How Can God Use Our Disappointment for Good? | Mark 14:26–42 | Dustin Aagaard

Good morning, Cross Point. It is good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Would you stand with us? My name is Shirley and I'm so thankful that I get to worship with you this morning. If you're watching us online, if you are watching from God Behind Bars, it is time to praise the Lord. We're gonna lift up our hands, we're gonna lift up our voices. He is worthy of praise this morning. Do you believe that? Come on, we're gonna warm up a little bit. If you need to stretch, all right, let's do this together. You're worthy of our praise, Lord. Ready to sing? Yeah! Yeah! We sing, hallelujah. Clap your hands, all you people. Sing! Are you ready to shout for joy? Shout for joy, let us celebrate. Yeah! Enter in with thanksgiving. Yeah! Oh! By His blood He has made a way. Come on, let's sing praise to the Lord. Sing praise! Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. I know it's early in the morning, but we're gonna praise already. Yeah! He's the High King of Heaven.

Oh! Yeah! And our hearts are His dwelling place. Oh, we've been brought into freedom. We've been brought into freedom. By His blood. By His blood. For our Savior has shaped the grave. And we sing praise. Sing praise! Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. Sing praise! Sing praise to the Lord! For He is worthy of praise. All right. Come on. All right. We're gonna enter with thanksgiving. With hearts full of gratitude. I love how the Lord prescribed in His Word We're gonna enter with clapping and with dancing and with shouting. Now I really want to know, what does cross point shout of praise sound like? Can we hear cross point shout of praise this morning? All right. On the count of three, we're all gonna shout at the top of our lungs. Ready?

One, two, three, come on! There you go. Let's try it again. One, two, one, two, three, come on! Hey! All right, so bring your shout of praise this morning. What I love is that we bring a sacrifice of praise. It's not always comfortable. It might have to cost us something. It's our alabaster box this morning. But we're gonna praise Him with all we got. Are you ready? Come on. Let's go. Let's try it. We clap our way. We dance our way. We shout our... Let's hear a shout! We clap our way. We dance our way. We shout our way. We come in... Hey! We clap our way. We dance our way. We shout our way. Hey! We clap our way. We dance our way.

We shout our way. We come in... Oh! We clap our way. We dance our way. We shout our way. And we come in grateful. We clap our way. And we dance our way. We shout our way. Come on! We come in... We sing praise. Sing praise. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. Praise. Praise. For he is worthy. Oh. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. Praise. Praise. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. Alright, we want to warm up now. Now you're going to invite the person next to you. Are you ready to praise with me? Sing.

We dance the way. We shout our way. We call it. We clap our way. We shout our way. Sing praise. Sing praise. You say, praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. We sing praise. Sing praise. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. Sing praise. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. Sing praise. Sing praise. Sing praise to the Lord. For he is worthy. For he is worthy. For he is holy, Lord. You are worthy, Jesus. Come on, we'll sing his name. Sing, your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name, Jesus, it stands above them all.

Oh, sing it out, yeah. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name, oh, it stands above them all. All thrones and dominions. All powers and positions. Your name, it stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy. All creation cries. Come on. Sing, holy. You are lifted high. You are holy. You'll hold me forever, Jesus. And if you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, then sing this song forever to end. And if you walk in freedom, and if you bear his name, then sing this song forever to the end. We'll sing this song forever and amen. And the angels cry, holy. All creation cries. You are holy. You are lifted high. You are holy. You'll hold me forever. And may your people sing, holy to the King of kings. Holy, you will always be holy, holy forever. Come on, sing the name. Come on, let me hear the name. Your name is the highest.

