Well, welcome
back to this program.
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We are in Chapter 17.
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We are talking about the
prayer that Jesus is giving.
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Now during the
break, I was thinking that,
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you know, I don't
have any children myself
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but the message of
the cross is a message
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that I cannot fully
comprehend or understand
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but as I read and
I just can't imagine
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how a Father will give His Son
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but the message that I get
from this is unselfish love
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that God would give His
son to die for me on the cross
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and that's even
though I don't understand it
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completely that I
can believe and accept.
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And that's why I
accept Jesus Christ.
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And, Dr. Paulien,
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so, we were talking
about the prayer of Jesus
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and just how powerful it is.
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He is praying for His disciples
Himself and for you and me.
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Yeah. So why
don't you and I proceed?
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Well, let's move fairly
quickly through verses 6-19
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because that's
the part of the prayer
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that's focus specifically
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on the disciples
and their situations.
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We will say a
couple of things about that
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but I want to save little time
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for the last six or
seven verses which are about us
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and therefore
really powerful for us.
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Let's look at verse 6.
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"I have manifested
Your name to the men
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whom You have given
Me out of the world.
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They were Yours,
You gave them to Me,
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and they have kept Your word."
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So here we see the attention
is focusing from Jesus Himself
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to the disciples
and Jesus revealing
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of what God is like is
first of all for the disciples,
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right there right
at that time and place.
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Verse 8.
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"For I have
given to them the words
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which You have given Me,
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and they have received
them, and have known surely
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that I came forth from You,
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and they have
believed that You sent Me."
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So this verse tells us
that there's two things,
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first of all he
disciples now know who Jesus is.
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At least in part,
they are getting the idea.
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This isn't just a human being,
this isn't just a prophet,
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this isn't just a superstar.
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This is God Himself
living among us in the flesh.
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So disciples are
beginning to grasp that
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and the other
thing they are grasping
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is that the Father sent Jesus,
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those two go together that Jesus
came from the throne of God.
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He wasn't born into this world
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and that's where
His existence starts.
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As a person He pre-existed.
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So disciples are
beginning to grasp these things
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and certainly by
the time the gospel
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is written they have it down.
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Let's touch base on verse 13.
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"But now I come to You,
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and these things I
speak in the world,
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that they may have My
joy fulfilled in themselves."
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So we see Jesus
praying for the disciples
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while He is still in the world
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and He wants them to have
a full measure of His joy.
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Now we've talked
about that in the series,
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the difference
between joy and fun.
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It's not fun to go to a
cross, it's not fun to suffer
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but there is joy when
there is a purpose in it.
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There is joy when
one has a larger picture
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that's aligned
with God's picture.
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And he wants the
disciples to be able
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to be in this world what He was.
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Jesus leaves two things behind
to take His place in the world.
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First of all, the Holy Spirit
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is left behind to
take Jesus' place.
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Through the Holy Spirit,
God can do for us the things
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that Jesus did
while He was on earth.
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He can do all the
miracles etcetera,
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whatever, it is that they need.
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Second of all though
Jesus is leaving the disciples
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behind to take His
place in the world.
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So Jesus, when He goes
away is replaced by two things,
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the Holy Spirit and disciples.
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And that's really the message
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of these last five
chapters in the Gospel of John.
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Let's look at the last
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two verses of Jesus'
prayer for His disciples.
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Verses 18 and 19.
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"As You sent Me into the world,
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I also have sent
them into the world.
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And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself,
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that they also may be
sanctified by the truth."
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Here Jesus says, you,
Father, sent me into the world
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now I send them into the world.
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So the model of
the disciple's behavior
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is what Jesus did in
relation to His Father.
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So Jesus reveals the
Father to the disciples.
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Disciples reveal
Jesus to the world.
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That's the picture
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and it's what
we call witnessing.
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Witnessing is not about
building kingdoms on this earth.
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Witnessing is letting
people know what God is like.
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It's the clearest
window the world has today
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through disciples and
through the Holy Spirit
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that the world can
come to see the things
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that this gospel talks about.
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And witnessing is not
necessarily through words
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but through deeds and actions.
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That's right.
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By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples
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through the love that
you have for each other.
