Today I invite you to the Garden of Gethsemane. It's one of my favorite places that I've ever been to. Some of you have even been there with me. This garden is right outside Jerusalem, at the base of the Mount of Olives, and there are olive trees here that are so old they feel ancient, and this is the place where Jesus fell on his face and prayed to the Father, “Yet not what I will, but your will be done.” And today, we're going to go to this garden. No plane tickets, no passports required. I want to invite you to open your Bible and then turn to Mark, chapter 14, verses 32 to 42, and we are going to study the account of what happened when Jesus and specifically Peter, James, and John were in this garden together. And I haven't been able to go to Israel since the summer of 2023. It was in 2023, on October 7th, there was that brutal attack in Israel that has led to wars that have continued, and so we weren't even able to go last summer, which is a real bummer for me because the last time I was in Israel, I came away thinking that was amazing. I should take as many people from our church here as I can, and I've never been back since. So, I'm praying that we'll get to go to Israel again someday. That some of you will be able to come.

And we have this tour guide. His name is Shafiq, and every year at breakfast on the Mediterranean Sea, on the first morning of the entire tour, he's going to say to me, "What do you really want to do in Israel this year?” And he already knows what I'm going to say. I'm going to say, "Get me one hour in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's what I want.” And he's going to look at me, like, "Oh, you asked too much.” And I'm like, "Shafiq, you're the man. If anyone can make this happen, you can.” And he looks at me like he's going to have to go bribe ten people or something to get us in the Garden of Gethsemane, because if we just walked up there, we would be just like tourists, and they would shuffle us through the garden, bring us through this big church they've built, get us paying, and push us out on the other side. But there's a private area of the garden, and I'm like, “We’ve got to get in there, Shafiq. I need one hour in the garden.” And if you can get in there and you can spend some time sitting there with these olive trees, thinking about how Jesus was there on his face praying, it's hard to find a dry eye at the end of one hour in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, out of respect for God's word. I'm going to invite everybody to stand for the public reading of Scripture. And if you don't have a copy of the Bible, there is a handout in your bulletin where you can read this Scripture along with us. This is Mark 14:32-42. Please follow along as I read.

And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, have your seat. And I'd love for you to take some notes on that handout there as we study this text together. And the name Gethsemane, you can see right there in verse 32, the name of this garden, Gethsemane, it means “olive press,” and if you ever get to go to this garden, it will be impressed upon you that Jesus was squeezed. Maybe you know that the olives they get from the olive trees, they squeeze, they press them into olive oil, and that's what's happening here with Jesus. Jesus is understanding that he's going to bear the weight of our sin, that he's going to die in our place, that he's going to drink this cup that he refers to here. This cup is the cup of God's wrath and God's judgment. Jesus is about to do something he's never done before. He's about to take the wrath of God on our behalf, and he feels the weight of it. And Jesus, he is pressed in this garden. Now I don't know what you do when you feel pressed, when you feel overwhelmed with your life, when you feel like what you're about to bear is too much for you. But Jesus, he says, sit here while I pray.

One of the things that we need to all learn from Jesus is that he would get away to pray. So, if you could circle that word "pray" there in verse 32, that's a clear contrast that we're going to see is the example of Jesus who does pray and is therefore prepared for what comes. And then the example of Peter, James, and John, who don't pray and therefore are unprepared for what is about to happen. This is the second part of a three-part series. If you were here last week, Jesus said to the disciples, "You will all” what? What did he tell them was going to happen to them? “You're all going to fall away.” And what did they say right away? “I will not fall away. Even if they all fall away, I will not fall away.” So, there was a proclamation. Jesus calling a shot, saying what's going to happen before it does. Hey, by the end of the night, you're all going to fall away. And this should be the preparation. This should be them getting ready to prepare themselves for what's about to happen, what Jesus just said. But as you can see with the disciples, it's not preparation; it's the lack thereof.

And then go ahead with me to verse 43, where you can see Judas shows up, and he's got a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and scribes, and they come to betray Jesus with a kiss. They come to arrest Jesus, to lay hands on him, to seize him. Look down at verse 50. This is what we're going to get to next week. “And they all left him and fled.” They actually do run for their lives when Jesus gets arrested, every man for himself, leaving Jesus by himself. And it's because they weren't prepared. It's because they did not pray. And so, you got to see the contrast here between Jesus and how he does pray when he's overwhelmed, and then the disciples, how they are so overwhelmed, they just fall asleep, and they don't come and bring their requests before the Lord. So, let's follow what Jesus does here, and notice how hard it is for Jesus. In verse 33, he says, “He began to be greatly distressed and troubled,” and then in verse 34, he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful.”

So, you need to see the intense experience this was for Jesus. And in fact, let's get this down for point number one: You want to “Feel the weight on Jesus in the olive press.” You want to see how Jesus is getting squeezed here? He's feeling greatly distressed and troubled, and then he's telling them, "My soul is grieved. My soul is so overwhelmed. I feel like I'm going to die.” That's what he says. “Even to death.” I can't even live under the weight of how I am feeling, so this thought for Jesus about what he's going to do. Maybe you just think Jesus is God and everything he did was easy, but you need to remember that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. That's how he can be our substitute. That's how he can die in our place. And Jesus, just like you and I, has temptations. Jesus is feeling overwhelmed with what he's about to do because he's going to pay for your sin. He's going to take judgment in your place, and he's like, I feel like I'm going to die. I'm going to go over here and pray. And he says, “Remain here and watch.” He tells them what to do. But then look at verse 35, “Going a little farther, he fell on the ground. And the idea is not just even getting down on his knees in a posture of prayer, but he's like down on his face, just lying there on the ground, just feeling pressed down to the ground. And he prayed that “if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.” Even though Jesus knows the hour, the hour where he's going to die on the cross and on the third day rise again. That's the hour he came for, and yet he's overwhelmed by the thought of it. And he says, "Maybe this hour could pass from me.”

