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Well, good morning. Welcome to Prairie Lakes Church. I'm glad to be here. How about you? We, uh, we're so grateful we can do this across Iowa right now. Um, we are, we are together at seven campuses, not only in the Valley, but we're, we're in Osage and we're in New Hampton, and we're in Decora, and we're in independence, and we're in Grinnell, and we're in Fort Dodge.

And never forget this all over Iowa. Never forget this. We're a no matter church. And here's what that means. No matter who you are, where you've been or what you've done, or even what's been done to you, God does love you. There are some of you, even today, right now, in this moment who are going, there's no way God could love me.

There's just no way I've done. The trail behind me is just too much. Or, or the, the trail on top of me, the stuff on top me is just too heavy. And I just need you to know this today, that wherever you're at, no matter what, God does love you.

God does love you. And I'm gonna ask you just to receive today what God has for you. Just receive, okay? Don't, don't excuse, don't get defensive. Just receive what he has for you today. Alright, so we started this Linton journey, okay?

This is week four of Lent. So we're, we're over the halfway mark, the Good Friday and, and Resurrection Sunday. Okay? So we're over halfway there. And, and the point of LT is this, or one of the points of Lent is this, is is that, that we get, we go on this kind of deliberate journey where we're kind of saying, um, uh, this is, this is the, the, the most important season of the calendar for us, and we're walking towards this, right?

So Lin invites us to shift our focus from being the savior, right? Like, I've gotta fix everything, or I've gotta fix everyone. Or I've got right to needing one, to being reminded that we need a savior. And Linton invites us to lay down our lives like our savior laid down, uh, his life for us.

So, so we've been walking through this journey, and, and here's what we've done. We've done this in this 40 day season. We've been doing this. We've been going to the Book of John, and we're sitting in the last week of the life of Jesus. And we've just been sitting in the gospel of John, we've been grabbing these stories or these scenes from the last week of his life leading up to the up, up to the cross.

And we're, and we're, we're walking through 'em together. So we're gonna do that again this weekend. All right? So here's where we're gonna sit this weekend. We're gonna sit in the Garden of Gethsemane, okay? The garden of, of Gethsemane. And, and, and some of us are familiar with.

But let me, let me, let me context you first, okay? Then I'll show you the, the big picture. The context is this. So the last supper is just happened, okay? So this is in that spot where Jesus calls his disciples, they meet in the upper room.

He, he gives him the bread and the cup. He introduced this thing called the Lord's Supper that we're supposed to do to remember him till the day that he died, till the day that he returned someday. And, right? So all that just happened. And then they, and then they go to the garden of Gethsemane.

Now, John has been fantastic in giving us the story, but we've got a little bit of a problem this week. Okay? A little bit of a problem. Look at this. Look at this. So Matthew, right? So Matthew hits it, and Matthew, look at that. I mean, that's a lot of words. Okay? Mark.

Mark, again, very similar. Now remember, each gospel writer hits a different audience, right? They're kind of aiming at somebody different. Luke shortens it up a little bit, but, you know, Luke's a doc and he's, he's going after a certain audience.

And then here comes John. What the, literally, that's it, John, right? Who in chapter 17 gave us the, the most extensive extended prayer of Jesus. And then we get to the garden against somebody, this pivotal moment.

And John like, I dunno, he runs outta parchment. I don't know what happened. Okay? So, so here's what's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna read through the story, okay? I'm gonna read through the story from the book of Matthew. It's gonna be on the screen, but I invite you right now to open up your Bible.

It's in Matthew. It's in Mark, it's in Luke, but it ain't in John. Okay? And I invite you to just, just get your, get your eyes on, on your phone or in your Bible, get your eyes on it. And, and a lot of, a lot will be on the screen today, but there's something about this.

Here's what, here's what we're gonna do, and we're gonna notice some things, okay? For a lot of us, this garden of Gethsemane is a fairly familiar story, but we're gonna notice some things this weekend together. Alright? So let me, let me read it and let's, um, let's, let's, let's go through it together.