Your name is the greatest. It's your name. It stands above them all. No sweeter name, I know. It's all powers and position. It's your name. It stands above them all. Yeah. It's your name. It's the highest. It's your name, Jesus. It's your name. It stands above them all. All foes and dominions. All powers and positions. It's your name. It stands above them all. And the angels cry, you are holy. All creation cries, holy. You are lifted high. You are holy. Holy forever. Hear your people say. You are holy, Lord. To the King of kings. Holy. You will always be holy. Holy forever. You will always be holy. Holy forever, Jesus. You will always be holy. Holy forever. And the angels cry, come on with me. Sing holy. All creation cries, holy. You are lifted high. Holy. Holy forever, Jesus. Hear your people sing. Holy. He's the King of kings. That's all we say. Holy. That's all we say. You will always be holy. Holy forever. You will always be holy. Holy forever. Sing together. Sing church. You are holy, Jesus. You are the infinite God of the ages. And you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. You healed my broken ways. Show me your glory. It's not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Who else? ♪ Who else, there is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, yes, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, you are so worthy Lord, worthy of honor and praise ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was slain for us ♪ ♪ You laid yourself down and now you're exalted, let's sing it, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, holy, holy, Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one ♪

♪ Who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was and is and is to come, seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was and is and is to come, seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was and is anointed, who else is worthy, who else is worthy, hey ♪ a worthy, hey, who else is worthy, hey, there is no one, holy Jesus, who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one, Winston, come one more, there is no you sit on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one, who shares the blood, who to us surrenders, Jesus Christ, you sing holy, holy, holy you are holy, Jesus, Jesus, who else is, who else is, who else is there to love, who else is there to sacrifice, you lay it all down, now you lift it up, you are holy, you are holy, hey well it is an honor today to get to introduce you to one of my closest friends and gifted leader on our staff on our team his name is pastor Dustin Agard and pastor Dustin and I well we first met when I was when we were in high school and we were at a Christian concert festival in in Atlanta we were we were just a couple of knuckleheads that actually we went swimming in the pool beneath the mine bender at Six Flags in in Atlanta so and since then you know we've been we've been close friends and and we've worked at churches together years ago we worked together we're teammates at 12 stone Church in Atlanta and experienced a move of God together there and pastor Dustin he has spent decades serving local church from next-gen pastor to executive pastor and lead pastor and and since leaving 12 stone what we've dreamed and prayed of serving together In fact, I've been praying about it for the past eight years and finally this past fall God opened the door for Pastor Dustin to come on the team as executive pastor here at Crosspoint. He's one of the best leaders that I know. Pastor Dustin, he's married to TJ, his wife. They first met in middle school and they're blessed with adult children, Riley and Callie Joy. Darby is actually a junior in high school and they live in Dixon, Tennessee. One of the things that makes Pastor Dustin so special is just his heart for Jesus, his heart for the church, for people, and for revival. As executive pastor, he's all about helping prepare people for using their gifts and our ministries for a move of God and helping that happen one person at a time and helping us stay aligned and focused and on mission together. I'm excited that he gets to lead us as we continue on in this series in the Gospel of Mark.

So I want to encourage you, open up your Bible, open up your heart, get something to take notes with. You're going to need that. And give a Crosspoint welcome to Pastor Dustin Ackar. Good morning, it is so good to be with you. And when I see that video, I have a couple of thoughts. One, just high honor for my friend and pastor, Pastor Kevin. And the second one is, is I didn't know I would meet you for the first time and you get to see me shirtless, and so that was weird. And so, it is so good to be with you. My name is Dustin Ackar, honored to be here, and I have been praying for you, I've been praying for Crosspoint for a long time. And I just, I sit back and I don't know if you know what God is doing here is, it's not normal. I mean, last weekend, over 90 baptisms, the month of February, we have Awaken where we have all these stories, all these miracles, and people say, Dustin, why did you move from Orlando to Tennessee? Because I think there is a move of God in Middle Tennessee, and I just want a front row seat for it, amen? And so, I don't know if you know this, but these are good days, church. These are good days. God is using you. God is using your encouragement, your prayers, your giving, your serving. God is using you in a very, very supernatural, cool way. So grateful to be a part of it, and honored to be one of the pastors here. And as Pastor Kevin said, he introduced my family. Let me go ahead and introduce my family. This is my family. Right back here, we have the A guards, we have my beautiful wife, TJ, and then we have my daughter, who is married, and my son-in-law, Paul, and they have been, the past several