And then we get the content of the prayer of Jesus. He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not” what? “I will, but” what? “You will.” And so, let's just kind of really try to think what Jesus is feeling and what he's saying here. This idea that he was very sorrowful-it goes back to Psalm 42:5, where they use the same Greek word. The Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek, and they use the same word for “sorrowful” here. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation.” Jesus is in turmoil in this garden, and the thought that's really bothering him, I mean, there's a lot that Jesus could be thinking about. He could be thinking about how Judas is going to betray him with a kiss. He could be thinking about how the disciples are all going to bail on him. He could be thinking about how the Jews are going to falsely accuse him of blasphemy, and then they're going to hand him over to the Romans. And the Romans, they're going to punch him in the face, and they're going to say, "Prophesy! Who hit you?” The Romans, they're going to mock him as the “King of the Jews.” They're going to whip him and just bloody up his back. They're going to pound a crown of thorns into his head, and then they're going to know he's innocent and hand him over to be killed anyways. And we haven't even got to them nailing his hands and his feet to the cross. He's up there naked. He's up there with people mocking him, shaming him, saying, "You saved others. Save yourself.” I mean, the physical agony, the emotional stress that Jesus is about to go through.

But that's not even what he's worried about. Look at what he says when he says, "Remove this cup from me.” If you are a reader of the Hebrew Bible, you might know what this cup is. This is the cup of God's wrath, which is referred to by prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. When God's going to judge a nation, it could be another nation, it could be Israel. It's like they drink a cup, and you don't want to drink this cup. You don't want to see what this cup will do to you. The people who drink this cup, they don't recover because God has now said, "Here is judgment upon you for what you have done.” The last thing you want to do is drink the cup of God's wrath. And here's Jesus saying, "Remove the cup. See, the thing that is the hardest about Jesus going on the cross and dying for us is not even anything that we can see or describe. It's something that's hard for us to even get our mind around. But the sins that I have done, and the sins that you have done, and the sins that all of God's people have done throughout history, all of those sins, and you know your sins. I mean, maybe you can just think about how many sins you've done, and what would be the judgment if God was to judge you according to what you have done. What would be the punishment that you deserve? Well, take your punishment, and take my punishment, and let's go put it all now on Jesus, and he's going to drink that punishment all the way down. The punishment for our sins is going to be placed on him. And it's such an overwhelming, sorrowful turmoil that he's crying out to the Father, "Remove this cup from me.”

Here are some examples of the cup in Psalm 11:6. It says, "Let him rain coals on the wicked.” The cup is for the wicked to drink in judgment. “Let him rain coals on the wicked. Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.” Hey, we’ve got a new drink at trolley coffee after the service, everybody. It has fire and sulfur and scorching wind in it. Have a nice sip of that. Here's Psalm 75:8: “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.” There's a cup that the wicked are going to have to drink, and it's the judgment of all their sins. Nobody survives drinking the cup, and here comes now the Holy One, the Anointed One of God, the only one who was ever righteous, Jesus, and he's going to drink that cup, not just for one person, not just for two people, but for all of his people. He's going to drink their judgment. Can you feel the weight on Jesus?

Now look at how he prays here, though. Look at how he takes this overwhelming burden and he gives it to the Father in heaven. Notice that's how he starts in verse 36. This word "Abba,” Father. So, you've got three dashes under point number one. Let's start with referring to God as our “Father”. This is very important, and this is how Jesus taught you to pray. Is that when he taught his disciples to pray, he said we should start this way: “Our Father in heaven.” Now I want to talk about that for a minute because I think a lot of people don't understand what we're supposed to think about God being our Father. I try to talk to as many people as I can here in Huntington Beach about what's going on in their soul, and a lot of people tell me about their experience with their dad. I'm not asking about their dad. People are constantly bringing their fathers up, and people are often, I can tell, comparing their Father in heaven with their father here on earth, and that is not the point of comparison. If you're thinking about God that way, whether you had a good, bad, or absent dad, if you compare the father in heaven through the lens of your father here on earth, you will end up with wrong thoughts about God. That's not the way the Scripture teaches us. That's not how Jesus talks about it. When Jesus teaches us to pray about our Father, he's comparing it to those of us who have the blessing of being a father. The idea is to see it from the father's perspective. And so, let me appeal to everyone who's been blessed to be a parent to the fathers and mothers here. You know that you have a natural love for your kids, and that when your kids come to you, if they were to express a need to you, if they were to ask you for something, if they were to ask you for a gift, you're not thinking, "Well, I'll give you a snake, kid.” That's not how you would think about your child. No, I have this weird thing because I'm an evil person. I'm a selfish person. I can be pretty stingy, but then one of my kids will say, "Hey, Dad, I really think we should get into this.” And I've never thought about this thing in my entire life. I have no interest in this thing. But one of my kids says, "Dad, this could be really cool.” And all of a sudden, I'm becoming the leading expert on this item on the internet. All of a sudden, I'm relooking at my budget. Like I think we can afford that. All of a sudden, because one of my kids says, "What about this, Dad?” I am completely bought in just at the fact of them bringing it up. And if I'm that way towards my kids, how much more is your Father in heaven? You think you love your kids? That's not even close to how your Father loves you. That's how you're supposed to learn how to think about him.

Go to Romans 8:15. Everybody, turn in your Bible to Romans, chapter 8, verse 15, where Paul continues this idea that that God is our Abba, he's our Father. That's how they would say it there in Aramaic, Abba. And some people, I think they try to overemphasize what this means, but this is very significant that God is our Father. Look at how it's written about here, as Paul's teaching about it in Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.” It's like God the Father in heaven has adopted you to be one of his sons or daughters. He's adopted you. He's chosen you, just because he wanted to love you. He chose you to be in his family. Wow! And then in verse 16, it says, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit.” He puts his Spirit within us to convince us that we are children of God. What manner of love is this that we would be called the children of God? And look at verse 17. “If we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Let me ask you a few questions at this 9o'clock service here this morning. Do you believe that the Father in heaven loves his Son, Jesus? This is an interactive part of the sermon. Do you believe that the Father in heaven is 100% completely pleased with his Son, Jesus? Do you believe that at the end of all things, the Father will give all things as an inheritance to his Son, Jesus? This verse just said, you will also receive that inheritance. You are loved the exact same way that the Father loves Jesus, because he sees you in Christ, and because of the righteousness of Christ given to you freely as a gift. He's perfectly pleased with you because of what his Son has done. And in the end, when the glory of Jesus is made known from horizon to horizon, and every knee bows, and every tongue confesses that Jesus is the Lord, and the Father says to his Son, here are all things. You get those things, too. You're a co-heir. You're in on the inheritance. You are now seen as a son or daughter of the Most High, and you can talk to the Father who adopted you in love, who sees you in Christ, and who has an inheritance in heaven kept for you. You can talk to that Father any time you want, and he's inclined to answer you. He's inclined to give you good gifts. If you're a parent here on earth and you're inclined towards your kids, how much more is your father? That's how Jesus teaches us to pray. That's who he says we're praying to.

