Pray for Yourself, Christians, and Non-Christians: Pray Like Jesus #5 ch 7-9
·. Jesus prayed this prayer with His disciples
· If you really want to get to know someone, listen to them pray
· “holy of holies” NT – High Priest interceding for the people
· Only place recorded (90% of John unique)
· Longest recorded prayer of Jesus
· Read to Scottish John Knox every day as he was dying
· Marcus Rainsford Irish preacher 500 page book on it
Luther This is truly, beyond measure, a warm and hearty prayer. He opens the depths of His heart, both in reference to us & to His Father, & He pours them all out. It sounds so honest, so simple; it is so deep, so rich, so wide, no one can fathom it.
Henry The most remarkable prayer followed the most full & consoling discourse ever uttered on earth
Bishop Ryle The chapter…is the most remarkable in the Bible. It stands alone & there is nothing like it
Pray for Yourself
John 17:1-5 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“the hour has come” – the difference between wisdom & folly is awareness
Who is Jesus Christ?
- Son of God: “Son”
- Worshipper: “Son may glorify you”
- Sovereign: “authority over all”
- Savior: “give eternal life”
- Missionary: “Jesus Christ whom you have sent”
- God: “the only true God”
- Heaven: “they know you [Father]…and Jesus Christ”
- Eternal Creator: “before the world existed”
Lessons from Jesus Prayer
- Your options are fight, flight, fright, or the Father
- When you look up to God it keeps you from looking down on others
- If Jesus needed to pray, you need to pray
- If Jesus had needs to ask for himself, you have needs to ask for yourself
- Jesus wants you to know what to do and do it (need, opportunity, will of God)
Pray for Christians
John 17:6-19 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
There are things we cannot pray for. “I am not praying for the world”
God Creates (pray for), Satan Counterfeits (pray against)
- Kingdom vs World – (18X in 26 verses)
- Every country & culture has the world manifest
- The world is the result of fallen people empowered by demonic forces.
a. The world is not normal. b. The world is not home. c. The world is not forever.
- Loved by God vs Hated by world
- “the world has hated them”
- Repentance vs Tolerance
- “they are not of the world”
- “I do not ask that you take them out of the world”, “sent into the world”
Religion/Sectarianism – not in the world Rebellion/Syncretism – of world
BOAT analogy – boat not in the water vs water in the boat
- Truth of the Word vs Lies of the World
“I have given them your word”; “your word is truth”
- Real faith vs Fake Faith
Can a Christian lose their salvation = wrong question.
Can God lose a Christian?
=What about Judas?
1. Jn 6:70 “1 of you is a devil” 2. Jn 12:6 “he was a thief” 3. Jn 13:27 “Satan entered him”
- You cannot lose salvation but you can fake it. (vs Prodigal)
- Sometimes Satan is on staff.
Jesus prayed for us and still prays for us to continue in faith
Heb 7:25 he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Rom 8:34 Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Pray for Non-Christians
John 17:20-26 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Unity is the key to a successful mission (Trinity)
Gen. 11:6 the Lord said, “…they are one people, & they have all one language, & this is only the beginning of what they will do….nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them
· A house divided cannot stand & will fall
· Within a church. Between the churches.
Unity
· Independence – 1. Sinners 2. Protestants 3. Americans
· Unity – 1. theological 2. relational 3. missional 4. organizational
- Unity vs uniformity Principles vs methods