years, they have been missionaries in the Solomon Islands, completely over 9,000 miles away, and God's doing great things in them. And then I have my son, who's in college, Riley, and then my daughter, who's in high school, Darby, and we are just super, super grateful to be here and to be a part of it. And we moved in about November of last year. Now, I don't know what your Novembers look like, but most of my Novembers start to look like this, because Christmas is coming, and I've been known to buy a thing or two online. I've been known to buy something on Amazon, but when I just moved to a new place, and I don't even know where stores are, I don't know anything, my online retail went up. And not only that, my wife's birthday is just a couple days before Christmas, so I'm just, I'm just, I'm buying some presents online. And eventually, I started to begin to notice a discrepancy between the amount of gifts that I ordered online and the amount of gifts I was receiving. They were not the same. Uh-oh. And so, I started to try to figure it out, I was like, where are all these presents going? Like, I have a deadline, my wife's birthday, and then we have Christmas, I got kids, it's like, I need to figure this out. And then it hit me, Amazon, they post a picture, they'll email you a picture of the package, and so I went and looked at it, and then I went outside, because I just moved in, and I looked at my front porch, I looked at the picture, and I was like, these don't match. And for some reason, Amazon has been sending my gifts to somebody else. Now for us, that was bad, for them, they were loving life. It's just raining. And actually, I began to start sweating, I began to think, man, my kids are gonna be disappointed, my wife's gonna be disappointed, I'm disappointed, and come to find out this other family's disappointed, because they're getting all these gifts, and they don't know what to do with them. They got so discouraged, they ended up putting a sign up on their front porch to the Amazon drivers, this is what the sign said.

It said, this is not, and then it listed our address. And because we just met, I'm not giving you my address, okay? This is not, and then it said, attention, Amazon drivers, this is, and then it had their address. If you are delivering it to... to the A-guards, that's us, they live at, and then they listed my address, which is across town near Luther Lake. They have a ring doorbell, and they told us that they would have Amazon drivers look at the note, look at the package that said A-guard, look at the note, and then just leave the package there. And so I had to prepare my family to be disappointed for Christmas and for a birthday. And I had to tell them, I said, hey, listen, there are some gifts that are not, they're not coming in. And if that's the case, I just want you to know ahead of time that I'm sorry, but that more gifts are coming. And they were great, they were great sports, and they were totally good, they got great attitudes, but still, you could feel the disappointment. And today, we're gonna talk about disappointment. And it may not be as small as disappointment as not receiving a Christmas present or a gift, maybe it's something major, but I don't know if we talk about disappointment enough, but the idea of disappointment is prevalent in the church. So let me just tell you what disappointment is. Disappointment is the feeling when something

doesn't turn out the way you hoped. Let me say it again, disappointment is the feeling when something doesn't turn out the way you had hoped. Maybe you've been disappointed, maybe you're disappointed right now, maybe you worked really, really hard on a project at work and nobody noticed, feel disappointed. Maybe you had a really, really close friend and you were confiding in only to come to find out they were sharing stuff and talking about you, gossip about you behind your back. Or maybe you believe God was gonna open a door and then that door shut. I can see it on your face, many of you are disappointed right now, you're disappointed because you didn't think we'd be talking about disappointment at church today. You see, disappointment is in scripture and we're gonna unpack that today in Mark 14, but before we dive into that, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for being a God that is not surprised or discouraged by disappointment. Thank you for being a God that allows us to bring our disappointment to you. God, thank you for being a God that doesn't just talk about it, but you show us the way. In the garden, you showed us how to navigate this topic. And so we just invite you, Holy Spirit, would you come and guide us? Now we pray, in Jesus' holy and precious name we pray,