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So witnessing is
more than just words,
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witnessing is how
we treat each other.
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Verse 20, big shift.
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"I do not pray for these
alone, but also for those
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who will believe in
Me through their word."
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All right. That's
the second generation.
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That's us, you know.
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The only window we have to Jesus
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is through the
words of this gospel
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and now the exciting thing is,
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Jesus didn't just pray
for Himself and His disciples.
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He didn't pray
for us generically,
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He specifically looks
down the ages and say,
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now I am going
to pray for everyone
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who comes to
Jesus through their word
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not just through this gospel.
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And by the way, let me
just mention to our viewers
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that we are definitely
trying to stretch the time here
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as you can see.
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There are so many things,
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the Gospel of
John is a huge book,
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much could be said
and we will be posting
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the scripts
including all the things
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we left out on my website,
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thebattleofarmageddon.com.
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So if you would like to
get the scripts and go deeper
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and have other texts to look up,
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please do that.
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And earlier you said this
is very powerful to me that,
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that second generation is
us meaning that we never--
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we have never seen Jesus,
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we have never seen His
miracles been performed.
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Nevertheless that generation
or that first generation
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who did has no advantage over us
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who have never seen Jesus.
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In fact you even said
that it's even better for us
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because those who did see Jesus,
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many of them did not believe.
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And now we who don't see Jesus
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have a great
advantage to believe.
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That's right.
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Sounds like you've been
studying the Gospel of John.
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Well, the way you
presented it is just so fabulous
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and so amazing that
you know sometimes we read,
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we just read over
it like, you know,
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but if you read and
then and you ask yourself
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why or when or how come,
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then it just makes you
go back to you know, verse--
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the previous verse
or the previous chapter
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and then you put it on to
context begins to make sense
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and just more
powerful to the word.
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Now put
yourself in Jesus' place.
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He's got a chance
here to pray for us.
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There's one thing
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that he would pray
for what would it be?
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You know, you think
about all the options,
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what could he have prayed for?
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He chooses one
thing, verses 21-23.
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"That they all may be
one, as You, Father, are in Me,
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and I in You, that
they also may be one in Us,
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that the world may
believe that You sent Me.
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And the glory which You gave Me
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I have given them,
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that they may be
one just as We are one.
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I in them, and You in Me,
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that they may be
made perfect in one,
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and that the world may
know that You have sent Me,
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and that I have loved
them as You have loved Me."
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Of all of things Jesus could
have prayed about right now.
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The one time he
actually prays directly for us.
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He says, you know,
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looking down to
the halls around it,
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the biggest thing
you're going to need is unity.
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He must already have known
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that that's the opposite
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of what the church
would actually become.
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As you look at the
Christian church today
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the followers of Jesus,
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there are hundreds and
thousands of denominations
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and different
branches and different groups.
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The unity is
fractured and Jesus says,
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"By this you will
know you are My disciples
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by the love that you
have for one another."
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A bitterly divided
church makes God look bad.
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The whole point of
Chapter 17 is what God is like,
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self-sacrificing,
merciful, gracious with people
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who are spitting in His face.
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Much less someone
who disagrees with us.
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We get bend out of
shape if someone disagrees.
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And yet people were
spitting in His face,
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slapping Him, beating Him,
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torturing Him and
He love them still,
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Father forgive them.
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If we took on
the Spirit of Jesus,
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there would be
unity in the church.
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We would be able to
look past the differences,
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look past some of the struggles
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that we have with each others
personality and character.
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I am not
talking about uniformity
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that we all got to
think exactly the same way
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but rather unity comes
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when there's an
acceptance of each other,
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even when there
are some differences
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recognizing that
nobody sees exactly
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alike with somebody else.
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Comes back to John 3:8,
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when the Holy Spirit comes in,
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we become a
little bit like the wind.
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There are differences but
in those very differences,
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if there is
unity, it's a miracle
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and it testifies to the world
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that Jesus is
present in this community.
00:10:26.31\00:10:29.39
That was Jesus' number
one prayer for us today.
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And, Dr. Paulien, the message
00:10:33.11\00:10:34.32
I get from this is to know God
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for what He really
is and that is love.
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And friends, I invite you today
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to invite Jesus Christ
into your lives, till next time.
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