Four screens, okay, here we go. So then, so then means right after the Lord's supper, right? He just, just left the upper room. Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, okay? Gethsemane. 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, and began to be sorrowful and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.

And then he returned to his disciples, and, and he found them sleeping. Couldn't you even keep watching me? For one hour? He asked Peter, watch and pray. So you not follow temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it's not possible for this cup to be taken away, unless I drink it, may your will be done. And when he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time saying the same thing.

Next one. There's one more. There it is. Thank you. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come and the son of man is delivered to the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer.

Let's pray right now. Okay? Let's pray. God, would you take your word? And would you speak to each of us where we're at? Would you speak to our hearts and to our minds? Would you bring comfort where we need comfort? Would you bring conviction where we need conviction?

And we just pray God that you'd work and you'd speak to each of us? The name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. So here's what we're gonna do, gang. We're gonna notice some things. I've got three of 'em, kind of a fourth one, but we'll see how far we get.

Okay? So let's notice some things about this story. Here's number one. Here's the first thing I want you to notice. Okay? These are things that grabbed me. Okay? Notice this, that Jesus never lost sight of the big picture.

Okay? So just, just notice this about the story. Jesus never lost sight of the big picture. I mean this, this passage, right? This of all the, all the, the stories in the gospels that we have about Jesus and all that's written about him in the rest of the New Testament, all that's foretold about him in the Old Testament, that's gonna come someday.

This story that we're sitting in today is the most visceral raw picture that we have of Jesus, right? And it's crazy. What's, what's happening to him. I mean, think of, think of all the stuff that was, was, was going on and, and the, the last supper. And Jesus knows he's, he's, he's got both of these, these, these pictures in his hand that physically he's gonna suffer tremendously like, like none other and spiritually like no one else could take.

He's gonna take it, okay? He's gonna take it. And what Jesus knows is this, that in this garden, this is the moment, okay? This is the moment. This is the tipping point on the scale of humanity, the plan that went into place in another garden.

The Garden of Eden, is gonna now be tipped in the garden of Gethsemane in Jesus. He, he, he knows this, this was the crucible moment that salvation would be sealed. The last sacrifice of the thousands and hundreds of thousands of sacrifices that were put forth to appease sin.

He was gonna be the last one to appease the justice and the anger of God against torrential pain. That sin has caused all of humanity, all of us, the pressure that Jesus was under. And here's Jesus right in the middle of it. He's fully aware and he's fully engaged in, in, in the weight that is on him.

Luke tells us this, Luke adds to the story, right? And Luke tells this, look at this. Luke says this in the middle of it. Now, mark, Matthew, and Mark, and of course John doesn't talk about this. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly.

And his sweat was like blood drops of blood falling to the ground, right? So, so this pressure on Jesus, and he knows full well what's going on, this, this flurry of activity and mess and craziness around him. He knows the full price. It's not slipping him.

He's aware of what's, what's happening. And the price is his life. The atoning sacrifice, the only one and the physical and spiritual cost. None of us can imagine. Uh, the authors tell us this is as, as he prayed.

And, and it said this, that he, he prayed this same prayer three times. Okay? Look what he prayed three times. He prayed this, going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him.

Abba father, which just means it's like the endearing term, like a, like a soft term, like a daddy instead of like, like a formal father. But daddy, father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will. But, but what you will, I want you just to, just to get this picture for a minute now, now they're in the garden of Gethsemane, which is on the Mount of Olives.

Why was it called the Mount of Olives? 'cause there's an olive garden, olive trees there across this, this top of this, this, this, this mount. And, and I don't, we don't know if this is true or not, but there are, there are some that say there are some olive trees that are there to this day on the metal.

That's a real place today that are, that were there, that when Jesus was actually in this garden. Okay? So, so there, there, they're in this garden. And, and I want you to get this picture, okay? In the middle of the Mount of Olives, in the middle of the garden of Gethsemane, there's this thing called an olive press.