everybody said, amen, amen. If you have a Bible, you go ahead and open up to Mark chapter 14, Mark 14. We're gonna be in 26 through 42. If you don't have a Bible, it's gonna be on the screen. If you are, follow along. We're gonna go ahead and be in Mark 14, been taking the whole year, as you know, many of you know, through the book of Mark. Let's start in verse 26. It says this, when they had sung a hymn. Okay, let's pause. Who's they? They is Jesus and the disciples, sort of. So if you've been following along, you know that there are 12 disciples, but the they here is not 12 disciples. It's Jesus and 11 disciples. One of them's not around. And I don't know if you've ever babysat a bunch of kids. I don't know if you've ever gone on a field trip and you were in charge of a bunch of kids. You always know who that one squirrely kid is. And when that squirrely one's not there, you go, uh-oh. That's what's happening here. It's Jesus and 11, and there's one squirrely one. He's not there, and they sense something is up. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. It's really important.

They went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus didn't stumble into it. It was a plan. He went there on purpose and on mission. Let's keep going. You will all fall away, Jesus told them. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I've risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Peter declared, even if all fall away, I will not. Truly, I tell you, Jesus answered, today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times. But Peter insisted emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I'll never disown you. And all the others said the same. This is Peter over-committing and under-delivering. This is Peter making a New Year's resolution to say I'm gonna work out 400 days this year. This is Peter saying on January 1st, I'm not sinning at all this year. And I love what Jesus does. Listen to what Jesus does to Peter. He does the same thing with you and me. He responds with grace and patience. And so anytime you or I, we over-commit and under-deliver, Jesus responds with grace and patience. Let's keep going. It says, they went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.

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, he said to them, stay here and keep watch. Going a little further, he fell to the ground and prayed that if it is possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Once more, he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to say to him. Returning the third time, he said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Enough, the hour has come. Look, the Son of Man delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go, here comes my betrayer. Let's unpack Mark 14. Jesus asked the 11 of the disciples, hey, would you stay up and pray with me? Would you stay up and pray with me? And they fall asleep.

So he's disappointed. He goes from disappointed to them for not being awake to now he's filled with sorrow, not because of the disappointment, but because the burden he is bearing in the garden. Jesus is making the decision to carry the weight of your sin and shame and my sin and shame. And he feels that sorrow. Isaiah 53 says this, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet he considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, but by his wounds, we are healed. You see, it was a bloody cross and an empty tomb, but it was in the garden that Jesus made that decision. It was in the garden that he began to feel the weight of your sin and my sin. And here's the good news, that in the garden, he took that once and for all. You don't have to carry the sin and the shame anymore. That's why I think Jesus is up in heaven dumbfounded sometimes when we keep pile on weight of our sin on our shoulders, he's like, what are you doing? I've already accomplished that 2000 years ago. And so some of you came in here with more weight than you could bear, and you know it because it's weighing you down.

And our prayer today is that you would just lay that at the feet of a cross. It's already been done. It's already been accomplished. And this is what Jesus is feeling in the garden. This is the intensity of his prayer. This is the intensity of his request to the father, to one and done deal. So this is what I wanna do, I wanna walk through six, just six things that we learn from the garden. If you're a note taker, you can write some of these down. Okay, number one, six things we learned from the garden. First one is this, Jesus walked towards the darkest moment of his life, singing. Did you catch that verse, the very first verse, when they had sung him, they went to the Mount of Olives. He is approaching the hardest moment of his life, singing praise to the father. And some of you, if you're honest, you feel like somebody in your life has turned out the lights. And the question is, what do you do if it feels like somebody turned out the lights in your world? You learn to sing in the dark. I love what Pastor Kevin Queen says. He says, Satan doesn't know what to do with a valley worshiper. You see, I think there is a sweetness of worship in the valley that you cannot mimic on the mountaintop.

