ONE Jesus.

I’m so grateful that in a time in this country where public Christianity is not allowed, I can come to a place like JCLIM Church, and I’m surrounded by people from varying backgrounds and different races, and black worshiping next to white, worshiping next to brown, worshiping next to Filipino, and Kenyan, and Indian, and American and every other culture that is connected, whatever the color of your skin is Black, Brown, Yellow and the only color that matter is Red – It’s the blood of Jesus. This is the power of community. This is the power of a church that goes the distance.

#BeBlessed

#JCLIMDoha