In fact, Gethsemane means olive press. So, so just take a look at that and, and, and you can kind of get a feel for it right now. They would, they would, they would dump the olives in there and then they would roll that giant stone around them, and it would pulverize and squeeze with it, with, with the weight of the pressure of that millstone.

And it would squeeze every drop of oil out of those, those olives, this place called Gethsemane, where they squeezed every drop out of the, always by crushing them. This place where Jesus would be squeezed and crushed for our iniquities, for every drop of his costly blood.

See, Jesus was in the middle of this mess. And not once did he lose sight of what he was doing and why he was doing it. Not once did he, he knew in the midst of the pressure, he knew that in the, in the dynamics of the disciples, right, their sleeping and, and he knew that what was gonna come, the crown of thorns and the punishment they've taken and the hanging on the cross, and actually the death, he knew all of us was gonna come.

He knew that He, as he think of this as he pressed forward to the passion, as he pressed forward to the cross, the father pressed backwards from him. See, this was the spot none of us could imagine. And yet here's Jesus, who, who Paul tells us in two Corinthians that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteous God.

You actually became sin for us in the middle of this pressure on him. Later, the author of the Hebrews says this in Hebrews 12, he describes this moment in Hebrews chapter 12, and he says this, he says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Now look at that next sentence for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning at shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, Jesus knew what was coming. Jesus came for this very purpose, and yet he never lost sight of the bigger picture.

Even if it hurt, he never lost sight, even if it hurt. Now, now, now some of us, this is, this is it for us, right? This is, this is the thing that, that we need to learn from Jesus. We need to notice this and we need to move towards this.

And Jesus, right? Life becomes a swirl. It just does. And life can be messy. And it seems like every other day there's, there's one more rock kind of hitting us in the head, and some of you have been, been pounded for so long that you actually begin to wonder is it's got really out there.

There's, there's pressure and there's busyness and, and, and, and things begin to mount. And, and, and debt builds up not just on the, the money side, but in the marriage side and the parenting side and the work life balance and the, the pressure to be swallowed up in the everyday mess.

Some of us never escape. Some of us have been sitting in the swirl of the tyranny of the urgent and the messiness of the moment and the hard, hard stuff of life that we've lost complete sight, that God is still there and he's got a plan if it's bigger than me, even if it hurts, even if it does.

So maybe, okay, maybe for lt we can learn to be a little more like Jesus. And remember that God is up to something bigger and better, even if it hurts. I, I I, um, this week I was, I, I do this little devotional called Lectio 365, and, and it's based on this acronym pray, PRAY.

So P is pause, okay? So it's pause. And then R is rejoice in the psalm and reflect on a scripture. And a is ask. And a Y is yield. Yield. And when they say it, every time they say this, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read it every time that says this, it says, yielding to his will in my life.

Come what may, which is just a tough prayer, but just maybe this lent we can limber even if it hurt, God's got something going and it's bigger and better than we can ever ask or imagine. Okay? So that's the first thing I noticed.

Here's the second notice. Okay? Here's the second notice. Notice this, that Jesus understood and admitted his struggle. Okay? This is crazy, but, but, but, but in the middle of this, this is the, this is the raw, visceral story.

He understood and admitted his struggle in. In fact, Matthew and Mark say it very similar, just a little twist of difference. But, but look, look how vulnerable. Look how vulnerable and authentic and, and self-aware Jesus is in this crazy moment.

He took Peter and the two sons of Zee, that's James and John along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, this is Jesus now. Right? If there's, if there's any leader who ought to not show weakness, if there's any leader who says, don't let him see you sweat, this is probably the moment for that one, just a few hours, he's gonna be on the cross in just another two days, he's gonna be in the grave and they're gonna wonder.

So if there's ever a moment that you ought to suck it up and not show 'em that you're hurting, this is it. But here's Jesus and what's Jesus do? My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Mark's very similar. Look, look how Mark says it.

He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Here's this Jesus, right? He's fully aware of the battle that's raging inside of him, the clash of the desires to be obedient to the will of God, or take the route that isn't so difficult.

