A Spiritual A.P.B.

When a suspect is on the run, the police will put out an A.P.B. or an All Points Bulletin giving the description of the suspect, what they were last seen wearing, and what they were last seen driving. This allows all law enforcement officers to be on the look out for this suspect so that the citizens are protected. As we continued our Simon Says message series last Sunday here at Gaylord E-Free, we issued a three point spiritual A.P.B. for all believers. We took each point from the story of Simon Peter with Jesus in the garden the night He was arrested. Here are the three points of our spiritual A.P.B.

A = ALERTNESS! After the last supper Jesus took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He left 8 of them at one spot and took Peter, James and John deeper into the garden where He asked them to pray with Him as He went off by himself and prayed in such agony that his sweat drops became turned to blood. Three different times He went back to the three disciples and found them sleeping. Jesus gives them two exhortations. The first in verse 38 was to "Keep Watching!" In other words, we need to live in a continual state of spiritual alertness. Why? Peter would later write in 1 Peter 5:8 that we need to always be on the alert because our adversary, the devil, is constantly roaming around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. If you have ever watched those National Geographic shows where the lion takes down the gazelle for dinner, you realize that the lion waits to see what poor gazelle, due to sickness or lack of alertness, gets well behind the rest of the herd. That is the one the lion goes after and that is why we have a need to live in a state of spiritual alertness.

P = PRAYER! In verse 38 Jesus tells them to keep watching and "Keep Praying!" But notice the reason for this that He gives - "so that you may not come into temptation." In other words, be continually praying that you will not fall into temptation. Don't just wait until you are being tempted to pray - be praying about it now. I would guess that each of us knows at least one way we will most likely be tempted to sin this week. If that's the case, start praying about that now! Start now asking God to give you the alertness and courage to say "no" to that temptation when it arises.

B = BIBLE INTAKE! After Jesus is done praying, the mob, led by Judas, comes to arrest Him. Peter draws out his sword and chops off one of the temple guard's ears. By the way, Peter was a fisherman, not a solider - I doubt he was aiming for the guy's ear. Fortunately for Maclchus (the name of the guy who lost his ear), Peter was a bad aim. Luke records that Jesus healed Malchus's ear. John records that Jesus rebukes Peter and tells him to put his sword away. Why? Because Jesus was facing a spiritual battle not a physical battle. You don't fight spiritual battles with physical weapons. So what sword should we use? In Ephesians 6:12-17, Paul describes are spiritual battle and details our only weapon. He calls it The Sword of the Spirit which he identifies as The Word of God. If we are going to see victory in our spiritual battles, we must daily be taking the Bible, the Sword of the Spirit, into our mind and into our heart.

Be sure to also read my other blog entitled "Hope For Hurting Pastors" at www.hurtingpastor.blogspot.com. You can leave a comment at either blog or email me directly at skdistler@gmail.com.