Now go back to see what he says when he says, "Abba, Father.” Look at this next line that he prays. He says, "All things are possible for you.” Let's get our second dash here. Let's talk about “Faith”. He's saying nothing's impossible with God. This idea is throughout the Scripture. Like, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is there something that God's not able to do? And so, notice not only does he know the Father's love, but he has such faith in what the Father is able to do in his power, in his sovereign control. Hey, you could do whatever you want. He says, "All things are on the table with you.”

Go back to Mark, chapter 11, where he taught the disciples about prayer. We see Jesus praying throughout the Gospel of Mark 1:35. “He rose early in the morning and got out while it was still dark and prayed.” In chapter six, verse 46, he went up on a mountain and prayed about who should be his twelve disciples. So, Mark wants us to see Jesus gets away to pray, but here Jesus says in Mark 1122, he teaches the disciples. Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be” what everybody? He doesn't say it will be no. He doesn't say it will be maybe. He says it will be yours. Jesus teaches us to pray that God is able to do it, and I should ask God to do it, like I believe he's going to do it.

And so, there's faith. You really know you have faith when it expresses itself in prayer. When you're asking God to do things that hallow his name. When you're asking God for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done. In fact, go back to Mark 14 because that's exactly where Jesus goes. Not only does he have faith, and not only is he praying to his Father, but he expresses his commitment to follow. Let's get that down for our third dash. You can see that this is overwhelming to Jesus, and the idea of drinking this cup of wrath for our sin is a heavy burden pressing upon him. And so, he says, "Remove the cup from me.” This is what all of us should do. Whenever you feel overwhelmed about something in life, you should always go to your Father with faith that he can do something about it, and you should pray to him. But notice what he prays, "Remove this cup from me, yet not” what? “I will, but” what? “Your will.” See, this is Jesus practicing what he preached. He told his disciples to pray to the Father: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And here, even though he's feeling the weight of it on earth, he's still committed to doing the mission of the Father, the will of the Father that he gave him.

Go to Hebrews 5:7. I want you to see this verse about Jesus praying that you may not be familiar with in the book of Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 7. It talks about the prayers of Jesus, prayers like this one in the Gospel of Mark. This is the best glimpse we get into the prayer of Christ, and in here in Hebrews 5:7, it talks about Jesus praying. Look at this passage with me. Hebrews 5, verse 7. It says, "In the days of his flesh, so when the glory of God dwelt among us and he put on flesh, right when the Son of God humbled himself to be a man in those days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.” That's how he's praying there in the garden to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. So, did he believe? Did he have faith that God was able to save him? That God could even remove the cup from him? Yes, he believed, but look at verse 8. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. And so, here he is crying out, believing that God is able to save him. But God actually wanted him to obey. God wanted him to do his will. And when he obeyed, he learned something through his suffering. Do you see how it says there, verse 9? “Being made perfect.” That, at first, could sound confusing to us because we know that Jesus is 100% righteous. So, how could he be made perfect? I thought he already was perfect. Well, this “perfect” here, the word here is not really talking about 100% righteous in this case. It's talking about perfect as in “matured,” as in “complete,” “perfect” as in “it comes to the full.” How did Jesus realize the fullness of what the Father wanted him to do by being obedient to do the Father's will? And Jesus, instead of hoping that he would be saved, Jesus, by doing the Father's will, has opened up a way for all of us to be saved, because he took the burden of our sin, so that we could receive his righteousness. And He's crying out in loud prayers.

And Jesus does this not once, not twice, but three times. He prays like this on his face, on the ground, crying out, sweating profusely, and after these three times of prayer, guess what? Bring it on! Here they come. Let's get ready. And he goes through all of that suffering, and he does it for you. He does it to do what his father sent him to do. So, the prayers of Jesus here are very powerful. They're exemplary, and they're in stark contrast. Go back to Mark 14, because after Jesus is over here, pouring out his heart to the Father in heaven and just committing himself, trusting in the Father's will, well then, he comes, and these aren't just all of the disciples. These aren't just even the eleven disciples. These are the three closest disciples, the three that we get to know the best in the Gospel of Mark: Peter, James, and John. These guys, they're intense. Peter, you say he's going to fall away. I will not fall away, Peter says. James and John, remember in chapter 10, verses 38 and 39, when they were like, Jesus, in the kingdom, let us sit at your right hand and your left hand. Remember when they came and asked that? Hey, nothing big, Jesus, but in the kingdom we're going to be your wingmen, right? And he says, “Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink?” And what did James and John say right away? “Oh, we're able, yes, Lord,” yes, we're able to drink the cup, right? So, these guys have been expressing their commitment to Jesus, and here's Jesus saying, I'm troubled, I'm distressed, I feel like I'm going to die. When have you heard Jesus talking like this before? And here are his three closest bros right here, and so, of course, now, after all their talking, they've got the back of Jesus. Right? Verse 37, “And he came and found them” what everybody? And he said to Peter, I love this line. Maybe you've heard this before if you've read the Bible, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?” He says, Simon, are you such a lightweight you can't even go for one hour? And then he says this great line that all of us need to hear. “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is” what, everybody? Now he had already told these guys, you're going to fall away, and he made it clear for Peter, "You're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows twice tonight,” and here's Peter not praying. How many times did he say he was going to deny him? Three times. How many times does he come and wake Peter up to point out that he's not praying? Three times. You think that's a coincidence, or is that on purpose?