He, he's, he's strikingly honest and vulnerable, right? So here he is this moment, he, and look what he does. He didn't run or pretend or ignore or lie to himself or his brothers. He's fully self-aware of what's going on inside of him. And he says it out loud.

The king of the universe says out loud, I am overwhelmed. I am not sure that I can bear this. I'm not sure I can do it. Listen, we see it all the time. You see it all the time. And some of you have experienced this.

One of the greatest days of freedom and healing is when you finally take the guard down and take off the pretend mask and finally admit that there's a struggle going on within you, that you could no longer bear alone, that you are self aware enough to know that it's raging within you.

Maybe you today, or I know in your little Iowa, the circle around you of people. Maybe you need to say it out loud today like Jesus did 2000 years ago. Say it out loud, whether it's alcohol or porn or crushing sin or past hurts or family of origin stuff or broken relationships.

Listen, there is no freedom until you say it out loud. That's what Jesus did. Some of you, some of us today are needlessly suffering and causing suffering because what's inside of us is ready to burst, say it out loud and yield to the king of the universe.

Maybe for Lent we can learn to be a little more like Jesus and grow in our self-awareness to what's actually going on inside of us so he can fix it. Jesus said it out loud, and when you say it out loud, you take its fangs from your heart.

Let's notice one more thing, okay, one more, one more. I want you, I want I I notice this Jesus knew what our ultimate battle would be. What do I mean by that? Okay. Jesus knew what ultimate battle would be. Um, Jesus did not need his disciples to fix the problem that was in front of him.

He's the only one who could fix it. Jesus didn't need them to relieve his pain. They weren't gonna relieve his pain. And yet he asked, right? Yet, he asked multiple times, stay here and keep watch.

Right? Stay here and keep watch. What, what, what, what are we supposed to notice? I I, I think the low, the low hanging fruit on this one is he, he, this is the fully human, yet fully God, right? He's the fully human side of Jesus.

We all need somebody to sit with us, to comfort us in our suffering. We all do okay? We, I just, we just call that one what it is. We all need that. So there was a probably a side of this that Jesus was in, in this spot, and, and he needed his, his guys, he needed his, his, his family.

But I think there's more to it than that. They fell asleep on him three times, for heaven's sakes. Here's what it says, then He, then he returned to his disciples. This is what Mark Comark phrases it, okay? And he found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep?

Couldn't you keep watch for one hour? Right? How do you read this? Is he like really mad at him? Like, oh, I'm so annoyed with you, idiots. Oh, there's more. And here's where the more is. Okay, watch and pray this so you not fall into temptation. Watch me and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

The spirit's willing, right? I wanna do things, but my flesh is weak. What was the more here? What, what's going on? Jesus wanted them to see the battle. And what was the battle? What was it? Three times It said, three times he prayed the same thing.

What was the battle? Not yet, not what I will, but what you will. That was the battle. And what Jesus wanted was his disciples to know this, that in their life, just like in this very moment, the king of the universe was battling this battle, the same battle that you are gonna face in the next day, in two days, in three days, and three weeks, in three months, in three years, three, three years.

And 2000 years later, the battle that Jesus fought was, do I wanna do what I wanna do? Or am I gonna follow God in obedience, even if it feels like it's gonna hurt? That's the battle that rage said Jesus wanted his guys to see the battle and not get beat in this one.

You see, just hours earlier, right? Just hours earlier in the upper room, what was happening? Jesus comes in and he is washing their feet. And Peter said, no, you're not gonna wash my feet. And Jesus says, if you don't let me serve you in this way, then you'll have no part of me.

And he says, well, then gimme a bath. Right? At same time, right? Same things are happening. One of you is gonna betray me and, and, and you are gonna deny me three times, right? All that was going on, right? All of it was, and in a few moments, the, the, the Judas was gonna come with the, with the, with the, with the authorities.

And, and, and one of 'em was gonna cut the ear off of a guy named Malus. And, and they would scatter in disgrace and they would deny him, and they would hide for multiple days their will to be free of pain and to take the easiest path would win my friends.