And some of you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You feel like the lights are turned out right now, and yet you showed up, you are singing in the dark, you're leaning in, you're like, I'm here, pastor, I don't feel God, I don't see God, I don't sense God, but I am singing in the dark. And when you do that, you are following the example of Jesus. And if that's you today, I just wanna say, proud of you. Keep singing in the dark, because it is beautiful, and it is contagious, and I know it. There was a season where my daughter, she was, one of my daughters was going. through some personal disappointment. And in her personal disappointment, she just began to change her Spotify playlist. She was finding these new worship songs and she was clinging to them. She was cranking them up. She was putting them on repeat and she wasn't just listening to them. She was sharing them to her friends and to me. And let me just tell you, as her dad, it was beautiful and contagious. When you sing in the dark, it is beautiful and contagious. Keep showing up, keep showing up. Amen, church? I'm just trying to see if my mic's on, you know what I'm saying? All right. Number two, second thing we learn in the garden,

that disappointment is not a sin, it's a signal. Disappointment is not a sin, it's a signal. If disappointment were a sin, Jesus would be guilty. Again, let's put ourselves in Jesus' shoes. I find it fascinating. If you look at the Gospels, Jesus rarely asked for anything. I mean, rarely asked for anything. And when he does ask for something, it's often for somebody else, but he rarely, rarely asked for anything for himself. And in this moment, he asked for something for himself, which is prayer. And 11 of the disciples fell asleep. And then one of them betrays him. See, he was facing disappointment, but it wasn't a sin, it was a signal. Tim Keller said this, suffering is unbearable if you aren't certain that God is for you and with you. Look at me, church, look at me. Some of you are suffering and you're struggling because you're not sure if God is with you or for you. If you don't hear anything else today, you need to hear this, that God is with you and he is for you. Listen, God is with you and he is for you. Third thing that we learn in the garden is this, what disappoints you doesn't have to define you. What disappoints you doesn't have to define you. I love basketball. I grew up in Orlando, so I'm a big Orlando Magic fan.

Anybody an Orlando Magic fan? Oh man, this is awesome. Everybody at every campus, everybody online, I wish you could see, this place is going nuts. I mean, everybody is standing. This place is going crazy. I didn't know there were so many Magic fans. This is amazing. So I love the Orlando Magic. I love basketball. And so I thought, you know what, if I love the magic and I love basketball, I bet that means I'm probably pretty good at it. And so I went and tried out in middle school. Sixth grade, I went and tried out and I found out two things. One, the team was really good and I was not. And so my sixth grade year, I got cut. Seventh grade year, I went back out and I got, I tried out and you know what happened? I got cut. Eighth grade, I went and tried out again. True story, coach looks at me. He eyeballs me from feet to head. He looks at me, he goes, boy, you ain't getting bigger or better. What you doing here? I said, so did I make the team? And I was gracious enough to be like a glorified water boy that year.

So sixth, seventh, eighth grade year, it didn't work out. So I was like, you know what, I don't want my disappointment to define me. And so I went out and I trained really hard. I ended up getting cut in high school one year, but then I went and trained even harder. Got better and better. Didn't want my disappointment to define me. Got so good, I was able to get a scholarship at the University of North Carolina. Went on to play there where I became All-American. I don't know at all what's funny. There's nothing funny. I ended up having a great career there. Got drafted by the Chicago Bulls, number three overall pick. I'm so sorry, guys. Sometimes I confuse my story and Michael Jordan's story and I feel so bad. I do feel bad. It really makes me feel good that you laughed way before the punchline though, so thank you. You're like, this guy can never be in the NBA. Okay, that's awesome. I did get cut sixth, seventh, eighth grade. Michael Jordan did get cut in high school. He didn't let his disappointment define him. He did work hard and went on to become the greatest basketball player ever to live.

