we find it very important to know what God's will is when we go to pray. And we are very careful not to pray beyond what God's will is. So oftentimes we simply say, Lord, some basic bland request, something that we're, we don't have our passion into. Jesus gives us incredible prayer that I find incredibly powerful. Let me read, it's Mark chapter 14, begin with verse 32. I mean, Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane. Mark 14, beginning with verse 32. I'm just going to read to verse 36. You know the passage. 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 further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if 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 you will. Not what I will, but you will. Three sections in this passage. One we have through this prayer. One we have Jesus affirming, his relationship to God. Second, Jesus makes a creedal statement. He makes a confession of faith. He affirms who God is. And then finally, he submits, bows his knee to God's goodness. So first we have Jesus affirming his relationship. Secondly, reminding himself of who God is and telling God that. And then finally, submitting to God, to God's goodness. In the beginning of Mark, as you looked, Mark starts off talking about Jesus being Jesus Christ, the Son of God. A major part of Mark is Jesus being God's son. It's answering the question, who is Jesus? Here, Jesus says he's the father's son, but he uses a wonderful term, Abba. Best way I've heard it described is maybe dad or papa. It's a familiar term. It's a family term, it's a term used even as adults referring to their dad. Jesus affirms that he is God's son. Jesus affirms that his son, that his father loves his son, that he is very close to his father, that he's loved by his father. That's all that's being said when he says Abba. He's being loved by the father. Most of our prayers really falter at believing God sees us as his son. It's a major point in the, it's the major point in Jesus' temptations, if you are God's son. One of the first things we've got to do when we pray is simply saying, our God, God, you love me. God, you have good for me. God, you're in relationship with me. God, there is something very special in this moment. I'm simply saying to our God, you're mine. Jesus then goes on, after he affirms his relationship with God, He makes a creedal statement. He confesses who God is. All things are possible for you. What an incredible statement. Jesus is saying, you, my father, you, my Abba, you, my dad, all things are possible to you. So I'm gonna step up to the plate. I'm gonna say something, Father. that fits in that all things are possible. I'm gonna use that all things that possible, I'm gonna use your omnipotence and I'm gonna ask you for something that I know you can give me. I'm gonna give you something that's very important to me. I know you can do it. All things are possible. God, you can do anything that I ask you for. Remember what Jesus says, if we abide in him and his word abides in us, we can ask him anything and he would give it to us. And this is to his father's glory, that we bear much fruit, that we show ourselves to be his disciples. Jesus delights it when we ask him for large requests, outstanding requests, overwhelming requests. But here Jesus is saying that to his father. He's saying all things are possible. What I have found out in my own prayers is when I need to constantly remind myself that I am God's son, not because of myself, but because of Jesus, that when the father said to Jesus, you're my son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased, he was speaking that about myself. Now, I'm gonna be careful, I don't want you to go run with that and start, well, let me explain. Jesus has said, you are my son with whom I am well pleased, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Again and again in scripture, we're told that we are loved by God, God so loved the world. 1 John says, and this is love, that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Again and again we are told in Romans 8, we are loved by God. We are told we are also God's sons. Romans 8 again. The problem that we struggle with in that affirmation that the Father gives to us is we can handle that we are God's sons. Jesus is God's son, and because Jesus is God's son, because the Holy Spirit has given me new birth, because he has given me a new father, I am God's son. Not only am I God's son, but I am loved. We got that part down pretty well. With whom I am well pleased. We want to do things that are pleasing for God. Colossians 1 tells us that we are supposed to be seeking to do things that please God. That's not what the father is saying to his son. He's not saying, you are doing things that are pleasing to me. He's saying, I am pleased with you. Isaiah 65, says the Father will rejoice in Jerusalem. Let me step back. Many of us are grandparents. How do we think of our grandchildren? We're pleased with them. Because they're always obedient? No. But because they're our grandchildren. We're pleased with the fact of who they are. God is pleased with who we are. We're his children. God calls me his son. God is pleased with me. God loves me. We need to continue to remind ourselves of that. But there's a next step. If that is who God is, God can do anything. Now let's take to the third point. where we see Jesus submitting. Jesus is saying to his father, three times in Mark, that I'm gonna die. I'm gonna be prayed, I'm gonna die. Now Jesus is saying, it seems like what he's saying is I don't wanna die. And I'm like, how in the world is that possible that you said three times now, You're gonna die. And now he's saying, whoa, no. Isn't he praying against God's will? No. He's praying for God's will, but he's taking, watch this. He's giving God the opportunity. He's asking for something for he wants. He's asking for the delight of his heart. What a wonderful statement I'm saying to you. I believe this prayer, and I believe scripture, gives us the encouragement to pray for huge things. Pray for things that very possibly border on not what God wants, but because we're asking for it, we're willing to say, This is what I'm offering to you. This is what I'm asking for. Just like our grandchildren do. Our grandchildren are all hesitant to ask us for whatever. He's saying this, Father. Father, I'm in horrible distress. I'm sorrowing in death. Please, Figure