If you want to be prepared for your temptations, if you want to be prepared for your trials, there's only one way that that preparation will take place. You've got to pray. Your prayerlessness could be the biggest problem you've got going in your life because you think you have all these problems when, maybe, you have one problem, that you don't pray to prepare for all these problems. And the prayerlessness here, we're supposed to be like, "Wow, look at how Jesus prays,” and then we're supposed to be like, "Wow, why aren't these guys praying?” And the feeling of frustration, why aren't they praying is supposed to be applied then to ourselves. Why don't I pray? Why do I end up in temptation where I give in to sin? Why do I end up going through life feeling so weak? Why do I not watch for one hour?

So, go back to verse 34, right? Because when he said he was so sorrowful, he gave them the instruction: “Remain here and watch.” So, circle that word "remain,” because that is the word “to abide.” That is the Greek word "meno,” which means “to remain or stay.” And in John 15, they translated "abide”. All Jesus wants them to do is stay right there, and then the thing he wants them to do specifically is watch. And back in Mark 13, when Jesus talked about his second coming, the word “watch” was translated, “stay awake, stay alert, stay on the ready.” That's all he's telling them to do. You’ve got to stay right here, and you’ve got to stay ready. That's the command. Remain and watch. And then he comes and he finds them sleeping. I'm pretty sure if you're on the watch, you have one objective: don't fall asleep. Right? And so, they can't stay and they can't watch, and so he comes back and he gives them another opportunity. Verse 38, where now he says, here are two imperatives. These are two commands from Jesus, to watch and to pray. And then, so now he said it in another instruction. He goes away in verse 39. He prays again. He's given his whole heart to the Father.

And verse 40, “Again he came and found them sleeping.” That's strike too. Their eyes were very heavy. They did not know what to answer him. He busts you twice. Yeah, you don't have a good excuse the second time, right? I mean, the idea here when it says their eyes are heavy. Maybe this is all too much for them. Like someone's going to betray Jesus. We're going to fall away from Jesus. I'm going to deny Jesus. I would imagine that you and I have done the same thing these men do in the garden is that life is kind of too much for us right now, so I'm just going to go to sleep. And you know what I find when life is too much for me, and I go to sleep, I wake up with the same problems. Anybody relate to that? Like they didn't magically solve themselves in the middle of the night. But it's amazing because when I don't go to sleep, or when I do rise up early the next day, and I come and I bring all these problems to God, it's so different. Some of us think that we're going to feel better after we sleep, when really the only way we're going to really make progress is to watch and to pray. And then, after saying that, he came a third time, verse 41, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?” It is enough.

And now here it is. The hour that he was talking earlier might pass from him. Now the hour has come, and now you can tell Jesus is prepared and they are not, and the difference is he prayed and they did not. Let's get this down for number two: “Pray like you depend on him.” Pray like you need him. Pray like you can do nothing without him. Prayer is not a good thing to do. Prayer is necessary. And your prayerlessness might be the biggest problem you've got in your life. Now I know we have some faithful people who pray at our church, and I hope you'll be fueled to continue to pray. But if you're someone who knows you ought to pray and do not do it, today is your day to go to the garden and see that it's time to pray.

Let's talk about what it means to watch. So, if you could write down if you're taking notes under point number two: “Watch is my personal responsibility.” I’ve got to stay awake. I’ve got to stay alert. Jesus is asking you to do something, to be ready. That's what he's asking you to do. To pray, though, that's my dependence on God's sovereignty. So, we want to talk about we have a role to play. We're responsible, based on what he's telling us to do. But our real dependence, our real source of power and ability, does not come from us and prayer is how we express our dependence on God. Prayer is the way to say, "I need you to do it. I'm not able to do it myself. It was so hard for me.” For those of you who were here last week, to not talk about prayer in that sermon we had last week about self-reliance, because the whole way that you can know you rely on yourself rather than God is if you don't pray. If you go into a day and you don't ask for God's help, what you're saying is you think somehow you're going to get through it, or maybe you think you got this, or maybe you think you've worked your way through it before, you'll get through it again. Any day that you go through where you don't pray, what you're saying is, I can do today, and God's saying you're going to end up in your temptations. And you might be willing, but the flesh is weak. And so, if you're not praying, you are relying on yourself, and when you pray, you're declaring your dependence on God that you need him to do it.

Look with me at verse 38, where he gives us these two commands: To watch, I’ve got to stay ready. To pray, I’ve got to ask him. I can't do it. I need him. Watch and pray. Why? That you may not enter into temptation. Okay, let's put this verse up on the screen, Matthew 6:13. When Jesus teaches us how to pray, here's an example of what he teaches us about how we're supposed to be praying. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you want to follow his teachings, well, he teaches you to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” because in this world, the world that Satan is the god of this age, the world that is a system of evil, the world that you and I are living in right now, in these bodies where desires come from within, where we want to sin, that we call temptation. We're all going to be tempted. We're all going to want something that God said you shouldn't want, and we're all going to not want to do something that God said you should do. We're all going to feel these temptations, and how are we going to not enter into these temptations? How are we going to not give in to sin? Well, I’ve got to ask God to lead me not into those temptations, because if it's just up to me, I'll go into those temptations.

So, there's a preemptiveness here. There's a preparation. If you just keep falling into the same sin, let me ask you: Are you asking God to lead you out of that temptation? Because if you're not asking Him beforehand, it's going to be hard for you when that temptation comes. And so, you’ve got to have this idea that God has a power and ability that I don't have. Look at the very next line. I find this to be so instructive. He says, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” So, notice that Jesus is not questioning the sincerity of the disciples. Does Peter really want to not fall away. I think the answer to that is, yes. Do James and John think that they would be willing to drink the same cup as Jesus? The answer to that is, yes. They are sincere. They're willing. The problem is they are not able. They don't have the power. You guys are willing, but your flesh is weak. Let's get this down. Here's a note: “The question is not just your sincerity, but also your ability.” That's really what we're talking about. Some of us just think, "Well, I don't want to sin.” Well, that's great, but good intentions do not equal sanctification. Okay, you can't just want to do what is right. You need a power and ability that you don't naturally have to say no to that sin and to walk in the new way of Christ, to put on righteousness and his righteousness in your life. You've got to do that through Christ. You've got to do that. Abiding in the vine, the Spirit needs to fill you. You need a power and ability that you don't naturally have. You need to tap into that power every day, and that happens when you pray and when you say, "Hey, this situation right here, I'm not going to be able to do this. This situation over here, it feels too much for me.”

