Lesson for 3/20

Hey all, the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow comes from Mark 14:26-31, 66-72. Its titled "Struggling Faith" To get an idea of the setting, the lesson focuses on the events leading to Jesus' Crucifixion. I encourage you to read the entire chapter 14 of Mark; but tomorrows lesson starts at verse 26, where we find Jesus and His disciples heading out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus says in verse 27 "All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say. 'God will strike the Shepard, and the sheep will be scattered.'" - Think of the analogy used, for without a Shepard, an actual herd of sheep wouldn't know what to do, they would run/flee in fear. That is what Jesus is saying His disciples will do during the events that will transpire that night.  Peter stops and says in verse 29 "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will." Jesus replied and told Peter, "this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me." No!" Peter declared emphatically. "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!" And all the others vowed the same. - The lesson then skips to verse 66; but to pause; As Christians we never set out to disappoint God. In Fact, most of us want to genuinely follow Christ and live to God's Glory. At times we often struggle with this as we will see Peter did. Back to the verses you will see that by now Jesus has been taken before the council. To provide a setting verse 54 says "Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.  Jesus' verdict is then made; Can you imagine Peter whom was outside in the courtyard hearing the people say and do all this to Jesus? "“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!” "Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away." (Ver.65) Verses 66-72 says,  "One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth. But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed. When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” But Peter denied it again. A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”And he broke down and wept." The lesson ends there, as you can see, during times of persecution or hardship, its very easy for us to flee in fear and forget who we put our faith in. Its a struggle, even for Peter, a great man of action who witnessed Jesus' perform countless miracles first hand. Most Christians today wouldn't verbally deny God, but the honest reality is we often do by not denying our own flesh, sin and worldly desires. I for one can relate to how Peter feels when he realized what he done. Going from  saying "I would never do this or that!" to the conviction that sets in once I've done the very thing I vowed not to. Peter is eventually reconciled with Jesus after the resurrection, to not jump too far ahead "verse 28 of this very lesson said "But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there." Jesus said this right before Peter vowed he wouldn't desert Him, and what encouragement as next weeks lesson shows this very reunion! Regardless of being, we all struggle at times with our faith. The key, as mentioned in our previous lessons, is prayer. We cannot make it on our own, but with God, all things are possible.

Thanks for reading - God bless!