And listen, don't come up to me afterwards and be like, Kobe, LeBron. I said what I said. He's the greatest player ever. Thus saith the Lord, okay? Okay, come on. Listen, Michael Jordan, he made a decision to get better, not bitter. And sometimes when we face disappointment, it can make us bitter and God's trying to make you better. Do not let your disappointment define you. Why? Because Romans 8, 28, we know, not hope, not think, we know that in all things, everything, God works for the good of those who love him, who've been called. according to his purpose. Listen, mature discipleship is this. It's learning to be disappointed without becoming bitter. Mature discipleship is learning to be disappointed without becoming bitter. Fourth thing we learn in the garden is this. Disappointment can drive us to the Father or away from Him. Disappointment can drive you toward God or away from God. When you have disappointment, it's probably gonna bring a lot of questions. I think questions are good. I think it's okay to ask God questions. I think questions are actually a sign of growth. I think the Father loves questions,

but can I tell you there is a difference between asking questions and questioning God. There's a difference. Asking questions when we face disappointment is, God, what are you trying to do? What are you trying to teach? Show me the way, help me. It is with a posture of humility. That's asking questions. Questioning God is a posture of arrogance, as if you know better, as if God should be asking you for advice. And when you face disappointment, be careful that you're not questioning God, but asking God questions. Lean in to the Father. In the garden, we learn that God is present, even when He feels silent. In the garden, we learn that God is present. Some of you right now, you feel like God might be silent, but that doesn't mean He's not present. He is right there with you. He sees you, He hears you, He feels you. President Franklin Roosevelt, he would often stand in these long receiving lines where people would line up dozens and just shake hands and just wanna meet them and give them well wishes. And he just began to get a little discouraged. He's like, I don't think anybody is listening to anything I say.

I don't think anybody hears me in these lines. And so one day he decided to have a little fun. He wanted to do an experiment. And so one day he decided to ask every single person in line and he, or not ask them, but tell them this statement. I tripped my grandmother this morning. That's what he, so every single person, he'd shake their hand, he said, this morning, I tripped my grandmother. This morning, I tripped my grandmother. This morning, I tripped my grandmother. Person after person, you know how they responded? Oh, that's marvelous. Great job, Mr. President. That is amazing. Until the ambassador of Bolivia actually listened and heard and he leaned in and said, she probably had it coming. You see, even when it doesn't seem like God is listening, he is there and he is present and he hears you. He sees every tear. He hears every shout. He hears you even when you think nobody is listening. Psalm 145, 18 says, the Lord is near to all who call on him. God hears you, he sees you. Fifth thing we learn in the garden is this. Jesus didn't get the cup removed, but he got the strength to drink it. Jesus didn't get the cup removed, but he got the strength to drink it.

In the Old Testament, the cup often represented suffering. It would often represent God's wrath. It would often represent our sin. And in the garden, Jesus asked the father to take the cup of suffering from him. But even beyond the cup of suffering, there's something different called dregs. A lot of times in the Old Testament, you'll read this word dregs. Maybe you didn't even know it. And this is what dregs is in Psalm 75, verse eight. It says this, in the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. And it says this over and over and over. So here's what dregs means in the Bible. Dregs in the Bible refers to the very last thick, bitter sediment at the bottom of the cup. It's the bottom of the cup that nobody wants to drink. And in the garden, Jesus didn't just take the cup of suffering. He drunk the very last 10% down to its very dregs. And some of you, you've been so hurt. You've been so disappointed that the weight feels so heavy and you're like, how in the world can I ever get over this pain, this hurt, this disappointment? We have a big sign, we say it all the time. With Jesus, anything is possible.