And when you begin to ask God for his help, he enables you in ways you would not be able by yourself. And when I say ask God for help, let me just clarify what I mean, because I think some of us think, okay, well, I've got like 50% of this, or maybe you're feeling good. I got like sea level, 75% of this. Or maybe you're feeling awesome. I got 95% of this, God. If you could just give me the last 5%. Let's just make it very clear that we've got 0% of it. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? When I say I need help, I'm saying I need 100% help. It's not like I'm halfway there and you just push me over. No, I don't have the ability. I need it from you.

Go with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. Let's see another example from the Apostle Paul. A very similar prayer to the prayer that we see with Jesus, where Paul was a man who got to see the glory of Jesus in a very unique way. You might know he was Saul, the persecutor of the church. 2 Corinthians 12 is where we're going. Saul was walking on the road to Damascus, and he saw the glory of Jesus with his eyes, and it blinded him. The glory of Jesus was so bright, and Jesus spoke to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he turned his life around. And Paul, he went from Saul to Paul, and he tells us that he even had other revelations of Jesus. And so, here's an apostle who didn't go around seeing Jesus as an eyewitness during his ministry. No, he saw Jesus after his resurrection. He saw Jesus multiple times, a very unique eyewitness to Jesus. And, because I had these amazing revelations, he says this in verse 7, 2 Corinthians 12:7. “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.” Remember what Jesus said? Your spirit is willing, but your what? Your flesh is weak. Well, now he's got a thorn in his flesh, exposing his weakness, “a messenger of Satan to harass me,” to keep me from becoming conceited. Because of the height of Paul's revelations of Jesus, he was humbled through this thorn in the flesh. Now, verse 8, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me.” That sounds very similar to Jesus saying, "Remove this cup from me.” This thorn in the flesh, it was too much for Paul, and he's pleading with God, “All things are possible for you.” You could take this away, but he said to me, verse 9, "My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in” what everybody? Weakness. My power. Think about that. My power is made perfect in weakness. Here's Paul's response. “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” If you can identify a weakness, if you can identify something that you don't have the power to do, something that you're not able to do, it is through identifying that weakness, bringing that weakness to God, confessing your lack of ability, asking for God. That is when you will be made strong. That is when you will find his grace sufficient. When you admit that you cannot, you will find out that he can.
Is that how you're praying? You're coming before God and you're identifying, please don't lead me into these temptations. Do you make a list of your temptations? Are you a temptation detective? Are you going back to the scene of your last crime and thinking, "Well, here's why I got angry. Here's why I gave into that lust. Here's the specific date and time that I did something that I know Jesus already died for, that Jesus bore the weight for, and I decided at that moment in that place that I was going to do that sin anyways. How did I get there, and how can I make sure I'm not led to enter that temptation again? Do you go back through them? Do you see what happened, and then you start praying? Okay, this is the time of week where I usually get frustrated. This is the setting where I gave into that sin last time. This is when I was alone, or this is when that other person really bothered me. And you go back, and when you can see that moment coming again, you're praying to God, “God, I can see that this temptation is going to come. Please don't lead me into that temptation. I need you to lead me in your way, your everlasting way, the way of righteousness and truth.” Do you go through, oh, I've got this thing coming up, and I know I'm not up for it. I know I'm not able. I'm so weak. Will you please do it? See, by identifying your temptations and by admitting your weaknesses, you will find his power and ability.

And so, flip your hand out over. I want to give every single brother and sister at our church a challenge. Or you can see there, question number two on the application questions on the back of your handout. “Will you accept the to watch and pray for one hour challenge?” I want everybody to go to the garden for one hour. Yes, I'm asking you to pray by yourself in a secret place with no phone for one hour. Can you do that? Can you go through your temptations? Can you go through your weaknesses? Can you go through how he's our Father, and you can have faith in what he's able to do, and express your commitment to follow him. Can you do that even before your fellowship group? Can you? And here, if you're like, I don't know if I could do that tomorrow night, Monday night, 7o'clock, I will be right here in this room, and we will guide you for an hour of prayer. We will go to the garden together. Well, you will pray for one hour, and we'll help you through it. Could you not watch for one hour?

Now, here's what's crazy. If I tell Shafiq I need one hour in the actual real Garden of Gethsemane, he's going to act like I don't know if I can pull that off. And they've got surveillance cameras in this place, and last time we were in there, this guy crashes in. I've never seen this guy. He's like, I’ve got to get you guys out of here. I'm going to get in trouble. I think he wants me to give him more money so we can stay longer. I'm not sure how the Garden of Gethsemane works, but I just look in and I say, no, we need our one hour in here, and in our one hour in this garden, I'm going to open up to the passage that we're talking about, and I'm going to read it, and I'm going to explain that you've done a lot of things you shouldn't have done, and you deserve to be judged for those things. And here's the thing: Jesus is being pressed under the weight of what you've done because he's the one who's going to drink the cup for it, and he's doing that right over there with his face on the ground. And when I, then, give everybody a minute to spread out over the garden, and they start praying, and they start crying, and they start making a list of all the things they've done that Jesus had to bear the weight of in that place, and then I have to go around at the end and interrupt everybody praying and say, "Hey, our time is up. We have to go. An hour goes by like that in the actual Garden of Gethsemane, fastest hour of my life. But yet here, an hour to many people seems like a very long time to pray. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Jesus just prayed for three different hours, and those disciples just failed for three different hours. And he doesn't act like I don't expect you guys to pray like that. He says, "Could you not watch for one hour?