out another way for me to do this. He's not backing out of being savior to world, that's the reason he came. He's not backing out being a ransom for sinners. He simply said, is there another way for me not to go through this, not to drink this cup, not to undertake, not to be destroyed by your wrath? Are we willing to say that to God? This is what I'm facing. Are you willing to give me something even greater than this? But then Jesus then affirms. He says, not my will, but yours. About six months ago, well, about six, seven years ago, one of the men in my congregation discovered he had bladder cancer. And over a period of time and tests and so forth, it finally got to the point they needed to remove his bladder with a whole lot of fuss that's going to be involved with that, including a new bladder. And it was all these complications they were talking about, how long it was going to take and all these things. It was going to be a horrible, horrible time. And it was amazing, because I'm like, God, You love him. You can do all things. Could you happen to give us, so that he goes through this very quickly and relatively easily, that he doesn't stay in the hospital real long, that he's able to do the therapy quickly. But Lord, I don't know what you want. You do it. And he did, it was a wonderful opportunity of showing God's praise of how quickly, it was, the doctor commented on how quickly he responded. There's several other people who have prayed that way. Very frankly, I feel like I'm really pushing it, I'm pushing the envelope pretty hard. James tells us that we are to count it joy when we undergo various trials of various kinds, when we fall into them. Because the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must have its full effect so we're not lacking anything. God delights in seeing us change. His goal by giving us his spirit is that we grow, that we become more like him. He does that by his spirit applying his word. He does that by his spirit using hindrances, difficulties, suffering, pain, hurt, so that we grow. And so while I'm saying, Lord, please don't let, please make this a short recovery. Lord, please let this happen. I'm very much aware that I may be taking the very good that God has for him from them. But what this does, this prayer does for me, is God is saying, Ask me something. Ask me for something great. I want to see my name made famous. I want to see my name glorified. I delight in answering prayer. I delight in answering prayer in a way that points glory, that glorifies and makes God's name powerful and famous. Ask me for things that are huge. Even be willing to depress it and see if it's, you're not sure where you're at. Ask. But this is the part that I like so much in this prayer. That's not because of Jesus now. Well, it's because of Jesus, but not with Jesus' brain. When Jesus is saying, not my will, but yours, Jesus is saying the same thing at the Father's right hand as Jesus ever lives to intercede for us. Jesus is taking our big prayers, our Father You can do all things, let this pass from me, prayers. And he's translating them into exactly what God wants. Let me use an example Dr. Gerstner gave 40 years ago. He talked, it was a story that was used by an ancient pastor. It's like with this little boy who's out in his garden. His dad was coming home from a trip, and the little boy was going out to pick flowers to make a bouquet for his father. And he's picking a little bit of this and a little bit of that, then he gives it to his mother. Well, we all know what little boys pick for flowers. The mother then takes the flowers, adds a few, removes a few of the weeds or whatever, and gives a beautiful bouquet to the Father. You see, that's what Jesus does for us. You and I struggle hard with coming up with the right words, of asking the right thing. And that's good, but it's also good to step back and say, Lord, I don't know. But let me step a little bit beyond what I'm comfortable with. You can do all things, Abba. Would you allow this cup to pass from me? Would you allow this particular event to occur? Because what is the beautiful statement is Jesus then takes that prayer, adds a few, pulls a few, and presents a beautiful bouquet to our Abba Father. What I'm saying to you is first off, we need to constantly remind ourselves that God loves us, that we are God's children, that he's pleased with us. He genuinely smiles when he thinks about us. He's always thinking about us. His thoughts about us are greater than the sands on the seashore. But not only does He always think about us, He's asking us, He's commanding us to ask big requests. We can trust Jesus to take those huge, maybe making uncomfortable requests and make them exactly what God wants it to be. Let's think about that now. God wants his name to be made famous through us. God wants his character to be seen through us. And God is pleased to do that in exceptional ways. Not with timidity, not with. But to simply saying, God, Father, you can do all things. What that is particularly helpful for is when we struggle with the first part of that prayer. When we struggle with believing that God has made us his children. Because we need to remind ourselves, once again, God loves us, God made us his children, he's pleased with us. Pull up an attribute that fits to what you're praying for, Jesus, you can do all things. Lord, help me to see this. Help me to see how wonderful you consider me. Not in some kind of ego way, but just simply help me to see how much you love me. So, really encourage you as you're praying for people recovery, people with cancer, people going through horrible things when you hear the the troubling results of the fall and different people, that you were able to say, Lord, I don't know if this is even possible, but you can do all things. Would you be pleased to do this? Let's pray. Abba, Father, you can do all things. Lord, we pray that you would be the God who'd be pleased to take us, lift up our eyes to the harvest, believe that you would bring many to you, and pray that. Lord, we pray for our kids, we pray for the neighbors that we love, we pray for our friends. Lord, you know the things that are troubling us, concerning us that are painful to us. Lord, help us to trust you. Help us to believe that you are going to do something great, much greater than we imagine, and help us to pray for that. In Jesus' name, amen.