That battle, that raged inside of Jesus on that night in the garden of Godem is the same battle that you and me today in 2025, in Iowa and around the world, we fight the same one. Think of the faith line, right? Think of, think of what it means to step across the faith line and become a follower of Jesus.

When you finally decide that you are sick of yourself, you are aware of what's inside of me, and it ain't right, and you make that decision to let go and step over the faith line and trust Christ and say, I confess that I cannot do this, Jesus. And I believe that you did and you died and you rose again, and you're the only one that couldn't, you become a faller of Jesus.

That's saying, I surrender and yield my will to your will for my life. The battle that rage within Jesus is the ultimate battle that has to be won all the time. Maybe for Lent, maybe for Lent.

We can learn to be a little more like Jesus and let His will win more of the time. I almost forgot, remember John? Remember that, that John, like, there's nothing there, right?

One stinking verse. What's wrong with you, John? He tells us nothing, right? He tells us nothing. What's the verse? What's, what's John 18 one say? It says, when he had finished, this is all John said, right? This is it. All that, all the stuff we just went through. All that's not even in John.

When he finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. On the other side, there was the garden. And he and his disciples went into it. And if you look at the verse verse, and here came Judas, and that's it.

Okay? Right. Nothing. This is a big nothing burger. Well, maybe not. There are no nothing burgers. It's there for a reason. So what's the region? The reason John is the only one who mentions this place called the Kron Valley, okay?

Kron Valley. Kron Valley was just outside the, the, the, the, the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Okay? So remember, they, they would build things on the high points so they could expel their enemies. And this is the picture of the literal, this is the Kidron Valley today.

It is there today. So we're up on the high point, right? And you go see, see how steep the valley is going down and see how steep the other side, the other side, right over there. Am I helping at all? Right over there somewhere. That's okay. That's the Mount of Olives, right?

This, this area in between here is the Kidron Valley. It's mentioned multiplies. It's about 10 times. It's mentioned in, in the Bible, in the Old Testament. And, and, and, and there's something that uniquely happened in the Kidron Valley. Remember, we were going through Amos and we saw this pattern, right?

The pattern of Amos was, look at the Old Testament pattern of Jerusalem. They would say, oh God, we're all in. And then they'd either get fat, dumb and happy, or something bad would happen, and they'd scatter. And God would have to come in and say, all right, get it together again.

And they'd fight him and he'd smack him, and then they would come back, right? So on the valleys, here's what they'd always do. They would always do this. They'd always worship idols. They'd always make idol, literally make idols to things and worship them.

And then God would come in with a prophet and say, quit doing this. And then one reformer, a prophet would come like Amos. And what they would do is they'd go to the temples and they'd go to all these places, and they would take these idols that they'd made these giant idols, and they would throw them into the Kidron Valley and they would smash the idols and they would burn them to ashes.

And when people would betray and be part of that, they would, they would, they would throw their bodies into the Kidron Valley. And in the temple up here, in the temple at the Passover, they would sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lambs.

Some predict about 250,000 lambs or animals would be slaughtered. One of the channels to release the blood and water and mess from the sacrifices would flow into, do you know where the Kidron valley, so what's John say?

This Jesus, he crossed over and stepped on the mess and sin and destruction and death and ashes. He stepped over all of it so that we wouldn't have to be subject to it forever. You see, my friends, there's a lot to notice in this little story, and I want you to notice this, that the Jesus that we worship didn't show up at Christmas.

He was the God of the Old Testament. He was there with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus always was, always has been. He saw every idol being smashed. He saw every pain and sin and suffering that's represented by the valley.

He saw it all, and he chose. He chose Let Your will be done, even if it hurts. Let's pray together right now. Okay? Let's pray. Take a breath. God, thank you for showing us the only way to salvation through Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Jesus, that you went all the way and you did all of it. Here's our simple prayer. Could we be a little more like Jesus, this Lent and beyond? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.