So, I want to challenge you. Will you please go pray for an hour and then show up at your fellowship group with your brothers and sisters and say, "Here's what that was like for me,” and share that experience with one another? Here are some of the temptations I asked him not to lead me into. Here are some of the weaknesses that I expressed, that I said, "I'm not able. I need your power.” Have you ever done this before? If you have, you're already looking forward to this sweet hour that you're going to have in prayer. If you've never done this before, you need to go to the Garden of Gethsemane. I would do it before the day is done. It's amazing how we can watch a movie for more than one hour and we think it's a short amount of time. It's sad how to talk to our Father in Heaven, who can do all things. An hour seems like a really long time. And so, will you accept our challenge to watch and pray for one hour?

Now go back because there's one more thing that Jesus says I want to draw your attention to before we take communion. If you go back to Mark 14, after he prays and we've looked at what he said, and after they don't pray three different times, they don't watch, they don't pray. Now they're going to be led into temptation. Now they're going to see that they are weak because they're not prepared, and he says, "It is enough. The hour has come.” Can everybody underline this line here? The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And if you come back next week, Judas shows up at this moment, and there's a whole mob there, and they've got swords and clubs and torches, and they're coming to arrest Jesus, and so this is the big moment where it kicks off a series of events: his betrayal, his arrest, his trial, his beatings, his crucifixion. It's all happening right now. This is the hour. And Jesus, you can tell he's now like, rise up, here they come. Jesus, you can tell after praying three times about this, he's prepared for this. Jesus goes through this whole experience. He takes all the suffering and he finishes it completely. But these guys, Peter denies it three times within just a few hours. But this line, “The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” What a tragic line! The Son of Man is a title that Jesus uses about himself. It's a title that we just read this week. If you read the book of Daniel with us in Daniel, chapter 7, verses 13 to 14, it says, "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man.” Who's that riding on the clouds? I don't know, but he looks like a son of man, “and he came to the Ancient of Days, and he was presented before him, and to him this son of man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. It's very clear in the book of Daniel that there are many world nations and empires, but there is one who is most high, who reigns over all the nations, and he has a kingdom that is coming, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And the Son of Man, when he comes riding on the clouds, that's when you know it's kingdom time.

And so, who would have thought? When you can see this was so hard for the Jews to comprehend, even for these disciples. Even though Jesus told them again and again and again, the Son of Man's going to go to Jerusalem. They're going to betray me. They're going to deliver me over to the scribes, and they're going to mock me and flog me, and they're going to kill me. And on the third day, I will rise. Jesus keeps saying that, but nobody's hearing it because, in their mind, the Son of Man, he's glorious. He has dominion. He has power. He restores Israel to the envy of all nations. And just like with King David and Solomon back in the day, Israel becomes the ruler and the empire. And these Romans, we're going to get rid of them because when the Messiah comes, when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes, He'll establish our kingdom. That's what they're all thinking. That's who the Son of Man is. And so, to say this line, this is like the most tragic thing you could possibly say, that the glorious Son of Man with all dominion is going to be handed over to sinners, and they're going to have their way with him, and they're going to kill him.

Point number three. Let's get it down like this: You need to “Understand the plot twist of the age.” Understand the plot twist of the age. This is not the Jewish expectation. Even though all the suffering of the Messiah is prophesied, that's not the prophecy that they were expecting to be fulfilled. They were ready for the kingdom. Even in Acts, chapter 1, after Jesus died and after he rose again, and when he's talking with his disciples in Acts chapter 1, what do they ask him? Is now the time that you're going to restore the kingdom? That's what they're thinking. It's kingdom time. Right? But Jesus said, no, it's not kingdom time. Not yet. When Jesus humbled himself, when he died, what he did is he opened up the possibility for not just the Jews but all the Gentiles. Everyone who believes in the name of Jesus will be saved. And what he started, see, they were expecting the rock of the kingdom to come and wipe out the Roman Empire and build his empire on earth. But the rock is actually Jesus himself, and on the sacrifice of his body and the shedding of his blood, the foundation of the gospel, the good news that Jesus died and rose again. Jesus has been building His church now for 2000 years, and people like me and you who just take it for granted that there is such a thing as the church. The whole reason that we get to be a part of God's kingdom that is still coming in the future is because the Son of Man was betrayed into the hands of sinners. Something happened that people did not expect. They didn't expect the one with all the power to go to the place of ultimate humility.

Go back to chapter 10, verse 45, and let's remember what I think is the theme verse of the Gospel of Mark. When they're arguing about who's the greatest, Jesus says, you don't want to be great like the world thinks great. “Now let me tell you, whoever is great among you must be your servant, and whoever will be first among you must be the slave of all.” And then he says in Mark 10:45, “for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And I think, well, that's okay if the Son of Man has all power, and he wants to humble himself. Okay, I guess I can accept that. Especially the fact that he's giving his life for sinners like me. That many of us could be made righteous, I'm so thankful for that. But see, now when he says the Son of Man is handed over to sinners, it just sounds it sounds wrong to me because why do those sinners get to do something to Jesus? The one righteous man who's ever lived is now going to be mistreated. He's going to be falsely accused. The innocent is going to be killed. For what reason are these sinners going to treat Jesus this way? And the reason is because he was willing, not because of his will, but he said to do his father's will. Even though it was overwhelming to him, Jesus he committed to the father's will. He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, and Jesus chose the father's will over how he was feeling, over his own, being overwhelmed. He chose to lay down his life willingly because he wanted to do the will of the Father more than he wanted it to work out for himself.

What a story that the Son of Man would be handed over to sinners to save those sinners from their sins, to bear the weight of their sins, to take God's wrath for your sin. This is what Jesus did for you. And if you could go to the garden with me and see Jesus on his face under the weight of our sin, but yet then with his faith in the Father and his willingness to do the Father's will, there Jesus is now going off with the sinners to kill him. Now that is what we're here to remember. So, I want to set you up now to take communion, I want to give you a chance to pray right here, right now. No, it's not going to last for an hour. Okay, we have an 11 o'clock service. Maybe their service it'll last for an hour, but yours. Some of you come to this service because it's safe. I know who you are. Okay, but I'm going to give you a moment right now for you to respond to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, for you to see him pressed like an olive under the weight of your judgment, and so when we take communion, this is a very serious time for us to remember Jesus.