This is what Philippians 4.13 is all about, that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. All things, you look at a friend that's going through something unimaginable, you're like, man, I can never go through. through that. Yes, you could with the strength of God, which is what they have. And some of you right now, you are overwhelmed because you're trying to do it on your strength. And what Jesus is saying, listen, give it to me. You can have all the strength if you come to me, not on your own. And Jesus leaned on the Father when he needed them the most. The sixth thing that we learn from the garden is this. It's one of my favorite things. Jesus practices radical obedience in the midst of radical disappointment. Let's unpack. I mean, Jesus has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He knows he's about to be tortured and crucified for your sin and my sin. Just the thought of carrying our sin and shame. I mean, think about the shame that you had for one sin that you got busted in, just one. And your mama came in, she caught you red-handed. Some of you are panicking right now. Like, how you be knowing about my mama? Jesus took all that shame, all that pain,

put it on his shoulders, and he just prays. He says, God, if you would please take this cup of suffering from me, but not what I want, not my will, your will. And so he's in this waiting pattern. You've ever been in that time where you're praying for something big and you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting for the results, you're waiting to figure out if he's gonna say yes or no, you're waiting on the job. You're like, you're in this waiting pattern. God, are you gonna show up or not show up? And the moment that Jesus gets the answer, two things unbelievably happened to him. One, it's not the answer that he was praying for. Think about this, it's not the answer he's praying for, and this is his response. Rise, let us be going, see here my betrayer is at hand. Absolute radical submission to the Father. Radical submission. Here's the thing, I've known for years that Jesus is the greatest leader ever to walk this planet. Jesus is the greatest leader. There's a lot of books on it. There's a lot of thought on it, but can I just tell you he's also the greatest follower this planet has ever seen. He follows the Father no matter what he says. And great followers are always great leaders

and great leaders are always great followers, not one or the other. And Jesus is submitting radical submission to the Father. The soon as he hears what God is asking, he says, amen. It's not what I wanted, but amen. Rise, let's go, here comes my betrayer. Here's what I know can come with disappointment, panic. When you face disappointment, there's a possibility that panic might set in. Your boyfriend breaks up with you and you think you'll never get married, and you begin to panic. You don't get into the school that you wanted, and you begin to panic and think you're not gonna get into any school. You see everyone else moving forward in life, you panic and think you're moving backwards. You see with disappointment can come panic. And I know that all too well. There was a season of my life where I was going through some personal disappointment. And at the same time, I was speaking at a camp for teenagers. And I'm at this camp and in the back of my mind, I'm processing this disappointment, and there's some panic that's coming up. And I'm just walking through the camp and I'm the camp speaker. And so I'm just kinda just casually taking things in. And in the middle of camp,

about 100 feet high is this massive zip line. And this 12 year old girl is going from there to here, and she's going, and then she gets stuck about three quarters of the way. She gets stuck right there in the middle of camp. I mean, everybody could see her. And this girl loses her mind. I mean, she loses her mind. She gets stuck. And I just basically open up some popcorn. I'm just like watching her lose her mind. And I just start judging her. Don't judge me, let me judge her, okay? So I start judging her. And I'm like, what are you panicking for? Do you think you're the first? I'm not saying this, I'm thinking, do you think you're the first one to get stuck on this zip line? Do you think the camp would let you die on this zip line? Like if you would just calm down, you would realize you have the best view of anybody at camp. And then just the thought came in my head. I just wanted to shout to her. The panic is pointless. Just calm down. And then God spoke to me he said that twelve-year-old girl is you He said Dustin do you think you're the first one to go through the disappointment that you're carrying Do you not know that I've rescued every single one of my sons and daughters? Do you not think I don't have a plan for you