I want to encourage all my brothers and sisters not to take communion in an unworthy manner. If there's anything you need to talk to Jesus about, this is the time. This is a time to thank him. This is a time to remember what he really went through so you could be saved. See, whenever I go to the garden, it just doesn't seem right to me. It doesn't seem right that he has to take all my judgment and he has to die in my place and I've done a lot of sins and he paid for all of them and then I'm over here and I'm just walking around carefree today in Huntington Beach and I know that all my sin I had a crushing debt and it's been paid for completely. All my sin has been removed. I'm not even afraid of dying anymore. I'm low key looking forward to it, and when I get to see God, he's not going to bring up the list of all those things that I've done, because Jesus is going to be standing there in my defense, saying that He paid it in full with the sacrifice of his body, and every single one of those sins has been redeemed by the shedding of his righteous blood. And so, Jesus went through hell, so I will never have to. And you have a chance to talk to him about it right now. Let's pray.

Father, we just want to thank you for this chance today to go to the garden. We want to thank you for the picture of the olive press and to see Jesus getting squeezed out under that weight of thinking he's going to drink that cup, a cup of wrath, a fire and sulfur and scorching wind. We know that hell is a place referred to as a lake of fire, where the fire is not quenched and the worm doesn't die. And to think of Jesus drinking down a cup of that because of all the wretched things that I have done. God, I pray that we could feel what Jesus felt in that garden, and then we could say thank you to Jesus right now, and that we could ask the question that I've heard many people say to me when they go to the Garden of Gethsemane: Why, Jesus? Why did you do it for me? Why did you come down to a place like that? Why would you love me so much? Why would you give me such a gift that I don't deserve? Thank you, Jesus, for the weight that you bore in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Could You Not Watch One Hour?
Bobby Blakey
August 24, 2026

Welcome, everyone! It is so great to see you all here on a Monday night. You know, we pray every Monday night at 7 o'clock here at this church, and some of the regulars are here on Monday night. But it's great to have all of you join us. Did you know there were over two thousand souls that attended this church this weekend? And I have already heard of multiple people professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ after this weekend's services. And so, we have much to thank the Lord for, but a lot to pray for.

I'm really thankful I've gotten to go to the actual Garden of Gethsemane. Who else has actually been to the Garden of Gethsemane? A bunch of us have, but all of us got to go there in Mark 14. And so, what we're going to do tonight is we're going to break it down into six different sections of ten minutes, because maybe some have not watched and prayed for one hour before. And so, I'm going to kind of help you think about something, and then the goal would be you would pray along those lines for ten minutes. And then I'll come back and I'll set you up with the next thought for the next ten minutes. And some of you will get tired of me interrupting you by the time the hour is up, but maybe for some that could help you think through.

Now, I do want to ask, who started reading the book of Ezra today? Okay, so I saw some hands. I saw Boyd. Boyd, can you catch this? Oh, can I? Oh, wow! Can I throw this? Okay, I saw Diana's hand over here. Diana, you're going to have to come get that one. That seemed dangerous. Who else? Who else did I see? Yeah, I saw Joe. Okay, watch out, Tim. Nice, nice. Good duck, Tim. So those are by Dale Ralph Davis, and we have some you can pick up at the Book Nook. He wrote this commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. He just wrote it in the last year, so we didn't have this last time we read through Ezra and Nehemiah, which were originally one book. And so, that's what we started reading today. And if you're confused about the whole context of the Book of Ezra, there's a new video on Scripture of the Day YouTube you could watch. It goes through some of the timeline, the map, and even the order of the books of the Bible. I think it's interesting. You might want to check it out if you haven't already.

But I want to invite everybody to open your Bible back to Mark 14, because if you have been reading the Scripture of the Day, one thing that we read last week before Ezra is the book of Daniel. This was our Scripture of the Day on Thursday. Remember how Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah, and then when he was reading Jeremiah, and I don't know. Did he go searching in Jeremiah for the prophecy, or was he just reading through Jeremiah and the prophecy leapt off the page to him? But when he read the prophecy of Jeremiah about the exile, particularly the timeline of the exile being seventy years. Do you know that's how long Daniel was in Babylon? For a very long time. And so then, when he prays based on the Scripture, it's a powerful prayer. And immediately, an angel shows up in answer to Daniel's prayer.

So, I want to encourage you. I don't know if you do pray for an hour ever in your life. One of the things that really I think is helpful when you pray is to start with a Scripture. So, if you can look with me at Mark 14 here, and you can see the passage that we went through. There's a lot in this passage. There's a lot about how Jesus prays. There's a lot about how the disciples, Peter, James, and John don't pray. There's even the idea that we ended the sermon with the Son of Man has been betrayed into the hands of sinners. And so, this is where I want us to start in the first ten minutes. And usually, when we do a prayer meeting on Monday night, we pray together. Like maybe, I would pray for all of us, or maybe, we'd break into small groups and pray together. But tonight, the idea is that you would pray for one hour. Okay, so we're not going to pray together. This is almost like a structured, a private prayer time.

So, that's why I hope you’ve got a handout. I hope you’ve got a pen because to help you stay focused, you may want to write some things down as over these times. Maybe some of you have a phone or a tablet. Maybe you will get digital. I type things out when I'm praying to God to help me stay locked in. And so, what I want you to do is I want you to go through Mark 14:32-42. I'm not even going to read it because I want you to read it. And I think sometimes when people think, oh, well, I’ve got to pray for the whole hour. No, you can stop and read the Scripture while you're praying. All right? So, I would read through this scripture, and then what does the scripture get you thinking about, and what do you want to pray in response to God's Word?