If you would just calm down Dustin you would realize you have a view of me that nobody else Can have right now said Dustin the panic is pointless And some of you you showed up to church today And you're hanging on a zipline I Don't know what hurt you're going through I don't know what fear I don't know what disappointment I don't know what pain but you're hanging and you feel vulnerable You're scared It's public people are looking at you. People are coming to you for questions. You're not sure what to do next Can I just tell you? That the panic is pointless Think well the panic is pointless what I do you just trust the father Just trust the father The Panic is pointless today. I Started the message By talking about Brace in my family for disappointment Because they may not receive the gifts for their birthday or Christmas and I was able to tell him. Hey, listen There's still more presents coming it's okay and that that gave them hope that gave them excitement and Some of you you've been ordering something You've been praying to God for something and it's not been delivered yet And can I just tell you that the panic is pointless that God knows your address. He sees you He hears you. He knows what you're going through and and packages are still being delivered It's not over yet, he's not done delivering gifts to his kids the best Is yet to come God's got stuff for you. He sees you. He hears you. He loves you. He's crazy about you He proved that on a bloody cross and empty tomb. Amen Church I

Want to walk through Jesus kind of walks us through this three-part prayer in the garden I'm gonna share it with you. I think the first thing we see Jesus do is he was honest with God He said I am deeply grieved Would you remove this cup some of us don't think we could be honest with God Listen, you could be honest with God. You should be honest with God. Tell him your pain. Tell him you're hurt Tell him your frustration. Tell him your anger Jesus was honest with God. I'm deeply grieved remove this cup. This is disappointment without denial. Stop denying it Express your disappointment to the Father. The second thing is stay close to the Father In the garden Jesus called the father Abba, which is daddy You see even in his pain he looked at his Heavenly Father and he said Abba, he said daddy This is disappointment without disconnection And third thing is he surrendered his will Not yet not what I will but what you will This is disappointment. Listen, this is disappointment without distrust He trusted the Father And so what I want to do is I just want to invite us into a prayer exercise right now We're just gonna pray through those So everybody online every campus Everybody here in Nashville. Go ahead and close your eyes and bow your head and let's just let's just navigate this. Let's walk through this Just take a moment and just be honest with God Name your pain What what has hurt you? Maybe it's a not a what maybe it's a who who has hurt you Be honest with God right where you're at. Just tell him Just take a moment. Whisper it set in your head. Whatever it is. Just take time with God Maybe it's grief Maybe it's sadness Maybe it's pain Maybe it's betrayal Maybe it's a letdown or hurt or something or someone that made you angry

Just right where you're at, name it Be honest with God. Second phase of this prayer I want to walk us through is to stay close to the Father. And at this time I just want you to think about the attributes of God and thank Him for them. Embrace them. Attributes like He is holy, He is faithful, He is merciful, He is loving, He is compassionate, He is gracious, He is patient. Just take a minute and think about those. Marinate on those truths of God. And now we come to the Mark 14, 46 part, which is radical submission. And just right now offer a prayer of surrender to God. What is it that you've been clenched to that He's already given you clarity on, but now you need to obey Him. You need to surrender it. What is it you need to surrender your will from and pick up His will? Just whisper that to the Father. Heavenly Father, if we're honest, there's a lot of pain in our midst. Pain from last week, last month, last decade of unresolved disappointment. Disappointment we've never healed from. Disappointment of a package we've been waiting on and we don't know what to do with that. So God, I pray for healing for the person that's been hurt by somebody or something. I pray for healing. God, I pray for honesty and intimacy with the Father that we would name what it is and give it to you. And then God, would you help us to submit that we would be a people that would say, hey, here's what I have, here's what I want, but not my will be done, your will be done. That we wouldn't just be radical leaders, we'd be radical followers. Fully submissive to the Father. And God, I think it was in the garden that you did some of your deepest and best work. I think it's in the garden right now for many of us that you're doing some of your best and deepest work. And God, I pray, would you help us when it seems like it's midnight in the garden, it is pitch dark. Would you help us to learn to sing in the dark? Would you give us a new song? Would you give us hands that have been tired to lift them up? Because it's both beautiful and contagious. But God, we can't do any of it without you. We need you. We need your strength. We need your power. It's in Christ's holy and precious name we pray. And everybody said, amen.