So, we'll put ten minutes up on the screen, and let's read Mark 14:32-42, and let's pray. Okay, let's zoom in on verse 38. Verse 38, there in the middle of the text, it says, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into” what, everyone? Temptation. So, Matthew, chapter 6, verse 13. We'll put it up here on the screen. “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” So, this is a way that Jesus taught us to pray, where he taught his disciples to pray in his teaching. It's in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, and then you can see here he's bringing it up again. If you don't want to enter into temptation, then you need to prepare with prayer beforehand.

So, here's what I want you to do. I want you to think back over your last week. When did you sin over the last week? When did you give into temptation? And then how can you apply? So, have you really asked for forgiveness and confessed those sins over the last week to your Father? And then, how can you apply the way you saw sin creep in last week, how can you apply that forward? What temptations should you make a list of? If you flip your handout over, you'll see there's a big temptations box on the back of the handout. And so, what are your temptations that you want to ask God to lead you not into? Temptations that could rise up from within, but then also deliver us from evil, evil things that could come from without that you want God to rescue you from.
Okay, so we want to focus on our temptations for the next ten minutes. Let's keep praying. So, the next part of verse 38, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is” what, everyone? Weak, right? So, turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, and let's look at this passage that we looked at in the sermon about our weaknesses, right? So, temptations are specifically a desire to sin, whereas our weaknesses could be things that we know we're not good at, things that feel overwhelming to us, the weights, the cares of this life that we know we need to endure through, or we need to interact with. And so, Paul, he had his thorn in the flesh, which he asked the Lord to remove three times. But then it was said to him in 2 Corinthians 12:9. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’”

So, I want you to go through and pray about some of your weaknesses. What are some of the things that are coming up in your life that feel overwhelming? And remember, prayerlessness is evidence of self-reliance. What are some of the things that you might think you're able to do that you actually need to admit you can't do and you're weak. Notice he gives some examples. He says in verse 10, weaknesses, insults, hardships. So, insults. Is there an interaction with another person that makes you feel weak, that you know you need God to give you the strength for hardships? Is there something coming up or something going on that's especially difficult for you? Is anyone persecuting you for your faith? Is there some kind of calamity or disaster that has happened in your life or extended family? These are the kinds of things that you might want to bring to the Lord, so you can experience his power and his grace can be sufficient for you.

So, we'll put ten minutes on the clock. Let's pray about our weaknesses. Okay, let's go back to verse 36 in Mark 14, and now let's look through the prayer of Jesus as the positive example, the inspiration, his profound prayer. You're halfway through your hour in the garden. So, when we look at verse 36, and he said, "Abba, Father.” Okay, I want you to talk to God as your Father. And what are the things you would want to thank God for? And here's specifically the question for the next ten minutes: What would hallow the name of your Father? Hallow means to set apart, to make holy, to lift high. How is God going to get the glory in your life, in our church in North Orange County? So, Abba, Father, and if you want to, you can go to Matthew, chapter 7, where it describes praying to God like he's our Father. In verses 9,10, and 11, Jesus says, "Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

So, for ten minutes, pray to God about how he is a Father, like how you would want to be a father or a mother to your kids, and what would bring him glory? Ask him to act for his name's sake. Ten more minutes. This is on the front of your handout. If you're looking at verse 36 of Mark 14, when Jesus prayed after he said, "Abba, Father,” he said, "All things are possible for you.” And so, we want to pray now with faith. What has God promised that you want to ask him to do? We can have faith that God will do what he says. We can trust him. So, what are specific promises that you can think of in the Scripture? And now you're going to come to your Father and you're going to say, Father, you said this. And as one of his kids, you're going to ask him to do it. Remember, this is how Jesus taught them to pray in Mark 11:22-24. So, you may want to look at those verses. That might get you thinking about how to pray with faith. What is something you're going to ask God to do, based on the fact that he's already said he's going to do it, and it might seem hard to believe he's going to do it, but you're going to pray it with faith. So, that's what we want to do for the next ten minutes. Anything, all things are possible for you. Let's pray with faith. ten minutes.

Okay, we’ve got one more ten-minute section to go to do our hour, and we want to end with what Jesus ended with in verse 36, the epic, “Yet not” what? “I will, but” what? “you will.” Jesus, burdened by the weight of all of our sins, by his impending death, by drinking the cup of God's judgment, and yet he's ready to say, not what I want, but what you want. So, what is God's will? What is something that you know God wants you to do, but you know you need to abide in Christ, so he can do it through you? What are some of the commands that you need to obey? Some of the next steps of obedience that you need to take, and you want to say, God, let your will be done in my life here on earth as it is in heaven. But I need you to do this through me to help me obey in this way.

So, let's pray for our Father's will to be done, and that we will be doers of his will. Ten more minutes to go. Let's pray.

Father, we want to come to you tonight, and we want to say one, O Father in heaven, when we think about your Son Jesus, on his face, on the ground, there in the garden, with all the olive trees around him, being pressed under the thought of drinking the cup of wrath for our sins. We know that this hour of prayer that we have just had was not nearly as intense as what it was for Jesus on that night, when he did this for three different hours. Thank you for what Jesus did for us, that he bore the weight of our sins, and thank you for the example of Jesus and the inspiration that we would pray. God, let us be people who watch. Let us stay awake and be on the lookout. And let us pray to you that we may not enter temptation, that we may come before you regarding all of our weaknesses, that we will not rely on ourselves or try to live this week or any other week based on our own strength. Let us always think that it is your grace that is sufficient, and it is your power that is perfected in our weakness. And so, let us have a genuine reliance on prayer. And I pray for everybody here that this won’t be the only time they pray for an hour. That this would be something that they do. They pray, and they go into the secret place, maybe even more than once a day, and they talk to you, because we know that we need you. Apart from your Son Jesus Christ, we cannot do one good thing. And so, let us remain and stay in Christ as we pray to him day by day. We ask you this in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen.

Hey, who liked praying for an hour tonight? Thank you, everybody, for being here. This was very encouraging. If you’ve got to go, have a great night. If you want, the Book Nook is open. And if you want to circle up and pray with somebody, feel free. But have a great night, everybody! Thanks so much for being here.